DeSantis touts strong stance on unruly protestors, no ceremony cancellations

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis emphasized a law and order message on University of Florida’s campus Wednesday, following dozens of pro-Hamas protests that were hosted at schools around the country.

“We’ve seen a lot of failures of leadership, we’ve seen some of these schools get overrun, that is not happening here in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said during a press conference.

“You are going to behave appropriately, or if not, you’re going to be shown the door,” he said. “If we have a student who would take a janitor hostage, like they did at Columbia University, the only appropriate response is that that student getting expelled immediately.”

He also mentioned how graduation ceremonies have been canceled at certain schools throughout the U.S.

“These graduations are really important parts of peoples’ lives. It’s a major milestone for students and for their families, and we’re not going to let malcontent ruin that for everybody else,” he said. “So our graduations have gone on as scheduled without a hitch and we directed that we are not going to let them be overrun by the nonsense.”

He emphasized that if someone attempts to stop a graduation ceremony from taking place, they will be “held accountable.”

During the press conference, pro-Hamas protestors could be heard shouting in opposition to DeSantis and other officials in attendance. The governor briefly acknowledged them in order to mock their position on the Israel-Palestine issue.

“You know, I wasn’t hear after October 7 on the campus, I’m sure the protestors were all very upset at the fact that Hamas went into Israeli communities and baked babies in ovens, raped women, assassinated elderly people in very brutal ways,” he said. “I’m sure they were very upset about that – oh no, they weren’t. That’s right, they didn’t care about that. They were completely fine with those massacres happening and they had no concern about that.”

Florida State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues emphasized that Florida is a “law and order state.”

“Without order, there is chaos,” he said. “Across this nation, we are witnessing that chaos on college campuses.”

“In Florida, we have had protests on our campuses. First Amendment rights have been respected, but our state statutes and university policies have been enforced,” he said.

“Everywhere a protestor has tried to establish an encampment, which is a violation of university policy, it was prevented and the rules were followed,” he added.

“In Florida, there will be no negotiations, there will be no appeasement, there will be no amnesty and there will be no divesting,” he said. “Under Governor DeSantis, Florida will continue to lead by example.”

University of Florida President Ben Sasse thanked the governor for his work in standing for law and order on campuses across the state.

He reassured taxpayers that the school will always uphold the freedom of speech, while also always following the law.

“Higher education has been captures by a lot of nonsense over the course of the last few weeks and that won’t happen at the University of Florida.

Several conservative figures commended the university for how it dealt with campus protestors in the final weeks of the spring semester.