University of Florida: University orders last-minute cancellation of symposium on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

On October 31, 2024, University of Florida officials ordered the cancellation of the faculty-planned “Symposium on the War in Israel and Palestine,” citing an unspecified violation of the university’s use of space policy, and barred the use of any university funds to support the event. The last-minute cancellation, just a day before the November 1–2 event was scheduled to begin, occurred after a local activist launched an email campaign objecting to an alleged lack of balance in the symposium’s scheduled speakers. The symposium proceeded off campus. On November 21, FIRE wrote UF urging it to reinstate the previously approved funding for the symposium because the First Amendment bars UF from denying faculty the equal use of university resources or facilities based on viewpoint or opposition to the symposium’s content.