University of Florida dean unilaterally kicks out pro-Palestinian protester for three years, withholds her degree

• Keely Gliwa was set to graduate with a masters in biochemistry and molecular biology before she was arrested for failing to disperse when police shut down a pro-Palestinian protest.
• A university hearing board recommended probation, concluding she only stayed behind to help a distressed student.
• But the dean of students ignored the board’s findings, unilaterally imposing a three-year suspension on Keely — an expulsion in all but name.

GAINESVILLE, Fl., July 11, 2024 — The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression is demanding the University of Florida overturn its disproportionate and unreasonable punishment of a student who was suspended from school for three years just days before her graduation.

Keely Gliwa was set to graduate with a master’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology in May. On April 29, Keely attended a peaceful pro-Palestinian protest at the campus’s Plaza of the Americas, where some students were sitting in lawn chairs playing Uno.

UF police broke up the protest to arrest the students sitting in lawn chairs. In video of the incident, Keely can be seen consoling a student who had a panic attack when the police arrived, urging the student to leave with her after the police ordered everyone to disperse. As a result, Keely was arrested for failing to immediately comply with the dispersal order.

UF immediately placed Keely on interim suspension and charged her with four violations of the student code of conduct for “disruptive conduct,” “violation of law,” “failure to comply with directive,” and “violation of university policy.” 

After reviewing video evidence and witness statements corroborating Keely’s account, the University Officials Board overseeing her conduct hearing concluded Keely did not willfully ignore the dispersal order. The Board recommended two years of probation based on Keely’s spotless record and the outpouring of letters attesting to her good character.

Shockingly, however, Dean of Students Chris Summerlin unilaterally overturned the board’s recommendation, finding Keely responsible on all four charges and suspending her for three years.

“A three-year suspension is an expulsion in all but name,” said FIRE attorney Jessie Appleby. “It’s a shockingly disproportionate punishment to mete out to a student with no disciplinary history, on the whim of a single dean.”

As FIRE’s letter to UF President Ben Sasse notes, public colleges and universities may establish restrictions on the time, place, and manner of expressive activity in outdoor areas of campus, and punish students who violate them. But under the First Amendment, the rules must be reasonable, and enforcement must be consistent and viewpoint-neutral. UF administrators cannot restrict or punish the speech of student-protesters more harshly than they would other students simply because they object to the content of their speech.

But ample evidence suggests that’s exactly what happened. 

Lawn chairs are allowed (and quite common) in outdoor campus spaces at UF. And UF policy and Florida law specifically notes that “a person who wishes to engage in an expressive activity in outdoor areas of campus may do so freely, spontaneously, and contemporaneously as long as the person’s conduct is lawful and does not materially and substantially disrupt the functioning of the public institution of higher education or infringe upon the rights of other individuals or organizations to engage in expressive activities.”

On the second day of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations, however, UF rushed out flyers overnight threatening a three-year banishment from campus for a list of vaguely-defined prohibited activities and items, including chair sitting. As FIRE wrote in its letter to UF, the significant departure from existing university policy and the last minute rule change “strongly suggest UF adopted the rules specifically to restrict the pro-Palestinian demonstrations.”

“The rules were unreasonable, the enforcement was unreasonable, and then Dean Summerlin unilaterally imposed an unreasonable punishment, overruling the officials who actually heard the case,” said Appleby. “That suggests the University of Florida just wanted to make an example of the protesters, regardless of the facts and the law.”

UF’s unusually harsh and unwarranted punishment of Keely came after months of pressure from politicians and state officials to subject pro-Palestinian protests to heightened scrutiny. In October, State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues went so far as ordering Florida schools to derecognize all chapters of the Students for Justice in Palestine. Rodrigues’ order dubiously claimed that SJP was guilty of “material support for terrorism.” As FIRE warned UF in a letter, the cited activities were all constitutionally protected political speech.

Ultimately, Rodrigues backed down after no Florida schools obeyed the unconstitutional directive — reportedly because administrators realized they would personally be on the hook for damages for knowingly violating the law. UF administrators should back down this time around, as well.

“President Sasse speaks often about how he wants the University of Florida to be a leader in respecting student’s First Amendment rights,” said Appleby. “Now’s the time for him to act and ensure administrators walk the walk and live up to that vision.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to defending and sustaining the individual rights of all Americans to free speech and free thought — the most essential qualities of liberty. FIRE educates Americans about the importance of these inalienable rights, promotes a culture of respect for these rights, and provides the means to preserve them.

CONTACT:

Alex Griswold, Communications Campaign Manager, FIRE: 215-717-3473; media@thefire.org