University of Florida strips pro-Palestinian activists of their degrees and suspends them

“They knew the rules, they broke the rules and they will face the consequences,” the university said earlier

A pro-Palestinian doctoral student will be suspended from university admissions for three years following a decision by the University of Florida.

“The students were among nine people arrested by University Police and Florida State Police on April 29 during a demonstration at the Plaza of the Americas on the east side of the University of Florida campus,” Fresh Florida reported. “They were among the first college arrests in Florida and all of them remain banned from university campuses.”

The Gainesville University School of Journalism produces Fresh Florida.

“In at least two cases, the hearing panels recommended probation for Keely Nicole Gliwa, 23, of Gainesville – a master’s student who was scheduled to graduate on May 2 – and deferred suspension for Parker (Stanley) Hovis, 26, of Naples.” Fresh approach reported. “The university withheld Gliwa’s diploma and suspended both Gliwa and Hovis for three years.”

Gliwa “actively protested and allegedly disregarded the University of Florida police’s request to disperse. She also allegedly covered her face and concealed her identity,” the Alachua Chronicle previously reported. “She was arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol and charged with disobeying an officer, wearing a mask on public property and resisting an officer without the use of force – all misdemeanors.”

Hovis “allegedly ignored a request to disband,” timeline reported. “According to the arrest report, he was asked if he wanted to get up to leave and refused to acknowledge the officer’s presence. He was told he would be charged with trespassing, but he reportedly refused to leave.”

Dean of Students Chris Summerlin generally imposed harsher penalties than those recommended by the university’s hearing panel.

All nine arrested people rejected the plea agreements offered by the Alachua County District Attorney’s Office. Fresh approach reported. Seven of those arrested were apparently students, two others were not.

“Under such agreements, a defendant pleads ‘no contest’ or ‘guilty’ and the charges are effectively removed from his record if he commits no further crimes within a period of time, usually 12 months,” the newspaper reported. “None of the nine had previously been convicted of a crime.”

After the arrests, the state university had previously stated that the campus was not a “daycare center.”

“This isn’t complicated,” Steve Orlando, assistant vice president for communications, said after the arrests in April. “The University of Florida is not a daycare center and we don’t treat protesters like children – they knew the rules, they broke them and they will face the consequences.”

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