Florida Students Punished for Silent Protest Against ICE Get Free Speech Victory in Federal Court

A group of Florida students returning to college may have scored a temporary free speech win, but their legal battle may not be over. 

On Sunday, a federal judge ruled that Florida International University (FIU) likely violated students’ free speech rights when the school punished students for silently protesting indoors, reported Axios. In her ruling, U.S. Southern District of Florida Judge Jacqueline Becerra issued a preliminary injunction, preventing the school from enforcing its expressive activity rule against the students. 

The case stems from an incident in March when a group of students wearing shirts saying “ICE OFF FIU” stood in silence for “a few minutes” while the school’s president hosted a talk with former MLB player Alex Rodriguez on campus, reported WLRN. The students were protesting the “school’s voluntary collaboration with immigration enforcement on campus,” the outlet reported.

FIU charged seven of the students who participated with misconduct, and six received written reprimands. The school also ordered the students to record two-minute “video reflections” explaining their understanding of the school’s expressive activities policy and how they will “apply” what they “learned moving forward.” 

The disciplinary action drew the attention of civil liberties organizations, including the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). On June 18, the group sent a letter to FIU urging the school “to drop the conduct charges and revise its expressive activities policy to protect such expression inside university facilities.” 

The school did not take action. On August 11, the punished students sued the school and members of its administration. In addition to requesting compensatory damages, the suit argued that FIU’s Regulation 110(3)—which prohibits “protests, parades, marches, picketing, demonstrations, and other similar expressive activities” inside university buildings—”blatantly violate[d] the Plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights” and should be declared unconstitutional. The rule also states that “university indoor facilities are designed for instruction, study, reflection, group discussion, research, administrative functions, and other University activities and operations,” and “this provision will be enforced in a content and viewpoint neutral manner.”

Becerra, citing the Vietnam War-era free speech case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, found that the plaintiffs were “substantially likely to prevail” in their challenge against FIU’s unconstitutional policy. The ruling also notes that “based on the evidence submitted to date, it does not appear that any Plaintiff, or anyone else wearing an ‘ICE OFF FIU’ T-shirt, spoke or did anything other than sit, stand, and walk.” 

According to Inside Higher Ed, university officials have “previously maintained that the policy is compliant with the First Amendment and Florida laws.” It’s unclear whether FIU will appeal. A school representative told Axios that the university would “comply with the court’s order while considering our legal options.”

Regardless of whether one agrees with the students’ message, FIU’s punishment of the silent protesters should concern free speech defenders. Perhaps the most disturbing part of FIU’s punishment was forcing students to record video apologies for silently and non-disruptively expressing their views. Bret Weinstein, a longtime opponent of campus cancel culture, weighed in on the situation, writing on X, “Commitment to freedom of speech requires us to oppose compelled speech every bit as strongly as we oppose censorship.” Hopefully, by this school year, other universities will adopt this principled stance.