A campus Republican group at the University of Florida failed to prove that the school violated its First Amendment rights when it banned the organization after claims of antisemitic behavior, a federal judge ruled Friday.
The judge, Mark F. Walker of the U.S. District Court in Tallahassee, said there was insufficient evidence to show that the group’s constitutional rights had been violated, dismissing the college Republicans’ lawsuit.
The university, in Gainesville, had blocked the group, the University of Florida College Republicans, in March amid a social media uproar over a photo circulated online showing two people giving a Nazi salute. While members of the group denied involvement, the organization had been accused of antisemitic and racist behavior even before the photo’s distribution.
The University of Florida was one of several campuses where college Republican groups had recently been tied to racist and antisemitic rhetoric or social media postings amid a philosophical split among young Republicans over whether to embrace white nationalism.
But Judge Walker, ruling after hearing testimony in a two-day bench trial, said the Republican group had failed to prove that the university’s decision was based on its conduct, even though it was clear that campus leaders were concerned about the group’s behavior.
He also found that the university had cause to remove the group because it did not have permission from the Republican Party of Florida or its student affiliate to use the term “Republican,” a violation of the rules for student groups at the school.
The university had argued that it decided to remove the group after a statewide campus Republican organization withdrew its charter, meaning it had no longer had any official affiliation.
The University of Florida declined to comment after the decision. Anthony F. Sabatini, a lawyer for the college Republican organization, could not immediately be reached for comment.
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