University of Florida College Republicans #wingnut newrepublic.com
College Republicans Chapter Sues School for Right to Make Nazi Salute
The University of Florida kicked its College Republicans chapter off of campus over the weekend over a photo of a member performing a Nazi salute, and now the organization is suing the university.
The UF College Republicans filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday, alleging that their First Amendment rights were violated. The salute photo had circulated on social media, along with photos of the group’s members with neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes and far-right podcaster Myron Gaines.
In a statement, the university’s interim president Donald Landry said that the Florida Federation of College Republicans, which oversees campus GOP groups in the state, told the university that it had disbanded the UF chapter. Landry said that UF then moved to deactivate them.
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The chapter is being represented in court by Anthony Sabatini, who alleged to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that the Nazi photo was the “final straw” for the university, and the“edgy” student group felt they had been targeted for some time. Sabatini, a conservative Lake County commissioner, also claimed the chapter was really shut down because it hosted Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate James Fishback on March 11.
Fishback has repeatedly called his GOP rival, Representative Byron Daniels, a “slave.” Daniels is Black. Sabatini said that event was used to deactivate the group and replace it with more “vanilla” conservatives.
Young Republicans across the country seem to have a racism and antisemitism problem. Earlier this month, a Republican group chat of Florida International University students leaked online and showed dozens of its members engaging in racist, antisemitic, and depraved language. Last year, a leaked Young Republicans group chat comprising members from across the country showed members being similarly racist and antisemitic, while casually throwing around rape jokes.