GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The video attached to this story is from a previous, related report by our Tampa station, WTSP.
The University of Florida will ban protests inside campus buildings, president Kent Fuchs announced in a letter posted to the university's website Monday.
It's a regulation that's already been on the books for 20 years, Fuchs said in his letter, but has not been enforced in recent years.
Fuchs said that enforcement will resume after spirited protests during a visit by Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who is being considered to replace Fuchs when he retires.
Protests erupted across the flagship university's campus after Sasse, a self-proclaimed conservative Republican, was announced as the top candidate. When he visited the university to answer questions from faculty, protestors followed, and the event had to be cut short and moved online.
"UF employees who traveled to the forum site did not get to hear Dr. Sasse speak in person, as many had planned to do," Fuchs said.
Fuchs said in his letter that the decision supports the university's commitment to free speech. "As our core value of freedom and civility states, “We are a community that affirms and embraces openness to an inclusive range of viewpoints.” With this commitment comes an obligation to protect the rights of everyone in our community to speak and to hear," he wrote.
The policy will be enforced during the Nov. 1 UF Board of Trustees meeting, where Sasse's candidacy will be considered.
Fuchs says students who violate the regulation may be subject to discipline under the Student Conduct Code.
"I pray that we will continue to find ways to express ourselves civilly and listen to those who disagree with us or who we find disagreeable — and ensure that all others can do the same," he wrote in closing.