March 14 (Reuters) – The Florida Federation of College Republicans disbanded its University of Florida chapter and asked the school to remove it as a student organization due to alleged misconduct that includes antisemitism, the university said on Saturday.
The request was based on the federation’s own investigation that uncovered a “pattern of conduct that violated its rules and values, including a recent antisemitic gesture,” the university wrote in a post on X. The federation asked the school to “deactivate” its Republican chapter while the group tries to restart the chapter with new leadership, the university wrote.
The school’s post said it is “committed to preventing and addressing antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and harassment” that threaten and disrupt the school community, and that it will help the federation reactivate its local chapter when it is reformed.
The Florida Federation of College Republicans did not immediately return a request for comment.
The announcement is the second report this month of antisemitic behavior by a conservative group at a Florida school.
Florida International University said on March 5 that law enforcement is investigating a Miami Herald report that prominent members of the local Republican Party and conservative student leaders exchanged racist, antisemitic and homophobic messages in an online group chat.
The Herald reported that logs of the leaked WhatsApp group chat showed participants, including prominent local Republican Party officials and student leaders of FIU’s Turning Point USA chapter, a conservative youth group founded by slain activist Charlie Kirk.
(Reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle; Editing by Sergio Non, Rod Nickel)
