As anti-Israel protests rage on campuses across the US, the University of Florida threatened to bar anyone who violates school rules while participating in such protests from campus for three years.
Under the warning published Friday, students who violate the university rules during anti-Israel protests will be suspended and teachers and employers could be fired.
The violations that could lead to banishment from campus include using bullhorns or carrying weapons during the protests, protesting inside a building on campus, using camping items such as tents, and having unmanned signs, among others.
The university said in a statement, "Peaceful protests are constitutionally protected. Camping, putting up structures, disrupting academic activity, or threatening others on university property is strictly prohibited."
"The University has clearly communicated this to our students and explained that they can exercise their free speech rights but breaking the law will result in an immediate trespassing order from UFPD and an interim suspension from Student Life."
The directive prohibits the establishment of tent encampments, which have become a common feature of anti-Israel protests on college campuses across the US over the last two weeks.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has strongly criticized the anti-Israel campus protest movement, which has frequently crossed the line into overt antisemitism.
''The Biden Justice and Education Departments are asleep at the wheel regarding antisemitism on college campuses,'' DeSantis tweeted last week.
''Both agencies should hold these universities accountable,'' he demanded, adding, "The visa of any foreign student who is championing Hamas should be canceled.''
The current wave of anti-Israel protests began wit the erection of a tent city on the campus of Columbia University on April 17, and quickly spread to other colleges across the nation.
One of the organizers of the Columbia protests was recorded on video saying “Zionists – they don’t deserve to live comfortably, let alone Zionists don’t deserve to live. The same way we’re very comfortable accepting that Nazis don’t deserve to live, racists don’t deserve to live – Zionists, they shouldn’t live in this world.”
During the protests at Columbia, protesters threatened Jews with "10,000" October 7 massacres, chanted "we are Hamas," and held signs pointing at Jewish students calling on Hamas to make them the terrorist organization's next targets.
An Orthodox rabbi at Columbia warned Jewish students to stay away from campus for their own safety during the protests.
Professor Shai Davidai, an Israel-born Columbia University professor, has been standing up to the anti-Israel mobs on campus. After he was blocked from campus on Monday, Davidi wrote a post addressing Columbia COO Cas Holloway.
"You were just doing your job when you denied a Jewish professor access to campus (by the way, all I wanted to do was to read the names of the 133 hostages, thanks for asking)," Davidi wrote to Holloway.
He continued: "You were just doing your job when you sided with those that support Hamas."
"You were just doing your job when you couldn't say for a full minute whether Hamas is a terrorist organization. (remember that meeting? It's all recorded. You were just doing your job)," Davidi said.