NEW: Governor DeSantis just ordered the University of Florida and the University of South Florida to deactivate their "Students for Justice in Palestine" groups for violating Florida's laws against antisemitism. pic.twitter.com/Y3B6hLnRJZ

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 24, 2023

State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues wrote a collective letter Tuesday to the college presidents ordering the “deactivation” of Student for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters, which are associated with the national organization.

”Based on the National SJP’s support of terrorism, in consultation with Governor DeSantis, the student chapters must be deactivated,” Rodrigues reportedly wrote.

Rodriguez cites National SJP’s “material support” of Hamas, which he states constitutes a felony under Florida law.

”National SJP has affirmative identified it is part of the [Oct. 7] Operation Al-Aqsa Flood – a terrorist led attack,” Rodrigues wrote.

[I’m a fan of the outcome in one way, but I don’t think this will pass First Amendment muster, nor should it. ‘Material support’ does not usually mean rhetorical advocacy, even when they adopt terrorist nomenclature. Given how the Left likes to use the legal system to shut down conservative advocacy — especially pro-life advocacy — we should be very, very cautious about setting these kinds of precedents. NSJP is a despicable hate group, but the First Amendment does not have exceptions for hate speech. — Ed]