UF threatens pro-Palestinian student protesters with suspensions and bans
GAINESVILLE
The University of Florida threatened pro-Palestinian student demonstrators with suspensions and banishment from campus for three years if they violate rules regarding protests, which continued for a second day late Thursday.
The university said employees or professors caught breaking the rules would be fired.
Some of the rules are specific: protesters are barred from using bullhorns or speakers to amplify their voices, possessing weapons or protesting inside buildings on campus. Other rules are vague: one says “no disruption,” and another says signs must be carried in hands at all times.
Campus police circulated the list of prohibited activities late Thursday as about 50 protesters gathered. A university spokeswoman early Friday confirmed the authenticity of the document. It said permitted activities include “speech,” “expressing viewpoints” and “holding signs in hands.” It wasn’t clear whether temporarily dropping a sign during hours-long protests would end in an arrest or trespass order.
Other prohibited activities include littering; camping or use of tents, sleeping bags or pillows; or blocking anyone’s path. They also include “no sleeping” on a campus where students often doze in the sun between classes.
The letter was not signed or dated but indicated it was sent from the university’s Division of Student Life. The university is a public institution, and its campus is generally not restricted.
Several influential Republicans on Friday praised UF’s handling of the demonstrations. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis referred to UF’s distribution of the flier as “a matter of will” in a post
the 1,800-square-foot sign that was under construction on the PAMM campus when Commissioner Damian Pardo, who was elected in November, launched the repeal effort in January.
The Arsht has city permits for two similarly sized signs, with dimensions that are twice the size of what’s allowed in other parts of Miami.
While construction crews were working on the
PAMM structure at the start of the fight, the sign is ready to go live as the battle approaches its fifth month. It was briefly illuminated last week at a level so bright that even the sign maker apologized publicly for the display.
“We ended up having human error involved,” said David Kile, who is an executive with the billboard installer, SNA Displays, and said the test run accidentally beamed out light six times brighter than planned.
King sponsored the language sought by Arsht and PAMM lobbyists to keep the 2023 law mostly intact. She did impose new restrictions, such as limiting Arsht to a single future sign instead of two and requiring jumbo billboards to mostly go dark after 11 p.m. The revised legislation also repeals the original allowances for digital billboards in two city parks downtown, though that won’t affect three smaller signs that are already there and are permitted under the 2023 law.
Because King’s proposal watered down the original repeal legislation, a final vote is needed to adopt the changes, extending debate on an item that has been on the agenda five times since January.
Each meeting saw residents in downtown condos urge commissioners to repeal the law championed by Alex Díaz de la Portilla, a former commissioner who lost his seat in November while facing corruption charges. “It’s about righting a wrong and protecting our neighborhood from these eyesores,” Rick Madan, president of the Biscayne Neighborhoods Association, told commissioners.
Both Arsht and PAMM representatives have pledged stylish digital installations that will mix art with advertising, providing millions of dollars of new revenue for the sites.
“This project holds the key to financial sustainability for PAMM as a nonprofit organization, especially as we navigate the daunting task of rebuilding our budget in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic,” PAMM Director Franklin Sirmans wrote to commissioners in January.
The King amendment passed 3 to 2 on Thursday, with Manolo Reyes on the losing side, along with the sponsor of the original repeal legislation, Pardo, who represents downtown. “I see this as a stamp-ofapproval amendment for something that should not receive a stamp of approval,” Pardo said.
But even Pardo said his original repeal legislation wouldn’t have meant revoking permits already issued under the 2023 law, which was sponsored by then-Commissioner Díaz de la Portilla.Orange Barrel Media, the billboard company set to collect million of dollars in revenue through contracts with Arsht and PAMM, was a top campaign donor for Díaz de la Portilla, who lost his reelection bid in November.
By repealing the law, Pardo would have blocked future permits under the 2023 law, which also allows jumbo digital billboards in downtown’s Bayfront Park and Maurice A. Ferré Park.
One smaller sign measuring about 375 square feet is already up at Bayfront Park, and two others are in the pipeline with city permits. The revised legislation would repeal the larger size allowances for the two parks but wouldn’t quash the existing permits. The legislation also repeals allowances for 750-square-foot billboards for city buildings located in the Omni and Overtown economic-development districts known as CRAs.
The King legislation keeps intact a rule allowing a billboard at Miami’s Olympia Theater.
Even with the Arsht and
PAMM jumbo billboards still legal under city code, fights remain over how much money the signs could generate. Rival billboard companies claim the signs would violate state regulations banning commercial advertising close to a federal highway, such as Interstate 395, while inhouse promotions for Arsht and PAMM exhibits could remain. That means the next front of the sign battle will likely be with state regulators and possibly in the courts.
The legislation that passed the preliminary vote Thursday allows Arsht to build only one sign, though the nonprofit has permits for two. Arsht operates out of a facility owned by Miami-Dade County and may need county permission before pursuing construction of the billboard. That will give lobbyists for rival billboard companies a new battleground to try to block the Orange Barrel installation.
Other new restrictions include a requirement that the billboards go dark at 11 p.m., or midnight during special events. King’s legislation allows the sign owner’s logo to remain on the billboards around the clock. Between sunset and sunrise, the billboards would be limited to a brightness of 500 nits, an illumination level that’s below what is found on an iPhone 12.
“I listened to everyone who came up and spoke,” King said. “We can’t take the signs away. But I heard them on the light.”