UF’s chapter of College Republicans is moving forward with a lawsuit against UF after allegations of antisemitic gestures made by club members led to its dissolution.
A photo circulated online depicted a presumed member of UFCR performing a Nazi salute. After seeing the photo, the Florida Federation of College Republicans reached out to UF and asked the university to disband the chapter, according to a March 14 post from UF on X.
“The University of Florida has emphatically supported its Jewish community and remains committed to preventing and addressing antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and harassment that are threatening and disruptive to our students,” UF’s post read.
The lawsuit was filed March 16 by UFCR’s attorney, Anthony Sabatini, a Lake County commissioner and civil rights attorney.
UFCR argued the grounds of its disbandment were unjustified, because the campus group isn’t affiliated with FFCR. Rather, UFCR is a member of another organization, College Republicans of America, according to a post from UFCR on X.
The chapter also claimed the disbandment was a reaction from UF in relation to UFCR’s event on March 11, which featured far-right investor and Florida gubernatorial candidate James Fishback.
UFCR held a meeting March 24, which it referred to as “The Return” in an Instagram post. UFCR was obligated to pay a fee of $175 to rent the meeting room at the Reitz Union, because it has not been reinstated as a campus organization.
“University of Florida targeted this chapter because they’re [UFCR] conservative Republicans, and they don't like them,” Sabatini told The Alligator.
Sabatini said the chapter was illegally stripped of its status as a registered student organization for exercising its First Amendment rights. He also called the reason for disbanding UFCR “fake.”
Because UFCR is not a member of FFCR, Sabatini said, there is no evidence of policy or copies of written communication that gave UF the right to disband the club.
The lawsuit is filed against UF’s interim president, Donald Landry, and Sabatini said the lawsuit argues the alleged antisemitic viewpoint expressed in the photo was not a “true threat” and therefore did not constitute unprotected speech.
“UFCR has suffered and continues to suffer irreparable harm to its First Amendment rights,” the lawsuit read.
An injunction hearing will be held in two weeks, Sabatini said. UFCR said it hopes to receive an apology from UF along with immediate reinstatement on campus, according to Sabatini.
UF declined to comment. UFCR responded to The Alligator with its X post in a direct message via Instagram when asked to comment.
Though not directly involved in the lawsuit, Robert Rush, a 73-year-old civil rights attorney based in Gainesville, said the lawsuit's outcome depends on if the photo can be interpreted as hate speech.
“You can’t curtail student speech without meeting certain very strict guidelines,” Rush said. “What they’re [UF] saying is that this meets those strict guidelines and crosses them. … The countervailing opinion is that it doesn't come close to that.”
Rush believes there is middle ground for a compromise, he said, and it seems the situation could have been resolved with discussion and mediation.
UF Jewish community perspectives
About one in five UF undergraduates are Jewish, according to Hillel International. The school has a larger undergraduate Jewish population than any other public university in the country at 6,500.
Rabbi Aaron Notik, the program director at the Chabad UF Jewish Student Center, said he received concerned messages from families and students after the photo surfaced and the chapter was disbanded.
With Passover — a Jewish holiday celebrating freedom — approaching in April, Notik said the situation has given him a deeper perspective on how to respond to Jewish hate.
“The Jewish students at the University of Florida specifically are standing proud and celebrating the holiday of freedom,” Notik said. “Freedom from all this type of hate and oppression.”
Notick said Nazi salutes are antisemitic in nature, and hate should not have a place anywhere.
As the lawsuit proceeds, Notik said, he trusts the university to properly and fairly resolve the situation.
“They [UF] seem to be quite on top of it,” Notik said. “Even proactive in ensuring that every student feels safe and in a comfortable learning environment, free of any form of hate.”
Rabbi Jonah Zinn, UF Hillel’s executive director, said any kind of hatred, specifically antisemitism, has “no room” at UF, in an email statement to The Alligator.
“Nazi salutes send a simple and hateful message to Jewish students: ‘You don't belong here,’” Zinn said.
Student perspectives
Ana Capeci, a 19-year-old UF environmental science freshman, said it can be difficult for a university to navigate the boundaries of free speech. But she stands with UF’s decision to disband the chapter.
Capeci said she feels the lawsuit by UFCR is an extreme measure and could have been talked out.
“The university is a public space, and it’s for all types of students of all different backgrounds,” she said. “I don't think that hate of any kind should be tolerated.”
Evan Rawitt, a 19-year-old UF art freshman, thinks UF could have condemned the group without disbanding them, but he still said the photo is a bad reflection on its members.
“I think that obviously, they have a right to have a club,” Rawitt said. “Maybe get a little more jurisdiction and restriction behind stuff that they [UFCR] do.”
Chase Cruceana, a 19-year-old UF nuclear engineering sophomore, said he supports UF’s deactivation of UFCR and believes there isn’t grounds for a lawsuit due to the antisemitic allegations.
Allowing the group on campus could lead to the assumption that UF condones hateful behavior, Cruceana said.
“For a school with such a large Jewish population, it could cause them to feel unsafe on campus,” he said. “I think it was the right move by UF.”
Contact Alabama Weninegar at aweninegar@alligator.org. Follow her on X at @AlabamaW40513.
Alabama Weninegar is a first-year journalism major and The Alligator's Spring 2026 University General Assignment Reporter. She also works a part-time job at Wyatt's Coffee downtown. In her free time, she enjoys watching her favorite shows on a rainy day or re-reading the Twilight series.
