The meeting had a slow start — but as UF College Republicans president Michael Andre spoke, more people began to filter into the room. By the time the meeting concluded, over 30 people had shown support through claps, cheers and conversations.
UF College Republicans and Patriot Coalition, a student conservative group, hosted a meeting Tuesday evening, 10 days after UFCR’s forced disbandment.
In a March 23 Instagram post, the club announced the meeting, calling it “The Return.”
“Banned 48 hours after we hosted the largest candidate event at UF in 10 years. The return of UFCR,” the post said.
Background of the disbanding
On March 14, UF announced the Florida Federation of College Republicans disbanded the UF chapter via a post on X. The club was asked to dissolve after pictures of antisemitic gestures, done on behalf of UFCR, were brought to the federation’s attention, according to the post.
“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,” the post said.
UF also wrote in its X post it would assist in reactivating its college Republicans chapter under new leadership.
UFCR’s disbandment roots from a post by Jennifer Sloan Rachmuth, a political commentator and investigative journalist from North Carolina. Rachmuth shared an image on X of a student performing a Nazi salute. Because the student was presumed to be affiliated with UFCR leadership, FFCR requested the local chapter be disbanded.
Andre, a 20-year-old UF finance junior, started the meeting by addressing the Nazi salute image, saying it was “scandalous” and “provocative.”
“I’m sure we can all find it offensive and stupid, to say the least,” Andre said. “It is still free speech. It is still protected by the First Amendment.”
He said the situation surrounded people who did not represent UFCR, were not a part of UFCR leadership and were therefore out of the club’s control. UF has no grounds to disband them, he added.
UF’s post came within three days of one of the club’s biggest events. On March 11, UFCR hosted James Fishback, Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate. Over 500 students attended the event.
“I think it would be hard to completely dismiss the timing of this,” Andre said. “We don’t want to negate the coincidence.”
As of Tuesday evening, UF has not reinstated UFCR as an official student organization. UFCR remains removed from GatorConnect, the website where UF students are able to see executive members from any club on campus.
Because UFCR is no longer a student organization, it’s obligated to pay $175 out-of-pocket to reserve a room in the Reitz Union, Andre said.
Aaron Baker, a Republican politician currently running for Florida’s 6th congressional district, is helping cover the meeting costs, he said.
“We have no plans to stop,” he said. “In fact, we’re going to continue as hard as ever.”
Anthony Sabatini, a far-right Lake County commissioner and attorney, announced via X March 16 that he filed a lawsuit against UF on behalf of UFCR. Sabatini posted on X March 20 that the motion for preliminary injunction will be heard April 21 at 9 a.m.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Andre said the defense will be presenting its case April 3, and UFCR will present its case April 9.
“There is no ‘hate speech’ exception to the First Amendment,” Sabatini wrote in an X post Monday. “It does not exist.”
Andre said UFCR is not part of the Florida Federation of College Republicans, citing a signed charter with the College Republicans of America, FFCR’s rival organization. FFCR does not have the authority to disband UFCR because the club is not technically under them, Andre said.
Humphrey Schuyler, a 21-year-old UF marketing graduate student, wants UFCR to be reinstated, and to continue his involvement with the club.
“I was very much involved since last August,” Schuyler said. “I think it’s been pretty worthwhile overall.”
Schuyler said he was sent an evaluation from UF relating to free speech. After seeing the evaluation, he raised complaints about UFCR’s disbandment.
“It’s the wish for all of us attending here today to see the ban getting removed,” he said.
Gavin Van Dyke, 20-year-old UF hospitality and tourism management junior, said he thinks UFCR’s disbandment is a breach of First Amendment rights.
“You can’t just shut down a club like that, especially not going through a proper due process,” Van Dyke said.
He said he hopes UFCR gets reinstated as a student organization and therefore would not have to pay for meeting rooms out of pocket.
“I just want to go back to what things were right before Spring Break,” he said. “I don’t expect anything more than what we were right beforehand.”
Contact Angelique Rodriguez at arodriguez@alligator.org and Leona Masangkay at lmasangkay@alligator.org.
Angelique is a first-year journalism major and the Fall 2025 graduate school reporter. In her free time, she'll probably be reading, writing, hanging out with her friends or looking through the newest fashion runway shows on Vogue.
Leona is a second-year journalism student and the Spring 2025 University Administration reporter. They previously worked as the Santa Fe reporter. In their free time, Leona enjoys going to the gym, watching Marvel movies and traveling the country for music festivals.
