Over 40 students crowded Reitz Union room 2325 as UF College Republicans hosted their second meeting Tuesday since its recent disbandment.
The club was disbanded by The Florida Federation of College Republicans after a photo circulated online depicted a presumed member of UFCR performing a Nazi salute.
UF deactivated UFCR as a student club March 14. UFCR is now suing UF, arguing the campus group isn’t affiliated with FFCR. Rather, UFCR is a member of College Republicans of America.
In UFCR’s March 24 meeting, the chapter also claimed the disbandment was a reaction from UF for hosting James Fishback at an event March 11.
Although Tuesday’s meeting was initially scheduled to be a regular club meeting, the Republican candidate for Florida governor, James Fishback, made another appearance.
The UF Director of Event Services and Hotel Division of Student Life, Tara Silver, emailed the club prior to Tuesday’s meeting regarding its allowance to hold a meeting — the club said they interpreted the message to imply Fishback’s visit wasn’t permitted.
“For the reservation today, you may choose to continue with a general meeting, without the presence of Mr. Fishback, and with the limited capacity of 40 occupants, or we will cancel the reservation and work together to identify a future date that will allow the time required for the planning and permitting process,” according to a screenshot of the email posted by Fishback to X.
Fishback said the email was an affront to students’ First Amendment rights.
“I was driving home today, I said, ‘I'll just stop by and say hi.’ I didn't think it would cause the stir that it did,” Fishback said. “They are deciding who is allowed to speak on your campus. ”
Fishback brought Florida House and Senate Republican candidates Aaron Baker and Mike Wilnau with him to the hour-long meeting.
The UFCR president, Michael Andre, said the club will continue to fight for their First Amendment rights through UFCR’s lawsuit.
“Obviously, we are having this meeting anyway,” Andre said. “We were attacked once again for our First Amendment right to assemble, and our freedom of speech, but business as usual, we're just going to keep fighting.”
While the room might have been stiflingly hot, it didn’t stop students from asking Fishback questions, mostly centered around his campaign and the policies he would implement as governor. Every question was met with a round of applause, with Fishback himself calling UF his favorite college.
“If anybody asks what my favorite campus is,” Fishback said. “I’ve been here three times.”
Alyssa Pons, a 20-year-old UF environmental science sophomore, attended the meeting to learn more about Fishback’s platform and his opinions regarding wildlife conservation. She said she hopes UFCR will be reinstated because the incident does not represent the club.
“I of course do not support what happened in that image, and I don’t think that our club in general supports what happened in that image,” Pons said. “I wish there would have been a little more consideration of that fact and thought before the club was just disbanded immediately.”
Pons said she believes conservative students at UF are being treated differently than other political groups on campus.
“I often find it kind of difficult to, or even nerve racking, to speak about my opinions on campus,” Pons said. “The fact that UF didn’t really want James Fishback to be speaking at the meeting today, also that was really interesting.”
UFCR said it will continue to hold meetings despite not existing as an official UF club.
Fishback will campaign until the Republican primaries in August. According to early polling data, Fishback is trailing behind Trump-backed candidate Byron Donalds.
Contact Sara Dhorasoo at sdhorasoo@alligator.org. Contact Nevaeh Baker Harris at nbakerharris@alligator.org.
Nevaeh Baker Harris is a first-year sports and media journalism major and The Alligator's Spring 2026 Student Government reporter. In her free time, she enjoys watching medical dramas, reading horror novels, and listening to 90s rock music.
