Just one day after it was reinstated as an approved student organization, UF College Republicans held a meeting Tuesday night advertised with poster slogan “Deport the illegals.”
On March 14, UFCR was disbanded after members were found to have engaged in “antisemitic gestures," UF posted on X.
In the X post, UF stated it was informed by the Florida Federation of College Republicans that UFCR had been disbanded. The FFCR made the request when it found members had “engaged in a pattern of conduct that violated its rules and values, including an alleged antisemetic gesture.” It requested UF temporarily deactivate UFCR as a registered student organization until it found new leadership.
UFCR announced on Monday its return to campus on Instagram and a press release claiming victory, and their restoration as a registered student organization.
“As the largest College Republicans chapter in the nation, we are constantly under attack,” the press release said. “We are an approved organization once again. A complete and total victory.”
About 30 people attended Tuesday’s meeting, which was intended to be a get-together and start to the semester.
The meeting was originally set to be held at Piesano's Stone Fried Pizza. However, after people called the restaurant in protest, UFCR President Michael Andre said his club was tasked with finding a new meeting location.
Piesano’s staff declined to comment. It is unclear who made the decision to bar the club.
Andre said there was no reason for Piesano’s to deny the club from meeting in the restaurant.
When they arrived at their new location, The Hub on Third Avenue, he thanked attendees for their support and shared excitement about the club’s return to campus. UFCR received endorsement from Evan Power, the chair of the Republican Party of Florida, on Monday, which ultimately allowed the club to be reinstated, he said.
“[It was a] huge day,” Andre said. “The school could no longer try to bury us under bureaucracy … We finally won.”
With many speakers and events in the works, he said the organization has big plans for the year.
He emphasized the organization’s desire for people to share their opinions freely and without consequence, he said, as long as they are shared in a civil, intellectual and honest way.
“We are really, really excited to operate as the largest and the best, host the biggest events and piss off a bunch of liberals,” Andre said.
Alan Albanese, an 18-year-old UF aerospace engineering freshman, attended his first UFCR meeting Tuesday after seeing the Instagram post announcing the organization’s ban had been lifted. He said he decided to attend because of his Republican affiliation.
He added he considers himself more conservative than many other Republicans and wanted an outlet to share his views.
Albanese is Jewish, but he said he wasn’t deterred by the organization’s past antisemetic gestures.
“I try my best to support free speech,” Albanese said. “I’m not too particularly offended … It is unfortunate that people discriminate against us, but I’m willing to look past that as long as I can agree with their other values that I support.”
He said the immigration rhetoric in the meeting’s Instagram post, including the phrase “Deport the illegals,” addressed an issue he cares about. He also expressed concern about the influence of cultural and religious ideas outside of European Christianity in the United States.
“Most of our institutions have been built on European cultures, but recently seeing groups of, for example, Middle Eastern and South Asian people with completely different religions and values that don’t agree with what the majority of European Christians in America believe in … I just hope that it doesn’t sabotage [or] undermine what’s kept our country together and beautiful for so long,” Albanese said.
He suggested other cultures can become “pervasive in our society” and deliberately try to change people's belief systems, he said.
Albanese described his views as “extreme,” but he hopes to share his views and strengthen his knowledge in politics by being part of UFCR, he said.
Craig Anderson, a 28-year-old Stanford artificial intelligence and human longevity graduate, is part of the Alachua County Republican party and has gotten involved with UFCR to expand the party’s local presence.
Anderson said he’s part of UFCR because he believes in the conservative cause. He found the UFCR ban unfair even if antisemetic gestures were made, he said, and he’s happy the Alachua County Republican Party helped recharter the organization.
As advertised in the Instagram post ahead of the meeting, Anderson said, immigration enforcement is one of the causes the club advocates for. He said it would be a main focus of Monday’s meeting. No executive board member spoke about the topic during the meeting.
“The UFCR supports mass deportations,” Anderson said. “It’s a core theme of our messaging going forward.”
Now that UFCR is an approved organization again, he added, it has even more potential for success
Lairalee Ramos, the president of CHISPAS at UF said approved student organizations shouldn’t be allowed to post phrases like those found on UFCR’s Instagram post, which she thought were hateful.
CHISPAS , a UF student organization, is dedicated to giving the proper resources to immigrant students, regardless of their immigration status, including undergraduate scholarships.
Founded by UF student Grey Torrico in 2008, it’s meant to be an organization that serves the immigrant community.
“It feels like this kind of speech is very detrimental to different student populations on campus and is opposed by our organization,” Ramos said.
Ramos said UF’s campus is meant to be a supportive place to learn, and she hopes CHISPAS can maintain that supportive environment.
“Our organization is working very hard to be a place where people from all different kinds of backgrounds can come and be embraced,” she said, “and we’re going to continue being that organization.”
Contact Emily Medina-Finsen at emedina-finsen@alligator.org. Follow her on X @EmilyMedFinZ27.
Contact Angelique Rodriguez at arodriguez@alligator.org. Follow her on X @angeliquesrod.
Angelique is a UF journalism sophomore and The Alligator's Fall 2026 El Caimán editor. She was formerly a UF Graduate School and El Caiman Enterprise reporter. Now in her fourth semester at The Alligator, Angie has reported and edited stories related to the Spanish language and culture. When she's not working, you can find Angie reading, watching rom-coms and hanging out with friends.
Emily is a UF journalism senior and The Alligator's Fall 2026 El Caimán reporter. This is her second semester working with The Alligator and enjoys reporting on the community and stories surrounding Hispanic culture. Emily adores horses, teaching and riding in her spare time, adores reading and picking up new hobbies.
