UPDATE: The University of Florida College Republicans chapter announced Monday it's suing the school over the group's removal.
Anthony Sabatini, a Lake County commissioner and attorney, filed the lawsuit on the group's behalf, and posted to X that its removal is "First Amendment retaliation" and an "effort to silence the club and chill its future speech."
The lawsuit was filed in federal court against interim president Donald Landry, asking a judge to stop the enforcement of the school's decision and to restore access to facilities on the Gainesville campus.
The deactivation wasn't based on any university policy or rule, and it was only based on a member's expression of a viewpoint “which was alleged to be antisemitic,” the lawsuit said.
The university also didn't provide the College Republicans with adequate notice and didn't give the chapter an opportunity to explain its side of the story, according to the lawsuit.
JUST FILED a lawsuit on behalf of my client, the @UFCR University of Florida College Republicans, for First Amendment retaliation under 42 USC Section 1983–against @UF. The University of Florida punitively deactivated and shut down the UFCR, in response to alleged viewpoints… pic.twitter.com/hhmHSxktqV
— Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) March 16, 2026
ORIGINAL STORY: The University of Florida says it's deactivating the campus College Republicans as a registered student group after being notified that some members engaged in antisemitism.
The deactivation effort at the University of Florida campus marks the second time this month that a public university in Florida has taken action against a Republican group accused of being involved in racist or antisemitic behavior.
Earlier this month, Florida International University in Miami launched an investigation into a group chat started by an official with the Miami-Dade chapter of the Republican Party that included violently racist slurs, antisemitic comments and misogynistic language. The chat involved students and several top conservative leaders at Florida International University.
READ MORE: FIU Turning Point USA chapter president steps down amid racist group chat backlash
Officials at the University of Florida said over the weekend that they had been informed by the Florida Federation of College Republicans that the federation had disbanded the Gainesville campus' chapter after determining that some members had "engaged in a pattern of conduct that violated its rules and values, including a recent antisemitic gesture."
When the Florida Federation of College Republicans is ready, the university will assist with reactivating the campus chapter under new student leadership, UF officials said in a statement.
Last fall, New York's Republican State Committee suspended a Young Republican organization following the release of a group chat that included jokes about rape and flippant commentary on gas chambers.
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