As colleges and universities begin a new academic year, Attorney General Ashley Moody today reminded higher education officials in Florida of their duty to protect Jewish students from harassment, intimidation, and other incidents of antisemitism. This reminder follows radical antisemitic protests across the nation and destructive protests at colleges and universities in the previous academic year.
Attorney General Ashley Moody stated, “Last year, my office circulated a memo advising higher education officials of the zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism in our state. Florida offered an example to the rest of the country with swift action while other states witnessed their colleges and universities overtaken by chaos and, in some instances, crime. Let this serve as a reminder, there is no room in our state for lawlessness or antisemitism. As a new school year begins, we are renewing our commitment to making Florida a safe state for Jewish students.”
The letter issued by Moody noted, “In the days and months following the horrific October 7 attacks on Israel, America saw university administrators across the country utterly fail to protect Jewish students and maintain law and order. Many schools allowed encampments and demonstrations to disrupt student life and school operations...Some of these schools even tolerated overt acts of antisemitic harassment and violence. And because school administrators allowed this unconscionable conduct to continue throughout the entire school year, some universities were forced to cancel graduation ceremonies.”
The letter emphasized that in Florida, schools stood by Jewish students ensuring campuses remained institutions of education rather than "cesspools of lawlessness and hate."
Moody also reminded school officials about legal risks if they fail to uphold protections for Jewish students: “I also want to advise you that failing to protect Jewish students would create significant legal risk for Florida colleges and universities. For example, a federal court in California recently entered an injunction against UCLA after the court found that ‘Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,’ a fact the court called ‘unimaginable’ and ‘abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.’ Such failures may also put federal funding at risk.”
The letter calls for renewed commitment towards making Florida "the best state in the nation for education and the safest state for Jewish students."
Read the full letter here.
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