MIAMI (WSVN) – Four Florida International University students argued in court that the university violated their First Amendment rights after an alleged racist group chat was leaked and resulted in their suspension or expulsion.
The two-day court hearing took place in a federal courtroom in Miami. The legal battles pit FIU and the students against each other over the punishment they received after university police received the texts.
University officials argued in court that the texts were so disturbing and disruptive that they had no choice but to punish the students. Officials said they evaluated the student handbook and the group chat messages before deciding.
In court, FIU’s attorneys called Devin Parra, assistant dean of students, as their first witness. Parra said that while speech rights are protected, he had an obligation to keep his students and community safe.
He testified that he interpreted the messages he saw as written threats, and that is why the university disciplined the students accordingly.
Anthony Sabatini, the students’ attorney, also questioned Parra, arguing that the context of the messages must be evaluated and challenging Parra’s analysis used to discipline the students, as well as the timing of the students’ suspensions or expulsions.
FIU officials also said that faculty, staff and students felt threatened by the texts, with some even refusing to attend class. They told the judge that the university was flooded with calls and emails over the messages and that there was a noticeable disruption on campus.
The Miami Herald obtained the texts and made them public in a March news article. The article’s title, “Nazi Heaven: Inside Miami Campus Racist Republicans Group Chat,” sent shockwaves throughout the community.
According to the Herald, one of the texts “used variations of the N word more than 400 times, regularly described women as whores, used slurs to talk about Jewish and gay people and mused about [Adolf] Hitler’s politics.”
After a second day of arguments, Sabatini told 7News the statements in the group chat were made in jest.
“Kids make jokes. Sometimes they make very off-color jokes, but they’re not threats,” he said.
One of the four students in the legal battle, Abel Carvajal, who started the group chat, said he’s confident that the students will prevail in this case.
“We’re very confident in the evidence and the testimony we’ve heard in the last day and a half. We think that we will prevail in this lawsuit,” he said.
When the chat was made public, Carvajal was the secretary of the Miami-Dade County Republican Party. He has since resigned.
A federal judge will determine if FIU had the legal authority to discipline the students for messages exchanged in a private chat, or whether the sanctions crossed the constitutional limits on a public university’s power to regulate expression.
Sabatini claims political opponents leaked the chat and the Herald article created a bipartisan uproar the university couldn’t ignore.
“After that, everybody was in a tizzy. FIU cowardly went back, walked back their original decision to leave the kids alone, let them live their private lives and charge them under the Student Code of Conduct, which is a violation of the United States Constitution.”
FIU attorneys did not speak to the media after Thursday’s proceedings.
The judge ordered both sides to return in mid-December for closing arguments.
Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Join our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox