{"id":331191,"date":"2026-07-06T21:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/331191\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T21:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:55:08","slug":"civil-rights-group-offers-support-to-fiu-students-facing-discipline-for-silent-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/331191\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil rights group offers support to FIU students facing discipline for silent protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The prominent civil rights group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has come out against Florida International University as the school moves forward with disciplining seven students<\/a> who took part in a silent protest on campus in March.<\/p>\n

Affected students have told WLRN<\/a> they feel that their freedom of speech is being trampled by the school. Longstanding precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court appears to be in the students’ favor.<\/p>\n

The students in question participated in a silent protest March 13 against the school\u2019s voluntary collaboration with federal immigration enforcement on campus. Students stood for a few minutes unveiling shirts that read \u201cICE OFF FIU,\u201d and then left the room. The silent protest took place during a \u201cfireside chat\u201d with FIU President Jeanette Nu\u00f1ez and former Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez.<\/p>\n

The school has acknowledged the silent protest did not disrupt the program, but last week it moved forward with disciplining the students under a blanket policy that no \u201cexpressive conduct\u201d can take place indoors.<\/p>\n

FIU has demanded the students make videos about the school\u2019s ban on so-called \u201cexpressive conduct\u201d that takes place indoors, the infraction the students are being charged with.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: FIU moves to discipline 7 students for ‘indoor’ silent protest on immigration policies<\/a><\/p>\n

The videos need to be \u201coriginal\u201d and \u201cthoughtful,\u201d and the school can make students record the video over and over again.<\/p>\n

FIRE says the prospect of students having to re-record videos until the school is satisfied is \u201ca totalitarian twist to an already unjustifiable disciplinary process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA public university cannot punish students for a silent protest that, by its own account, disrupted no one, and then force them to record university-approved statements to stay in good standing,\u201d said FIRE in a statement<\/a>. \u201cFIU must drop the charges, rescind the compelled \u2018reflection\u2019 video requirement, and stop trying to turn protected expression into state-scripted obedience.\u201d<\/p>\n

FIRE had already warned<\/a> FIU president Jeanette Nu\u00f1ez against pursuing the disciplinary action last month, saying the ban on \u201cexpressive conduct” indoors is overly broad and ripe for abuse.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince this case involves clothing, would a student be prohibited from wearing a Malcolm X t-shirt in a university building under the same policy? What about a Palestinian keffiyeh or an Israeli flag lapel pin? If a student wore purple for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, would that be actionable?\u201d asked FIRE in the June letter.<\/p>\n

The first amendment group has largely gained notoriety by representing conservatives on college campuses.<\/p>\n

FIU claims that its ban on indoor expression is consistent with the First Amendment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The prominent civil rights group Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has come out against Florida International…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-331191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}