Shane Miller | Staff Writer
FIU Acting General Counsel Ryan Kelley stated during a Faculty Senate Committee meeting early Tuesday afternoon that FIU will not enforce Regulation 110(3), which prohibits “expressive activities such as protests” from occurring inside FIU buildings for now. This comes after an injunction was granted against FIU last week in Federal Court which prohibited them from enforcing the regulation on seven students who silently protested during a speaker event hosted by President Nuñez in March.
The students involved are members of the ICEBreakers Coalition, a collection of on campus organizations seeking to overturn the 287(g) agreement signed by FIUPD and remove ICE from FIU entirely.
Members of ICEBreakers and the ACLU gather outside Federal Court in Downtown Miami during initial hearings for ICEBreakers v. Nuñez. Photo by Candela Maceda | PantherNOW
During a speaking event in March hosted by President Nuñez with former MLB Star Alex Rodriguez, seven students silently stood in the middle of the event wearing shirts emblazoned with the words “ICE Off FIU”. The students remained for several minutes before leaving.
The students involved later faced disciplinary actions under Regulation 110(3), and were told that in order to continue taking courses at FIU they would have to make a two-minute video reflecting on their behavior.
The students refused, and with the backing of the ACLU, sued FIU and President Nuñez in federal court.
The students asked for an injunction against FIU to stop Administrators from enforcing the Regulation, which was granted by a Federal Judge in Miami last week.
UFF President Marc Weinstein declined to comment. Senior Director of Media Relations Madeline Baro provided the following comment:
“FIU values freedom of expression and supports an environment that fosters civil discourse and the respectful exchange of ideas. At the same time, the university’s responsibility is to maintain campus operations, support its educational mission, and ensure safety and access for all members of the university community. As this matter is pending litigation, we cannot comment further. We will comply with the court’s order while considering our legal options.
At the moment, we are not enforcing section 110(3).”
According to Ryan Kelley, Acting General Counsel for FIU, the University will be filing a motion to dismiss the federal case today.
ICEBreakers Representative and one of the seven students charged by FIU, Andrew Caro, provided the following statement to PantherNOW.
“I’m glad to see that our action and our legal counsel were able to make our University stop enforcing such a harmful and unconstitutional policy.”
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