Another college Republican group faces fallout as antisemitism controversies mount on campuses
A disbanded college Republican group is suing the University of Florida, alleging the school violated its right to free speech by terminating the group last week over antisemitic behavior.
The University of Florida College Republicans are the latest GOP organization to face censure over racist and antisemitic messages and online posts. A group at another Florida university reportedly shared messages about ways to violently kill Black people, while a national group chat among young Republicans described rape as “epic” and included a message reading, “I love Hitler.”
The Florida organization filed a First Amendment lawsuit after the university ended its student organization status after images surfaced of an alleged member doing the Nazi salute. The university’s action came after the Florida Federation of College Republicans disbanded the chapter, the university said in a statement on X.
“In compliance with its policies, the University of Florida is in the process of deactivating the Local CR as a registered student organization,” according to the statement. “When the FFCR is ready, the university will also assist it with reactivating the Local CR under new student leadership.”
The UF College Republicans said the university had their affiliation wrong, saying that instead they are chartered by the College Republicans of America. They accused university officials of silencing them after they held an on-campus candidate forum with James Fishback, a controversial candidate for Florida’s GOP nomination for governor this year. The group did not acknowledge the image of an alleged member doing the Nazi salute.
Martin Bertao, president of the College Republicans of America, said on X Saturday the organization stood with the UF chapter.
The National Federation of College Republicans, which governs the Florida Federation of College Republicans, said on Saturday it had “multiple emails and texts” to prove the group was chartered under the organization.
“This was not about suppressing speech,” NFCR wrote on X. “The College Republicans network supports free speech, but it also has the right to decide which groups it affiliates with. The behavior that was documented was not representative of Republican principles, and the federation acted accordingly.”
Lawsuit seeks immediate reinstatement
Lake County, Florida, Commissioner and attorney Anthony Sabatini filed the lawsuit in federal court Monday on behalf of the disbanded group.
In the lawsuit, Sabatini admitted that a member “expressed a viewpoint off-campus that was alleged by some to be anti-Semitic.” But he said the member’s action wasn’t a threat or otherwise unprotected speech. He added in the lawsuit that the university ended the group’s status because of disapproval of the person’s actions.
“UF sought to justify its unlawful decision by providing a false pretext as a basis, asserting that it had acted at the behest of a third-party group, the Florida Federation of College Republicans (FFCR), a group with no authority over or affiliation with UFCR,” according to court papers.
Neither the university nor NFCR has responded to the litigation.
College, youth Republicans under fire for antisemitic, racist messages
The group isn’t alone in facing pushback for antisemitic or racist speech and behavior.
The Miami Herald published leaked WhatsApp messages on March 5 where some conservative students from Florida International University wrote about ways to violently kill Black people, described some women as whores and used an anti-Black racist slur more than 400 times. Miami-Dade Republican Party secretary Abel Carvajal created the chat.
The Herald reported some members included a county secretary, the university’s Turning Point USA president and a former college Republicans recruitment chair. The publication said that William Bejerano used a racial slur multiple times and sent messages about crucifying, beheading and dissecting Black people.
Another member, Dariel Gonzalez, used “colored” in place of “Black people” in messages, telling others to “avoid the coloreds like the plague,” and used an anti-Jewish slur in warning his peers to not “marry them and procreate.”
The Republican Party’s chair, Kevin Cooper, condemned the racist group chat and said Carvajal’s actions were inconsistent with the Republican Party. He added Carvajal was removed from the party after requesting his resignation.
“Racism, antisemitism, and hatred of any kind have no place in our party, our community, or our country, and the language that has been revealed falls far below the standard expected of anyone in a leadership role,” Cooper said in a statement.
FIU President Jeanette Nuñez said in a March 10 statement that the university reviewed more than 1,200 pages of evidence relating to the group chat. She declined to comment specifically on what disciplinary actions students received. She added that Bejerano isn’t a student, and campus police were instructed to arrest him for trespassing if he enters campus.
In another case, Young Republicans members were caught sending messages that called rape “epic,” sought to use “the greatest physiological torture methods known to man” and depicted situations where they’d lure people into gas chambers. Several members lost jobs or had offers rescinded since the chat leaked.
Politico first reported about the chat’s existence. The publication said the chats involved millennial and Gen Z Republicans from Arizona, Kansas, New York and Vermont. It said more than 2,900 pages of the chats were created between early January and mid-August of 2025.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
