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Florida governor Ron DeSantis and state university system chancellor Ray Rodrigues are encouraging Jewish students facing antisemitism on their college campuses to transfer to universities in Florida, The Tampa Bay Times reported. During DeSantis’s State of the State speech Tuesday, he said Florida would welcome Jewish students from around the country “with open arms.”
Soon after, Rodrigues signed an emergency order “to remove barriers for undergraduate students who are seeking to transfer to a Florida university because of a well-founded fear of antisemitic or other religious discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or violence at an out-of-state, degree-granting, accredited institution, within the United States.”
The order suspends certain admissions requirements for those students and mandates that universities waive application deadlines and expedite the review of their applications. It also allows universities to offer qualifying students out-of-state tuition and fee waivers if financial hardship is a barrier to them transferring into Florida.
Each institution will be responsible for verifying that a transferring student “has suffered, is currently suffering, or credibly fears suffering future discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or violence, either at their current institution or with a substantial nexus to their current institution, on the basis of religion.” That could require applicants to submit evidence of discriminatory treatment in the form of a written statement, recordings or photographs, official records, or any other relevant materials.
