University of Florida president blasts ‘elite academia’ over pro-terror statements on college campuses

University of Florida President Ben Sasse strongly condemned the support of Hamas emanating from college campuses nationwide, warning his own students that violence and vandalism will not be tolerated.

“I will not tiptoe around this simple fact: What Hamas did is evil and there is no defense for terrorism. This shouldn’t be hard,” the former U.S. senator wrote in a statement, according to Fox News. “Sadly, too many people in elite academia have been so weakened by their moral confusion that, when they see videos of raped women, hear of a beheaded baby, or learn of a grandmother murdered in her home, the first reaction of some is to ‘provide context’ and try to blame the raped women, beheaded baby, or the murdered grandmother.” 

Sasse’s statement comes as the furor continues over controversial statements in support of Hamas by radicalized student groups at colleges and universities around the country. 

A letter by one such group was signed by 83 student organizations across campuses in the U.S., including the Georgetown University Arab Society, the National Lawyers Guild at UVA Law, Students for Socialism, Young Democratic Socialists of America at UC Berkeley, and 20 chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine.   

The pro-terror letter, which was previously available on Google Docs, has now been made private.  

Sasse said that as president of the UF system, his objective is entirely clear to him.  

“Our educational mission here begins with the recognition and explicit acknowledgment of human dignity – the same human dignity that Hamas’ terrorists openly scorn,” Sasse said, according to Fox News. “Every single human life matters.” 

The grotesque scenes coming from rural areas of Israel, where thousands of Hamas militia have killed innocent civilians, have combined with the pro-violence rhetoric coming from some student groups at U.S. universities and colleges, to put students on edge.   

The statement from the UF president comes after five students were injured in a stampede at a pro-Israel vigil on campus. 

Panic ensued after a student passed out at the vigil and shouts to call 911 were misinterpreted by attendees, said local WUFT News.  

“We have no reason to believe that there was malicious intent behind this incident,” UF’s Police Chief Linda Stump-Kurnick, told WUFT. “It was an accident that was misinterpreted by the crowd that led to panic.” 

But there is no misinterpreting Sasse’s resolve and commitment to UF students and the Constitution.  

“We will protect our students and we will protect speech,” Sasse said. “This is always true: Our Constitution protects the rights of people to make abject idiots of themselves.”   

At the same time, Sasse made clear that he fully supports the rights of Jewish students to not be terrorized on UF campuses.   

“We will protect our Jewish students from violence. If anti-Israel protests come, we will absolutely be ready to act if anyone dares to escalate beyond peaceful protest,” Sasse said, according to Outkick. “Speech is protected — violence and vandalism are not.”