‘Significant legal risk’: Ashley Moody warns colleges to protect Jewish students as school resumes

Ashley Moody is fast tracking the 15-week abortion ban to the Supreme Court.

Florida’s top cop is starting the week with a firm reminder to institutions of higher learning in the Sunshine State.

Given that the 2023-24 academic year featured anti-Israeli protests on college campuses elsewhere in the country, with at least some of them veering into antisemitism, Ashley Moody is reminding colleges and universities in Florida to refrain from playing host to “cesspools of lawlessness and hate.”

The letter to the schools is a follow-up to a communication last year to the same institutions.

“Last year, my office circulated a memo advising higher education officials of the zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism in our state. Florida offered an example to the rest of the country with swift action while other states witnessed their colleges and universities overtaken by chaos and, in some instances, crime,” Moody wrote.

“Let this serve as a reminder, there is no room in our state for lawlessness or antisemitism. As a new school year begins, we are renewing our commitment to making Florida a safe state for Jewish students.”

The letter notes potential perils for not following the path preferred by state officials.

“I also want to advise you that failing to protect Jewish students would create significant legal risk for Florida colleges and universities,” Moody added.

“For example, a federal court in California recently entered an injunction against UCLA after the court found that ‘Jewish students were excluded from portions of the UCLA campus because they refused to denounce their faith,’ a fact the court called ‘unimaginable’ and ‘abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.’ Such failures may also put federal funding at risk.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis moved earlier this year to waive transfer rules for students at elite colleges fleeing antisemitism elsewhere, saying this Spring that rather than being “targeted by these rage mobs on campus,” students “can come to Florida and … study in a good environment (and be) treated with respect.”