USF president says student protesters caused an ‘active shooter’ response from staff

In a video obtained by Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, USF President Rhea Law spoke to faculty members about the five students facing possible criminal charges, loss of employment, and expulsion for protesting last month. The footage is of Law speaking during the monthly virtual faculty senate meeting on April 19.

“I just heard yesterday that some of the people in the Patel Center, that were right adjacent to where this was happening, actually barricaded their doors because they were afraid that this was an active shooter situation,” Law said. “They didn’t know what was going on. So it was not insignificant.”

Her comments come after four students were arrested on March 6, when 20 people from the Tampa Bay Students for Democratic Society (SDS) held a rally for diversity outside Law’s office. Video of law enforcement grabbing protestors went viral and the group was dubbed the “Tampa 4.”

“What took place at the Patel Center that day is not something that anyone wants to see on our campuses,” Law said in the video. “We had a protest group that was disrupting normal business activities inside the building, they were asked to leave multiple times, they did not leave. Unfortunately, there was a physical altercation with the police.”

CL reached out to Law for comment on this story but hadn’t heard anything as of this article.

Campus worker Chrisley Carpio and students Gia Davila, Laura Rodriguez and Jeanie Kida were arrested last month and held in Orient Road Jail until making bail. All are charged with felony assault on a police officer, along with misdemeanors for resisting an officer without violence and penalty for disruption of an educational institution.

Yesterday Carpio was fired by USF as a result of the protests. Carpio plans to file a grievance with her union in response.

Davila faces an additional misdemeanor for trespassing. Now an additional student, Lauren Pinero, could retroactively face charges. USF PD stands by its charges and confirmed so with CL via email.

“USF PD can confirm that a fifth individual is facing charges related to the March 6 protests that occurred on the Tampa campus,” USF PD’s Mike Lavelle told CL. “Those charges were filed directly with the State Attorney’s Office.”

Both Pinero and Davila are seniors at USF, but may not graduate despite being in good academic standing. The university alleges they have seven code of conduct violations. Law’s comments could constitute a conflict of interest in whether Pinero, Davila and others get a fair hearing from the university. Faculty and students make up the panel of people deciding whether they will be expelled for code of conduct violations. It’s not known whether faculty at last week’s meeting with Law will also make decisions regarding Davila and Pinero’s fates this week.

The original protest was in response to HB 999, introduced by Governor Ron DeSantis to further dictate curriculum, and potentially ban college majors like Women and Gender studies or fields that discuss issues of Race.

“It’s not the content and what they were concerned about, they were concerned about this legislation…we were concerned about it too,” Law said in the video. “But we were working on it, hopefully in a productive way to get a result that we can all live with. They, on the other hand, were being disruptive.”

Multiple videos of the March 6 incident call into question the police claims that students assaulted law enforcement. Law told faculty they worked with the student government to make sure, “people are aware of the parameters of free speech.”

For Law that means, “You cannot be disruptive and you cannot obviously get into a physical altercation in order to make an effort.”

Law isn’t the first USF president to silence dissent under pressure from the state. From 1956-1965, the newly formed Florida Legislative Investigative Committee was chaired by segregationist Senator Charley Johns. Dubbed the Johns Committee, the group tasked themselves with removing Communists, LGBTQ, atheists, or anyone subversive from academia. USF’s first president John Allen used intimidation and lies to “root out” subversives under direction from the state. Sixty years later, USF students face expulsion alongside possible criminal charges from the state for protesting for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the college.

According to the students attorney Michelle Lambo, charges have been filed by the State Attorney’s Office for the 13th Judicial Circuit (SAO13) as of Monday.

SDS also alleges that Chief Daniel groped Davila during the arrest. Davila says the group was offered a deal to avoid criminal charges if they wrote letters apologizing to the individual officers claiming they were assaulted.

“They’re asking me to apologize to the person who sexually assaulted me while I was held down on the ground by other cops,” Davila said. “And we’re not going to do that.”

Regarding the deal offered, Maloney told CL, “I cannot confirm the information you provided as there is still an open investigation.”

Yesterday, USF published its report on the protests and Law released her action plan, which now includes body cameras for all USF PD moving forward.

Conduct hearings for Davila and Pinero are scheduled for today and tomorrow.

This article appears in Apr 20-26, 2023.