Conversations on the Quad: College Students for Expression
Students at the University of South Florida in St. Petersburg want other college students to know that they have the power to make change.
I sat down with four of these students—Amanda Weakley, Elise Prophete, Kiara Henry, and Isa Perez. They recently formed College Students for Expression (CSFE) to advocate for free expression and diversity, equity, and inclusion on their campus and across the state of Florida.
Elise Prophete explained that they came together to address changes to their USF-St. Pete campus as a result of Governor DeSantis’ moves to ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the public university system. “We’ve been seeing less and less availability and space for students to voice concerns or to hold either affinity group meetings or speak about their affinity groups on flyers.” Prophete goes on, “In July 2024, we saw the removal of our pride flag, Pan-African flag, Black Lives Matter flag, and all of the international flags we had in our student center. With the removal of these, it just spoke to that censorship…on a wider scale.”
Prophete sees the removal of the flags from the USF student center as a reflection of the pervasive climate of fear caused by a clamp down on the speech of student organizations on campus. “We’ve got a list of things we can’t say,” adds Kiara Henry, a member of the executive board of the Black Student Association, referring to guidelines that the students say the university sent to student organizations listing words that should not be used in public messaging campaigns. “We can’t say diversity. We can’t even say anything about marginalized groups… It’s very frustrating because to be in higher education, you have to have these conversations. And it’s scary because by taking away people’s identity, you’re literally erasing them.”
Amanda Weakley added that the university is “trying to act in accordance with what Ron DeSantis wants.” The university’s perceived overcompliance with the wishes of the state government has affected concerned student organizations as they reckon with how they are allowed to express themselves. “A lot of the fear that we have right now is that the student orgs are going to get shut down…that the Latin American Association is going to get shut down, Asian American [Association], the Pride Alliance… We think they’re all going to get taken down slowly,” says Isa Perez. This climate of anxiety extends from student organizations to the classroom. “Even professors have expressed fear of expressing themselves in the classroom and actually having these open conversations,” Perez added.
University of South Florida phased out their DEI office in 2024, after Florida’s SB 266 (2023) banned the use of public funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in higher education. The experience of these Florida students speaks to the far-reaching impacts that DEI bans such as this one often have on campus free expression, especially when universities over-comply to align with the perceived wishes of the state government.
In the face of the anxiety that many students are feeling, College Students for Expression are speaking out and educating their peers. They created a petition to reinstall the flags in the student center (which garnered over 300 signatures), and pursued a campus-wide public messaging campaign around the clamp down on speech and diversity efforts. This includes publishing a zine featuring student’s creative responses to their frustration over the erasure of diversity on campus.
The group also prioritizes having conversations with the university administration, their peers, and community members on and off campus. Henry added, “Having those conversations with our community, with the people in our circle and even outside of our circle, is just so important.” The group also leans on coalitions on campus, in Florida, and across the country and advocates for students everywhere to stay informed about legislation that is being passed to better understand the repercussions it could have on their campuses and communities. Prophete stressed the importance of “taking opportunities to be in community with people across the state who are going through the same issues.”
The students at College Students for Expression are going to continue their advocacy beyond the summer and into the fall semester. “We’re definitely far from being done,” said Perez.
College Students for Expression encourages people interested in their work to reach out and join with their expanding coalition to fight back against educational censorship on Florida campuses. When asked what advice they would give to other college organizers, the students at CSFE encouraged their peers to stay in the fight—even when it seems like the fight is impossible. “Information is power,” said Weakley. “You don’t have to wait for things to come to you. You can go to the things that you want. You can actually make a conscious change, even if it’s one person, two people—you have a lot of influence. You have a lot more influence than you think that you have.”
