It’s in the name

Gaza protestors arrested at USF | April 30

You can name a plaza for an American hero who got arrested for civil disobedience while protesting for human rights — say, MLK Plaza at the University of South Florida. Or you can arrest students for civil disobedience while protesting for human rights. But you can’t arrest students for civil disobedience in the plaza you named for the guy who championed civil disobedience. USF has totally lost the plot, and I’m a disappointed alum.

Jeff Boe, Wesley Chapel

Getting it wrong

Gaza protestors arrested at USF | April 30

As a former U.S. State Department official living in Tampa who has managed U.S. police assistance, counterterrorism, and peace and reconciliation programming, I believe that the University of South Florida administration’s approach to the student protest Monday on Palestine was all wrong. The public display of force by the USF police goes against tenants of community policing, procedural justice and just basic good policing. However, the true blame lies with the USF administration. The administration’s decision to request a show of police force was draconian and against international best practices of de-escalation. Furthermore, it did not meet its objective to stop the protest nor did it solve the underlying problem, but rather inflamed it.

What the administration should do instead is create safe spaces for facilitated dialogues where students are able to express themselves freely, but also hear opposing opinions and viewpoints. USF has an amazing faculty capable of handling these intellectual discussions. Students need an outlet to express their concerns and a fair process to feel that their viewpoints are heard. Stifling free speech does nothing good for anyone and creates further tensions and divisiveness.

If there were a group of students wishing to set up an encampment or protest until the Israeli hostages were returned, would they be met with the same brute force as the student protestors Monday? The USF administration should step up and be a role model for the rest of the U.S. Its diverse student body should be an asset rather than a hindrance to promoting peace and understanding among its students. It should promote true academic and rigorous facilitated dialogues that achieve USF’s end goals and objectives. What was the end goal of this show of force Monday?

Megan Amer, Tampa

What I saw in the ‘70s

College protestors want amnesty | April 29

In the 1970s while I was in college, the Students for a Democratic Society took over my university’s administration building, burned the ROTC building (destroying a U.S. Army major’s doctoral thesis), prevented students from entering class buildings and disrupted the learning environment for a week, all in protest of the Vietnam War. Most of these students were in graduate programs and from out of state. I was the first in my family to attend college and was paying my own way. I worked on campus and wasn’t allowed to enter the building until I stood up for myself and told six burly guys that I was working to pay my way through college and they were interfering with my right to work and my right to an education. At the end of that endless week, these protestors were escorted off campus and expelled. It’s called taking responsibility for one’s actions and paying the consequences. Campuses across the country experienced these same types of protests then and now. However, students making the choice to become violent in their “peaceful” protests also choose the consequences that the university imposes. Violence of any kind should not be condoned. Free speech is just that — speech — not violent or hate-filled rhetoric, vile language or disrupting the environment. Stand up for your beliefs but do not interrupt those students who are on campus for building their futures to becoming productive citizens in a global society.

Carol Hess, Hudson

Actions have consequences

College protesters want amnesty | April 29

Amnesty should not be given to Hamas and antisemitic college protestors who were arrested and then suspended by their college for their flagrant disregard of the college rules and regulations. If they are not given amnesty, this may very well be their best lesson learned in their college education. This is especially true if they are from an “elite” institution where they may believe they are “better” and “smarter” than others. These students are supporting a terrorist organization that brutally murdered, raped, burned alive and beheaded innocent citizens. They have also instilled hate of Jewish people in their children and have continued terrorism instead of building up the economy and education of their citizens. These college student who have been suspended by their college do not deserve amnesty. They need to learn that there is a consequence to their actions. This would be their best education from their college education.

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Robert Karp, Tampa

Try protesting this instead

College protesters want amnesty | April 29

While it is sad that innocent Gazans are suffering as a result of Hamas terrorism and leadership, Muslim protests reek of bigotry. Why have Muslims and the Arab world been mostly silent about Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s killing 500,000 of his own people, China’s imprisonment of more than 1 million Uygher Muslims, or the killing of tens of thousands of Yemeni Muslims by Saudi Arabia? Israel is their convenient scapegoat and distraction from Arab dictators’ actions, and mostly ignore the prevalence of a much, much larger problem of Muslim-on-Muslim violence throughout the world (for example, Sunni vs Shiite) and other human rights issues. Since American Muslims enjoy America’s guaranteed freedoms of speech, maybe they should use this gift to protest women’s rights repression, persecution of journalists and terrorist crimes against their own people in the countries of their origin?

Randy Osiason, Tampa

Secure your gun

St. Pete boy, 11, accidentally shot to death by brother with gun found in alley, police say | April 27

If you legally own a gun, it is your responsibility to secure it properly. Leaving it in an unlocked vehicle is irresponsible. As previously reported in the Tampa Bay Times, in 2023 79% of all auto burglaries — in Tampa alone — were to unlocked vehicles, and 197 guns were taken from cars that weren’t locked. Maybe it is time to consider a fine to the owner of a gun if it was stolen from an unlocked vehicle and used in a crime.

Frank Kaluza, Trinity

Equal justice for some

In Trump immunity case, Supreme Court doesn’t need a rule for the ages, but one for right now | Column, April 30

Written above the main entrance to the Supreme Court Building are the words “Equal Justice Under Law.” Considered inviolable, this phrase expresses the ultimate responsibility of the court. As guardians and interpreters of the Constitution, the Supreme Court is charged with making decisions based on law, not politics, ensuring that equality before the law, the bedrock of a democracy, holds all citizens, institutions and entities to account. With the apparent division among the justices over whether former President Donald Trump should receive immunity against federal charges that he tried to illegally overturn the 2020 election, the dismantling of the equal justice covenant, with the conservative majority leading the charge, may already be in the offing. The framers intended for the judiciary to be apolitical. It doesn’t seem that way now.

Jane Larkin, Tampa

Appeasement’s end

Ukraine aid shows MAGA hasn’t cowed U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson | Column, April 28

Four of Tampa Bay’s U.S. House members voted against “aid to Ukraine,” all Republicans — Scott Franklin of Lakeland, Laurel Lee of Tampa, Anna Paulina Luna of St. Petersburg and Gus Bilirakis of Palm Harbor. I put “aid to Ukraine” in quotation marks because a very significant amount of those funds will be going to U.S. companies to pay for weapons and munitions that are now on their way to Ukraine. That money is being spent here. I have tried to restrain myself from asking this question, but it needs to be stated: How stupid, how misinformed about history and military aggression, how callous can some people be to the murder of innocent men, women and children by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces? Do they not know that appeasing aggressors only feeds their appetite? Have they never read about Neville Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler and what happened as a consequence of Chamberlain’s appeasement? What happened was World War II and the Holocaust.

Richard R. Sutherland, Lakeland