'We did not resist': Naples UF student handed three-year suspension after pro-Palestine protest
Parker Hovis, 26, was among five students who received a three-year suspension.
Tomas Rodriguez
A Naples man who was among nine protesters arrested by law enforcement at the University of Florida campus in late April during a pro-Palestine protest says he continues to fight the charges, hinting at other similar cases nationally where students have had their charges dropped.
Parker Stanley Hovis, 26, a computer science major who faces charges of trespassing and resisting without violence, has been handed a three-year suspension from the university.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza, including more than 20,000 children, since the Israel-Hamas war began Oct. 7 in Gaza. The war's death total is 38,000.
Hovis is one of seven college students who have been disciplined. Six of the arrested students were from the University of Florida, while one of them was enrolled at Santa Fe College, a two-year college also in Gainesville. Two community members were also detained, bringing the tally to nine arrestees.
Hovis is among five of those students who have received a three-year suspension.
"We did not resist arrest, and we are prepared to fight our charges," Hovis wrote in a statement shared with the Daily News. "We're standing in solidarity with each other, and collectively demanding that the state drop the charges against us. We will not sit idly by while our rights to peaceful expression, speech, and assembly are criminalized."
Hovis previously told the Daily News that "UF officials' primary concern has been suppressing students and community members" exercising their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and expression.
At least 20 officers from the Gainesville Police Department, the University of Florida Police Department and the Florida Highway Patrol were at the protest site. Protesters were yelling at police during the detainment process.
Messages written in chalk on the sidewalk said, "It's not a war, it's genocide," and "UF divest now."
Protesters gathered at the plaza since April 24. Hovis and the other students were arrested April 29.
The group of protesters gathered just before 9 p.m. April 29 in front of police stationed outside Peabody Hall. Chants included, "Let them go" and "UFPD, KKK, IDF they're all the same."
At the same time, protesters were seemingly unaware that the nine people detained were chained together and being loaded into an Alachua County Sheriff's Office van parked in front of Criser Hall. Various charges include failure to obey police, resisting arrest without violence, wearing a hood or mask on public property, trespassing and felony battery.
Hovis is next due in court July 23 for a pretrial conference. He declined further comment.
Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran and Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews.