Student groups from UF and other Florida universities conducted a sit-in outside Florida Senate President Don Gaetz’s office Monday to demand a floor vote for SB 1400.
The bill, which would allow certain undocumented students in-state tuition, suffered a setback Thursday when Senate Appropriation Chairman Joe Negron refused to hear the bill. Supporters of the bill are pressuring Gaetz to use his position to move the bill forward.
The delay has angered several student groups and divided the Republican leadership.
“The goal of the sit-in is to hold Gaetz to (his) promise he made not to block (the) bill from (a) fair vote,” said Colleen Baublitz, a UF environmental engineering student and member of Students for a Democratic Society.
Gaetz expressed his concern for the legislation in an email to his constituents.
“(The bill) casts a blanket of approval over non-citizens who are in this country without proper legal status from anywhere in the world, including countries which are caldrons of terrorism and anti-American violence,” he wrote.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush advocated for the bill, according to a news release, and said, “Punishing some students for their parents’ act by creating obstacles to a college degree isn’t in their interests or ours. I urge the Florida Senate to do the right thing for our state and Pass SB 1400.”
Students, like Mariana Castro, a 19-year-old UF interdisciplinary studies neurobiological science freshman who attended the sit-in, are outraged by Gaetz’s inaction.
“We’ve gotten this far,” she said, calling the move “cowardly.”
But supporters have found a workaround with Sen. Jack Latvala, a sponsor of the bill, who they say intends to attach SB 1400 as an amendment to other education bills that the appropriations committee intends to hear.
Students for a Democratic Society lead organizer Chrisley Carpio said she thanks Latvala “for being outspoken even (in the) face of opposition from his own party.”
[A version of this story ran on page 4 on 4/22/2014 under the headline "Students hold sit-in to demand tuition equity"]
