Florida State Student Leader, Tainted by Past Antisemitic Remarks, Ousted After Court Ruling
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by Jon Victor
Ahmad Daraldik, a student government leader at Florida State University who had been criticized for making antisemitic statements, has been removed as Senate president after the Student Supreme Court voted to reinstate his predecessor in a ruling unrelated to Daraldik’s remarks.
Daraldik’s predecessor, Jack Denton, has been reinstated as Senate president as of Monday, following the student court’s finding that a June no-confidence vote in his leadership violated his rights under FSU’s regulations and the US Constitution.
Daraldik has appealed the decision to FSU’s Division of Student Affairs, he told the Tallahassee Democrat on Monday.
Denton had drawn ire from students after criticizing groups such Black Lives Matter and the American Civil Liberties Union in private comments to members of FSU’s Catholic Student Union. Denton sued Florida State University in federal court over his removal, alleging that the university failed to protect his First Amendment rights.
A federal judge ruled earlier this month that FSU did not need to reinstate Denton as Senate president, but had to continue paying him for the remainder of what would have been his term in office.
Daraldik had been serving as Senate president since Denton’s ouster. He has been harshly criticized by Jewish groups on campus and throughout the South Florida Jewish community for past antisemitic comments.
More than 10,000 people signed an online petition calling for Daraldik’s removal, citing social media posts that used the phrases “stupid jews” and “f**k Israel.”
Daraldik did not respond to an email from The Algemeiner requesting a comment for this article.
In June, the Student Senate held a no-confidence vote in Daraldik, but the motion fell short of the required two-thirds majority for it to pass. Jewish students and their allies later pushed a resolution in the Senate condemning antisemitism on campus, which passed in July after being contested by other members of the Senate.
Daraldik issued a public apology for the antisemitic comments in June, saying they were made in ignorance when he was a young teenager.
“I have since realized they were wrong and offensive,” Daraldik wrote.
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