rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/no-repression-let-student-activist-complete-her-phd?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-no-repression-let-student-activist-complete-her-phd' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> UFF-UF-GAU https://actionnetwork.org/groups/uff-uf-gau https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/430/746/normal/arrest.jpg On March 10, 2023, I was arrested on University of Florida's campus by campus police during a peaceful rally for reproductive rights. An anti-abortion hate group known as Created Equal called the UF police department, resulting in a plainclothes officer arriving to the rally unannounced. Despite myself and others around me never hearing him identify himself as UF PD nor seeing any identification that he was an officer, he grabbed another rally attendee by the arm. Given we were surrounded by highly aggressive anti-abortion protestors, I assumed the attendee was being attacked by an anti-abortion protestor, and I attempted to pull him free. I was then arrested on heavily trumped-up charges of ''aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer'' and ''resisting arrest with violence.'' As a result, I have been placed on paid administrative leave by the university and am on interim suspension from my academic work. I am a third year PhD student in the Rehabilitation Science program at UF. I study swallowing, speech, and respiratory disorders in Parkinson's disease, as well as health disparities in neurological disease care. I have not been allowed to continue my work for two months, placing me behind in my studies and taking me away from the patients I love to see. My student conduct hearing is scheduled for the end of May, and I face possible expulsion from the university. I only have one more year left before I graduate and continue my valuable work into improving the lives of people living with Parkinson's disease. Please sign this petition to tell UF this is not worth ruining my life over, and you want to see me complete my program. Relevant articles and videos of the incident: https://www.alligator.org/article/2023/03/university-police-department-detains-2-uf-student-abortion-rights-protestors https://www.gainesville.com/story/news/local/2023/03/10/created-equal-met-by-planned-parenthood-over-graphic-images-at-uf/69993220007/ https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/no-repression-let-student-activist-complete-her-phd