Tell UF No Repression: Let Student Activist Complete Her PhD

University of Florida

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/

UPDATE: Wow!! In one day we beat our goal of 1000 signatures! Thank you all so much. Can we get to 1500?

UPDATE 2: Okay that took like two seconds..! Can we get to 2000?
UPDATE 3: Thank you so much everyone! I'm gonna shoot for the moon and bump it up to 3000.
UPDATE 4: I have no words... In less than two days we reached over 4000 signatures! I have until May 17 to submit this petition to UF. I'm bumping the goal up to 5k!

UPDATE 5: I never thought we would get over 10,000 signatures! Thank you all so, so much for your support and incredibly kind comments. I think this outpouring of community support will make a big difference to UF and be important in my student conduct case. But even if not, I've gained so much strength through your lovely words. I'm going to submit this petition now!

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To: University of Florida
From: [Your Name]

On March 10, 2023, Bryn Taylor 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 never announcing himself as UF PD, he grabbed another rally attendee by the arm. Given we were surrounded by highly aggressive anti-abortion protestors, she assumed the attendee was being attacked by an anti-abortion protestor, and attempted to pull him free. She was then arrested on heavily trumped-up charges of ''aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer'' and ''resisting arrest with violence.''

As a result, she has been placed on paid administrative leave by the university and is on interim suspension from her academic work. She is a third year PhD student in the Rehabilitation Science program at UF. She studies swallowing, speech, and respiratory disorders in Parkinson's disease, as well as health disparities in neurological disease care. She has not been allowed to continue her work for two months, placing her behind in her studies and taking her away from the patients she loves to see.
She faces possible expulsion from the university. She only has one more year left before she graduates and continues her valuable work into improving the lives of people living with Parkinson's disease. The signatories of this petition want to tell UF this is not worth ruining her life over, and they want to see her complete her program.