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Students react to DeSantis push to protect campus free speech

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — We are taking an in-depth look at a recent announcement by Governor Ron DeSantis.

He's focused on a plan to protect free speech on public college campuses in Florida. It's a plan being met with mixed reactions.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is taking a stance on free speech and calling on the presidents of public colleges and universities to welcome almost any speaker.

"In an academic institutions where you have a speakers expressing ideas, there's no room for a hecklers veto where you simply shout down and scream down a speaker so that they can not articulate views," said DeSantis.

Some students at Florida A&M University don't agree with this move.

"It's trumping our right to say 'hey, this idea could do change or campus or cause harm,'" said one FAMU student.

DeSantis is receiving support from some university presidents, including Florida State University President John Thrasher.

"The university is not engaged in making ideas safe for students, it's engaged in making students safe for ideas," said Thrasher.

But FAMU students want those safe zones protected.

"I think that's a very Utopian idea. I think that it's possible for us to cultivate the safe spaces that we already have," said another FAMU student.

And as for addressing for those opposing opinions.

"To me, the best way is to simply combat that with speech to show that their wrong," said DeSantis.

You can head over to Jada Williams' Facebook page to voice your opinion on the subject in her poll.