Issues

Antisemitism

FSU Student Senate Upended by Social Media Posts: President Ousted, Successor Faces Outcry

Less than a week after Jack Denton, former Student Government Association (SGA) Senate President at Florida State University was removed from office for derogatory speech against the LGBTQ community, students are calling for his successor Ahmad Daraldik to also be removed.

An online petition created by someone under the username “FSU Student” calls for the removal of current FSU Senate President Daraldik from the Senate after he made what critics see as blatant anti-Semitic remarks in social media posts. The petition garnered over 3,000 signatures in three days and now stands at almost 8,000.

As the story went international, even reaching the Jerusalem Post, the university’s President John Thrasher released a statement denouncing anti-Semitism and religious discrimination on June 18. In the statement he says he met with Daraldik about the matter.

“I understand that some Jewish students and their families, as well as some faculty members, are upset and concerned and want to be sure that FSU remains a community that embraces them,” Thrasher said in the statement. “I want to pledge to them that we will stand behind our university’s stated vision of fully valuing and respecting every student, faculty and staff member.