MIAMI – Florida’s successful efforts to limit how race, racism and even history can be discussed in college classrooms is shaping life at Florida International University, where students and professors say a climate of fear is stifling open dialogue even as they deal with the aftermath of a racist group chat scandal.

In the weeks after a group chat for conservative students set up by the secretary of Miami-Dade County’s Republican Party was revealed to have participants using variations of the N-word 400 times and calling for violence against Black people, many Black students are still reeling from the hateful language found in the chat, fearing for their safety and calling for consequences for those involved.

Interviews with more than a half-dozen Black students describe a campus where racist incidents and microaggressions feel routine and where meaningful conversations about race are increasingly constrained. Historian and former FIU professor Marvin Dunn and FIU sociology professor Zachary Levenson said that atmosphere reflects a broader “chilling effect” in Florida, where both students and faculty feel pressure to avoid frank discussions about racism.

Michaela Bell, the political activism chair for the campus group SISTUHS — an organization that addresses economic prosperity, equality and human rights, and health equity — told the Miami Herald the spaces to have conversations about race are very limited, and while they are happening among Black students, she believes there should be a wider conversation about race and the microaggressions Black students have experienced.

“There are real conversations that need to be had. We need to know that we’re safe on campus no matter where we turn,” she said.

In a statement, FIU President Jeanette Nuñez said the university has initiated charges against members of the chat based on violations of its non-discrimination regulation and the student code of conduct. Those potential violations include “harassment, engaging in threats, and interfering with the rights of others.” The school has declined to provide further information about its investigation, citing federal student privacy rights.

“The administration and our Board of Trustees will not accept, tolerate, or condone any form of racism and antisemitism at FIU,” Nuñez said. “It saddens me that our university has had to contend with this situation, and I commit to do everything in my power to ensure continued safety for all students, faculty, and staff at FIU.”

Some of the Black students who spoke with the Herald said Nuñez’s statement didn’t offer much comfort and that many feel their thoughts and feelings go unheard on a campus that has made it increasingly difficult to have any meaningful conversations about their experiences, particularly ones that center race.

Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida has moved to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programs while restricting classes, trainings and campus events that center on race, part of a broader effort to reshape how universities address issues of racism and inequality. Most recently, the state introduced a new curricular framework for sociology classes that features a heavily edited version of Florida’s existing sociology textbook that removed nearly 400 pages related to race, class and gender.

Students told the Herald that Nuñez, a former lieutenant governor under DeSantis, has held closed-door meetings with select student leaders to discuss the recent chat messages, but there hasn’t been a larger conversation. Students said they have always experienced microaggressions, but lately it’s been more aggressive.

Victoria Beaulieu, vice president of Caribco, a student organization dedicated to addressing the needs of Caribbean communities, said tensions have been high.

“Many of the Black organizations on this campus feel like there’s no longer a dedicated space for us that provides the advocacy and the safe space that we need,” she said. “Because of that, we’ve had to rely on each other, instead of having a department for leadership that we can turn to for guidance and protection.”

Heightened fear

Dunn, who taught at FIU for more than 35 years, said the campus he once found welcoming has changed, pointing to state laws limiting how Black history is taught. Dunn, who hosts unofficial Black history lessons under a tree on FIU’s campus, said he’s seen officers standing nearby as he has held those lessons and, in some cases, have taken photos of him and his attendees.

“It’s a dark place because of the extensive fear among the faculty and students about speaking out on issues that are not popular with the current administration on campus and in Tallahassee,” he said of FIU, where he taught psychology. “There’s the sense that one dares not veer off the predicted script, particularly as it comes to race. It is, I think, just a betrayal of the basic founding principle of that institution.”

For some Black students, the leaked group chat heightened concerns about safety at a time when they say racism feels more overt.

“It just makes me more cognizant that people around me probably share these same views,” said Victorya Devero, a senior from North Miami. Devero said the comments were jarring but not exactly surprising, given the current political climate on campus.

“Black people mind their business, especially on this campus, or in general, honestly,” she said. “The animosity feels very weird. There’s nothing that would warrant those sorts of comments, especially from FIU students.”

Cassandra Zamor, a third-year law student, said she was “disheartened” to learn her classmate Abel Carvajal, Miami-Dade County Republican Party secretary, was involved. Carvajal started the chat and deleted some messages but has not stepped down, despite expressing regrets about his involvement. “This was someone who I interacted with, someone who I had the utmost respect for,” Zamor said.

With just a handful of Black students in her graduating class, Zamor said the comments only added fuel to the tension they already experience on campus.

“We’re already the minority. We’re already marginalized,” she said. “These hateful comments are unnecessary. We’re trying to make it, just like everyone else is.”

For some students, such as Bell, the SISTUHS chair, the messages speak to broader issues of what it’s like to be Black in Miami, where she said she experiences racial microaggressions and has slurs used in front of her, particularly the N-word.

“There would always be that one person that would say it, but when I got to Miami, I just felt like it really escalated,” said Bell, who is from Broward County. “It jumped up in numbers of the amount of people who say something racist or will give you dirty looks.”

Devero, the senior from North Miami, said she generally feels safe on campus, in part because she sticks close to other Black students. She is hyper-aware that their presence on campus is being “heavily watched.”

“If Black people are laughing a little too hard, they’re being way too loud. Or if you’re too quiet, they’re suspicious,” she said. “There’s always something that’s being questioned. Even if the next person probably isn’t thinking anything, it just subconsciously adjusts to that because of that expectation that something may happen or you may be perceived negatively in that kind of regard.”

Carlton Daley, co-president of FIU’s Young Democratic Socialists of America, called the group chat messages disturbing but unsurprising. He is pushing for a town hall and disciplinary action against those involved.

“They explicitly talked about ways to kill Black people,” Daley said. “That has to be taken seriously.”

Talking about racism is off the table

Levenson, the sociology professor, said when you don’t discuss racism and the way it functions, you lose the ability to talk about the context in which people study and live.

“As we’ve seen with the leaked chat that came out, this is something that’s being framed as a few bad apples,” he said. “It’s not around, why is it that two or three organizations on this campus have repeatedly had group chats leaked calling for the deaths of Black people, of Jews, of too many categories to even enumerate at this point?” There was a similar incident in 2018 where offensive, racist chat messages surfaced from FIU’s chapter of the conservative Turning Point USA group, Levenson noted.

Dunn said avoiding conversations about race and racism makes Black students feel like their history is unimportant. “The result is a chilling effect on Black aspirations, on Black hope, on the sense that one is safe as an American, because now skin color defines you in a way that really has not been the case for some decades. It used to be a cool thing to be Black. Now, it’s a risky thing.”

Levenson echoed those sentiments, saying it feels as if society and the university are at a time when “we see the return of open, unabashed calls for racial violence.”

“We’re simultaneously being told that talking about intentional racism is off the table and, in fact, illegal in the classroom,” he said, adding he has had to challenge denials to two events he organized, including one focused on the Black and white education gap. Both were flagged for having “Black” in the title or description.

“The very fact that it was flagged ... it’s pretty preposterous,” he said.

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