During a March rally on the University of South Florida’s campus, three members of the Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (TBSDS) and a university staff member involved with the organization were arrested by campus police during a protest against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. In May, a fifth individual turned herself in after being issued a warrant by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department and is now facing similar charges. Now known in total as the “Tampa Five,” Chrisley Carpio (31), Gia Davila (22), Laura Rodriguez (23), Lauren Pineiro (23), and Jeanie Kida (26) could each be facing between 6 and 11 years in prison if convicted of felony charges of battery on a law enforcement officer.
All five protesters, who are being represented by criminal defense attorney Michelle Lambo, pleaded not guilty to the charges at their arraignment on May 17. Davila, who just graduated in May, tells Teen Vogue she had to drain her savings to pay $3,500 in bail funds. Carpio, who says she had never even been written up during her seven years of work for the university, believes that she was wrongfully terminated after being placed on paid administrative leave and has filed a grievance.
A representative from the University of South Florida tells Teen Vogue via email: “The University of South Florida dismissed Chrisley Carpio from employment in April for violating several university policies and standards. As Carpio is a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union, the university followed all pre-disciplinary, due process steps contained in the staff collective bargaining agreement.”
The protesters maintain they were simply expressing their discontent with the DeSantis administration's far-right agenda. In recent months, the governor, also a 2024 presidential candidate, and his administration have passed a flood of legislation that affects young Floridians. The state has banned classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades; defunded diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs at Florida public colleges; approved the concealed carry of weapons without a permit; and much more.
“DeSantis has been going on a little rampage of terror attacking LGBTQ people, immigrants, attacking diversity and Black history,” Davila says. “Being allowed to do that in silence is a lot more criminal than anything else.”
The dispute involved here dates back to a March 6 campus rally that TBSDS organized to protest the defunding of DEI programs. After convening at the university’s Marshall Student Center, protesters went inside the Patel Center for Global Solutions because they wanted to speak with university president Rhea Law to demand that the administration increase Black enrollment and the future of DEI programs, according to the Tampa Bay Times. That’s when law enforcement got involved and the situation violently escalated.
In video footage posted to TBSDS Instagram, USF's chief of police Christopher Daniel can be seen speaking to protesters, one of whom replies that they “are staying here until [they] get a meeting with the president.” Daniel grabbed Davila by the arm and, as seen from other posted footage, appears to have thrown her on the ground.
Although the footage is chaotic and difficult to make out, other officers and protesters got involved, leading to a violent scuffle that continued outside the building, off camera. An official statement released by the USF police department alleges that university employees who work in the building asked protesters to go outside before officers arrived and also asked them, multiple times, to leave.
According to a statement, “Despite the attempts of officers to peacefully de-escalate the situation and escort the protesters out of the building, several of the individuals then became aggressive and initiated physical altercations with police. One officer was pushed to the ground and suffered minor injuries, while other officers were also shoved by protesters. Protesters hit police with objects, including what officers believe was a video camera and a water bottle, and threw an unidentified liquid at officers.”
In phone interviews with Teen Vogue, Davila and Carpio allege the situation played out in a completely different way. Carpio says they walked into the building with no problem and at that point had not been told by administrators to leave. But things very quickly took a turn.
While protesters were chanting, Carpio alleges, police started grabbing students. Davila says she was thrown to the ground. Video of the incident shows that while Davila was being tackled by officers, the chief of police placed his hand on her rear end for several seconds.
“The chief of police grabbed me from behind, picked me up off the ground, and threw me face down on the ground," Davila alleges, "and then proceeded to grope me while another cop bent my arms behind me.” She is charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer without violence, disrupting a school campus or function, and trespassing in an occupied structure.
Carpio — who is charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer without violence, and disrupting a school campus or function — alleges that officers did nothing to de-escalate the situation and blocked the doors as she tried to get protesters to go back outside. After finally making it outdoors, she says, she was pushed up against a wall as officers hit her in the face and one placed an elbow to her throat. (USF police tell Teen Vogue they will not provide any further comment on the details of the allegations now that the case has been turned over to the state attorney’s office.)
“It was like kids holding cardboard signs with freaking rainbow flags on them,” Carpio recalls. “There was nothing about us that posed any kind of threat — except I guess a political threat, right?”
Tensions between the Florida legislature and citizens have increased drastically over the past two years as DeSantis has built a national platform that is based on ridding Florida of “wokeism,” a dog-whistle term for diversity that conservatives have co-opted from Black vernacular.
The “Stop WOKE” law and defunding of DEI programs will make it more difficult to be a public school teacher or a minority student in the state, many sources have told Teen Vogue during previous interviews.
Morenike Fajana, assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, says that everyone should take a step back and think about why these pieces of legislation are being passed in the first place. Fajana points to the mass protests against racism in summer 2020 and the response of Florida universities to create and expand DEI programs. Now, the legislature is working to undo the progress that was made three years ago.
But, Fajana continues, administrators, faculty, and students are going to have to think about how to promote an inclusive learning environment in a state that is very diverse. “Over 40% of Florida's residents identify as Latino or Black or Asian, so how are the universities going to make their campuses safe and inclusive for their diverse student and faculty bodies?” Fajana asks. “It's not just about conversations or discussions happening in the classroom; it's about scholarship as well. It’s about the ability to do research…. This impacts who gets tenure and who doesn't. It impacts who decides to come to Florida to study or teach in the first place.”
Says Fajana, the state should expect young people to become more vocal as they fight to retain stable learning environments. For their part, Carpio and Davila are grateful to have solidarity with other organizers and support from online petitions, but the reality of possibly facing 6 to 11 years in prison is something they don’t take lightly.
Still, both women say, they don’t regret their actions and wouldn’t do anything differently if they could go back in time. Carpio says there’s always an inherent danger from police and administration when you’re in a movement, asserting your rights, and exercising free speech. “The state attorney said that they would consider dropping the charges if we wrote down on paper that it was our fault, that we did battery, and that if we wrote apologies to all the cops,” she says. “And we all said no.”
A representative from the state attorney’s office tells Teen Vogue via email: “The state of Florida has diversion programs for certain criminal offenses that allow the defendants in the case an opportunity to avoid prosecution if specific requirements are met. There are unique requirements for every case, and they may include things like completing community service or an apology letter. If a defendant in any case is offered entrance in a diversion program but does not want to complete the requirements, the case proceeds in criminal court.”
The protesters’ next court appearance is scheduled for July 12. In the meantime, TBSDS is rallying behind them, and held a press conference on June 24 to discuss civil liberties in Florida, urging the state to drop their charges.
“The solidarity from everyone has been amazing,” Carpio says. “Instead of making people scared of protests, SDS chapters — the day we got arrested — immediately had protests in other states…. They've been fearless, and I think it's only invigorated the movement instead of putting it down.”
Correction: This article originally said that Gia Davila told the chief of campus police that protesters would not leave the Patel Center for Global Solutions until they could meet with the university president. That comment was actually made by another student.
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