TAMPA, Fla. — On Friday at the University of South Florida, people gathered on campus for a seminar on knowing your rights as a protester, followed by a prayer. It comes after this week's pro-Palestinian demonstrations and on the backdrop of USF spring commencement weekend.
“This is like a big sigh of relief. I'm just so happy to be done,” said USF graduate Kohl Pierce.
It's a moment years in the making.
"I did it, and it's over,” said Shadia Monos, a USF graduate.
"Just making sure I didn't want to trip,” said Justin Fowlkes, a graduate.
Students at USF celebrated spring commencement, receiving their diplomas after putting in years of hard work.
"It feels good,” said Fowlkes. “It was definitely a long two years, long and short, but it's great that it pays off, and you can celebrate with everyone here."
Yet in the backdrop, pro-Palestinian protests at the university have taken center stage.
13 people have been arrested since Monday.
"It doesn't really bother me. As long as it's peaceful, they can do what they want to do,” said Fowlkes.
On Friday at the campus, the Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society invited people to a "Know your Rights" seminar followed up by Friday prayers.
"We just want to make sure these students feel empowered, that they have all tools they need, and they understand the consequences of whatever action they decide to take,” said Roza Tawil, the President of the Tampa Arab and Muslim Bar Association.
Lama Alqasemi, the Secretary of the Tampa Arab and Muslim Bar Association, said number one, they're here to support the community, but from a legal aspect, they also want people to be informed of their rights.
"We're going to go through the First Amendment right, the right to free speech, a lot of people think that it's unlimited, but we’d like to at least give people a heads up about how the law might restrict that so that they can take their risks accordingly,” said Alqasemi. “We're also going to talk about some of the criminal aspects of being arrested, what that process is like."
Thursday kicked off the first of several USF graduation ceremonies through the weekend.
The University said the safety of the university community and campus visitors is their highest priority, pointing out that there's a heightened law enforcement presence on campus this week, including for their commencement ceremonies.
All protests on Friday following the prayer and seminar remained peaceful.
