University of Florida president Ben Sasse touts lack of protests at graduation: 'We have rules'

Ben Sasse (Getty Images)

University of Florida President Ben Sasse bragged that his campus is free of the disruptive protests seen across the country even as graduation ceremonies are underway Sunday.

Sasse, a former Senator from Nebraska, made the comments during an appearance on CNN's State of the Union with host Jake Tapper. Sasse emphasized that students at the U of F are allowed to protest, but they still face "rules."

"What we tell all of our students, protesters and non, is, there are two things we're going to affirm over and over again. We will always defend your right to free speech and free assembly, and, also, we have time, place, and manner restrictions. You don't get to take over the whole university. People don't get to spit at cops," Sasse said.

"You don't get to barricade yourselves in buildings. You don't get to disrupt somebody else's commencement. We don't allow protests inside. I have -- on my run this morning, I ran by our group of protesters waving their Palestinian flag. We protect their right to do that, but we have rules," he continued. "One of those rules is, we don't allow camping on campus. And so you can't start to build an encampment, but our goal is not to arrest people. It's to help them get into compliance with the rules. They can protest. They can try to persuade people, but they don't get to build a camp."