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University of Florida moves to deactivate College Republicans after report of antisemitic behavior

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The University of Florida says it’s deactivating the campus College Republicans as a registered student group after being notified that some members engaged in antisemitism.

The deactivation effort at the University of Florida campus marks the second time this month that a public university in Florida has taken action against a Republican group accused of being involved in racist or antisemitic behavior.

Earlier this month, Florida International University in Miami launched an investigation into a group chat started by an official with the Miami-Dade chapter of the Republican Party that included violently racist slurs, antisemitic comments and misogynistic language. The chat involved students and several top conservative leaders at Florida International University.

Officials at the University of Florida said over the weekend that they had been informed by the Florida Federation of College Republicans that the federation had disbanded the Gainesville campus’ chapter after determining that some members had “engaged in a pattern of conduct that violated its rules and values, including a recent antisemitic gesture.”

When the Florida Federation of College Republicans is ready, the university will assist with reactivating the campus chapter under new student leadership, UF officials said in a statement.

Last fall, New York’s Republican State Committee suspended a Young Republican organization following the release of a group chat that included jokes about rape and flippant commentary on gas chambers.

Student loans to go to Treasury Department as Trump continues to dismantle Education Department

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Education Department is handing off a portion of its student loan portfolio to the Treasury Department, a first step toward shedding management of all student loans as Trump administration officials dismantle the federal education agency. Under an agreement announced Thursday, the Treasury Department will take over management of student loans whose borrowers are in default, meaning they are months behind on payments. Those loans add up to about $180 billion, or 11% of the government’s $1.7 trillion student loan portfolio. Eventually, the Treasury Department is to take responsibility for all student loans, according to the agreement. A second phase with no timeframe says Treasury will “assume operational responsibility” over non-defaulted loans, “to the extent practicable.” Breaking off the student loan operation would mark the biggest step yet in closing the department, which President Donald Trump ordered to be dismantled almost exactly a year ago. Many Americans know the department mostly for its role doling out grants and loans for college, and those streams of funding are by far the agency's largest.
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