A Florida State University graduate student says she was pulled from a required social work internship at the university's Victim Advocate Program after a supervisor cited an Instagram video showing her chanting at a campus protest — a termination that has now become a rallying point for student activists who call it retaliation against organizers. Mariana Guimaraes, who started her Master's of Social Work clinical internship at the Victim Advocate Program earlier this year, was removed from the position on September 10.
According to the Miami Herald, Guimaraes says her supervisor pointed to footage of her and other Tallahassee Students for a Democratic Society members chanting “Shame on FSU” and “Dare to struggle, dare to win” during a campus demonstration. Per Guimaraes's account of the conversation, the supervisor questioned whether she could be trusted with confidential patient information and said her actions had damaged the program's relationship with campus partners. The Victim Advocate Program, affiliated with FSU's Department of Student Support and Transitions, provides 24-hour confidential assistance, crisis support, safe lodging, and help with legal and medical processes to students, faculty, and staff affected by a traumatic or victimizing event, according to the Florida State University Department of Student Support and Transitions.
Guimaraes, who also served as SDS vice president and emceed a protest on the first day of her internship, told the Herald she was not aware of any staff policy barring political speech or protest attendance. She said she never received a physical termination letter and called the move “This is a clear escalation on student activists at FSU, causing a huge strain on my academic opportunity.” FSU spokesperson Amy Farnum-Patronis said interns in the Victim Advocate Program must follow ethical and professional standards and sign a confidentiality agreement, and noted that such internships — coordinated through FSU's College of Social Work — are courtesy appointments rather than paid positions, with no employment relationship to the university.
A Degree Now Hanging In The Balance
Guimaraes had completed a background check and fingerprinting before starting the placement. She said her social work degree requires an internship placement to graduate, and that she will not be able to finish her program without securing another one in time. She said she now plans to find a new internship and continue her social work studies, while Tallahassee SDS members say they hope to see her reinstated at the Victim Advocate Program.
Tallahassee SDS hosted a rally over the termination on September 22, framing it alongside what members described as rape culture at FSU — a cause the group has organized around since at least April 2013, when it co-hosted a march from Oglesby Union to Landis Green with campus feminist groups, according to Fight Back! News. Attendees marched from the Integration Statue to the front of the Westcott Building, chanting “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now,” and at one point left an Institute for Governance and Civics talk during an event featuring Boris Johnson.
Rally Pushed Off Campus After Dark
FSU moved the rally off campus after sunset, citing university rules that limit outdoor events to the hours between sunrise and sundown unless prior approval is granted, per Florida State University Board of Trustees regulations. FSU's rules separately allow amplification equipment outdoors only under provisions requiring reasonable sound levels and no interruption of academic processes. Glueck also mentioned a “brainrot contest” hosted by Ashton Herndon that used amplified sound.
SDS co-president Jadyn Glueck said fellow member Lane Dorsey was arrested after chanting the names of two shooting victims, according to Glueck's account. Tally SDS members say they view Guimaraes's termination as further evidence that FSU administration and the FSU Police Department are working to undermine the group's activism. Guimaraes said students should not face repression and retaliation simply for demanding better from the university.
Part Of A Longer Pattern Of Friction
The dispute lands amid a broader stretch of tension between FSU leadership and Tallahassee SDS. In August, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression sent a formal letter demanding FSU drop code-of-conduct charges against Tallahassee SDS and individual members over flyers criticizing the university's handling of campus sexual assault allegations, after administrators ordered members to leave a June university fair and later filed charges without disclosing evidence, according to FIRE.
That followed FSU's January 2024 suspension of Tallahassee SDS's status as a Registered Student Organization, which the university's Department of Student Conduct and Community Standards imposed after members interrupted a November 2023 Board of Trustees meeting with pro-Palestinian chants, as reported by Campus Reform. The group has also protested FSU's 287(g) agreement with ICE, per Fight Back! News. A pro-Palestinian tent demonstration took place on Landis Green in April 2024.
For now, Guimaraes's path to graduation depends on finding a new placement, while Tallahassee SDS continues to press FSU over what its members call a pattern of retaliation against student organizers.
