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By Brie Stimson | Fox News<\/p>\n
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Florida Gov.\u00a0Ron DeSantis<\/a>\u00a0on Thursday balked at what he described as \u201cincredibly draconian\u201d\u00a0university<\/a>\u00a0policies in the state, claiming they punish students for attending large gatherings amid the\u00a0coronavirus<\/a>, according to reports.<\/p>\n The Republican suggested he might be open to a student \u201cbill of rights\u201d and said the state was looking into options to protect students, FOX 35 in Orlando and Politico reported.<\/p>\n The governor\u2019s comments came as some colleges across the country and in Florida have had to close their campuses soon after reopening because of coronavirus clusters attributed to student parties.<\/p>\n Some colleges, including Florida State University in Tallahassee, have threatened to suspend or even expel students who attend large parties in violation of school rules.<\/p>\n \u201cI personally think it\u2019s incredibly draconian that a student would get potentially expelled for going to a party,\u201d DeSantis said at a Tallahassee news conference about public health. \u201cThat\u2019s what college kids do.\u201d<\/p>\n In a letter to students last week, Florida State University President John Thrasher wrote, \u201cNoncompliance with the expectations outlined in our Fall 2020 plan will not be tolerated. We must demonstrate our commitment to each other and this great university by doing everything we can to stop the spread of COVID-19.\u201d<\/p>\n That included attending large gatherings and failing to isolate if a student test positive for the virus.<\/p>\n \u201cStudents should be on campus,\u201d Harvard University Medical School Professor\u00a0Dr. Martin Kulldorff, who was part of the news conference, said. \u201cThey should go. If they get sick, they should maybe stay in the dorm room until they are well if they have a cough. Colleges should operate more or less normally.\u201d<\/p>\n Florida State has seen more than 2,100 students and staff test positive since March and the University of Florida in Gainesville has had more than 700 students and staff contract the virus,\u00a0FOX 35<\/a>\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be reasonable about this and really focus the efforts on where the most significant risk is,\u201d DeSantis said, according to\u00a0Politico<\/a>.<\/p>\n By early Friday more than 201,000 Americans have died of the virus, according to the\u00a0Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n