University of Florida banned Krishna Lunch: students ask whether Club 108 is an attempt to get around it

Seven weeks after the University of Florida ended Krishna Lunch’s 55-year run on campus, a student newspaper went looking for the devotees behind a new “inner connection” club. The club first denied any link to Krishna House, then both sides confirmed one, each on its own terms. Here is the whole story, from the February crash to the October exchange, with the paper’s case and the devotees’ answers side by side.

GAINESVILLE, Florida — Krishna House, the ISKCON centre three blocks from the University of Florida (UF) campus, and a newly registered student organisation called Club 108 have both acknowledged that they are affiliated, according to a first-person investigative piece published on 6 October in The Florida Finibus, an independent student publication at the university.^[1] A Club 108 representative had denied any association when the paper first asked in September; the club’s president now says that answer was inaccurate but not meant to deceive. Krishna House says its help has been limited to food and volunteers and that the club is not an ISKCON operation. Neither organisation has posted about the matter on its own channels.

Fifty-five years on the Plaza

Krishna Lunch is one of ISKCON’s oldest college outreach programmes. It began in 1971, after Srila Prabhupada encouraged devotees in Gainesville to chant and distribute prasadam at the university, and he visited the campus himself that July. For more than five decades, devotees from Krishna House served vegetarian and vegan lunches on the Plaza of the Americas, often to the sound of kirtan, reaching about 1,000 plates a weekday at the programme’s peak. When the plaza was renovated, alumni and supporters of the programme contributed USD 200,000, and the corridor where the meals were served was named “Krishna Lunch Lane”, with a plaque commemorating Prabhupada’s visit.^[5]

The crash and the ban

On 23 February 2026, a Krishna Lunch box truck struck a female student at a crosswalk near Buckman Drive and University Avenue. She was taken to hospital with multiple broken bones.^[4] Krishna Lunch paused its campus service the next day and issued a statement:

“We are deeply saddened by the accident that occurred on campus involving one of our drivers and a student. Our hearts and prayers are with the student and her family during this extremely difficult time. … Krishna Lunch is temporarily pausing campus service. There will be lunch served at the Krishna House.”

Krishna Lunch statement, 24 February 2026, as reported by ISKCON News^[4]

The university suspended the programme “until further notice”. A student petition to bring it back circulated in June.^[8] Then, on 19 August, UF Vice President for Business Affairs Brandi Renton emailed the organisation that its memorandum of understanding with the university had been terminated and that it was no longer authorised to operate on campus. No reason was given.^[2] Krishna Lunch senior adviser Bob Cohen told The Independent Florida Alligator that the university had refused to talk since the accident:

“We said, ‘OK, give it some cooling off time,’ and [UF] refused to talk to us. Finally, I wrote them again and again … They sent a letter saying, ‘Don’t come back,’ and nobody will talk or discuss it with us.”

Bob Cohen, Krishna Lunch senior adviser, to The Independent Florida Alligator^[2]

Three local attorneys offered to pursue a religious-freedom lawsuit without charge, but by September the organisation had put the idea on hold.^[9] Instead, on 1 September it launched Krishna To Go, a pre-order service with pickup points on campus, and continued serving lunch at Krishna House itself. “Same Krishna Lunch. Same recipes. Same volunteers. A new way to serve our UF community,” Krishna House staff said in a statement carried by ISKCON News.^[5]

Student opinion on the ban was divided. Some told the Alligator the decision was justified and complained that volunteers had pressed students for “donations” for a meal that was free on request; others said the campus had lost its most affordable lunch.^[2]

A new club appears

At the start of the autumn semester a new registered student organisation began tabling and posting on Instagram under the name Club 108, with the motto “for inner connection”. Its Instagram bio describes it as “a registered club at @uflorida for students”, “a space for connection and self-discovery”, offering “meditation, wisdom talks” and more. The first posts show a 7 September evening of breath work and vinyasa yoga led by one Brandon, followed by a “hot picnic dinner”, a 21 September talk by Dr. Raj Hegde on “the science of stillness”, and a 5 October talk by Dr. Vasudev Das on “The Happiness Equation: Why Success Alone Is Not Enough”.^[7]

On 21 September The Florida Finibus published an article asking whether Krishna Lunch was back on campus in a new form. According to its own later summary, the paper reported that:^[1]

• the club’s GroupMe chat was administered by people who did not appear to be current UF students, one of whom had been photographed distributing Hare Krishna literature on campus before the club existed;
• its first guest speaker had a documented history as an ISKCON monk and leader, and another advertised speaker was a long-standing Krishna House figure;
• someone associated with Krishna House brought food to a club meeting;
• the club’s tabling sign used the slogan “Spiritual Inclusion, Not Religious Bigotry”, which had been displayed outside Krishna Lunch in February 2025;
• the club’s Instagram account followed Krishna House Gainesville, Krishna House Dallas, Krishna House Philly, Krishna Village, Krishna West Gainesville and a Krishna-conscious meme page.

When the paper asked, a Club 108 representative denied any association with Krishna House. A representative also explained the club’s name by its meeting room, Matherly Hall room 108.

The article was shared the same day on the university’s Reddit forum, where several commenters said the club’s members were recognisable as former Krishna Lunch volunteers and called it a front. One commenter, writing as a member of the club, took a different line:

“I’m a part of the club and yeah it has some people Hare Krishna students who organize, myself included and we aims to be an open spiritual space … The club has affiliation with Hare Krishna’s but it aims to be beyond that. And yeah it doesn’t surprise me that one of my friends would deny official club affiliation.”

Anonymous commenter on r/ufl, 22 September 2026^[6]

Other students in the same thread defended the devotees. One wrote that every Hare Krishna they had met was “nice”, that “they invite you to the Krishna house and that’s it”, and asked why anyone should care whether a meditation club was run by Krishna people. Another argued that the Krishnas had “co-existed in Gainesville for more than 50 years without intentionally causing any disruption, and probably don’t deserve to be investigated like a criminal group”, and that singling out one club with a religious tie, when many UF clubs have one, showed bias. A third pointed out that the paper had not asked Krishna House for comment before its first article and had wrongly implied the club’s president was not an enrolled student; the Finibus’s second article does not repeat that implication.^[6]

What changed after the first article

The Finibus says the club reacted to its first article within 48 hours by unfollowing every one of the Krishna-related Instagram accounts it had listed. An advertised 28 September talk by Carl Woodham, a longtime Krishna House adviser, was called off in the GroupMe four hours before the meeting. The club’s meetings moved from Matherly 108 to Leigh Hall room 207. The paper presents these as a pattern of concealment while conceding that “there may be a basic explanation” for the room change, such as availability, and that “there is nothing inherently contradictory or wrong about an interfaith organization hosting Hare Krishna speakers.”^[1]

The paper also found that the club’s Instagram account had been created in 2019, although the club was new. A commenter on the Finibus’s own Instagram, identified by a source as a photographer connected to Krishna devotional activities, explained that the account had changed its username three times and had previously belonged to “a diff completely unrelated program back in IL” before being repurposed for Club 108.

The club’s next advertised speaker after the article, Dr. Vasudev Das, also known as B.V. Swami, has a publicly available CV listing service as president of ISKCON Lagos and academic outreach for ISKCON New Jersey, the paper noted. The yoga teacher at the club’s 7 September meeting, Brandon Morgan, is described on his own Facebook profile as a Hare Krishna monk.^[1]

Both presidents confirm the link

After the first article, the Finibus wrote to Club 108 president Kiara Cazares and Krishna House president Adi Syama. Both answered, and both confirmed the affiliation while drawing its limits.

“While Club 108 maintains some affiliation with Krishna House, it remains open to partnerships and affiliations with other organizations as well. … Support from Krishna House has been limited to occasional meal provisions for meetings and voluntary assistance from individual members for the club. … Club108 is not operated as a Hare Krishna, Krishna House, or ISKCON entity.”

Adi Syama, president of Krishna House, to The Florida Finibus^[1]

Cazares told the paper that the earlier denial “didn’t accurately characterize the club’s goals or purpose”, though she did not believe there had been any intention to deceive. According to the report, she said she has been “a member of the Krishna House community since 2022”, is “initiated within ISKCON”, has volunteered with Krishna House, and invited speakers “through relationships I have within the broader Hare Krishna community”. She named three friends from Krishna House who help administer or support the club, confirmed that “Krishna House has provided Club 108 with books and food”, and said the club has petitioned the university to recognise its Krishna House affiliation in its constitution.^[1]

Cazares framed the club as deliberately broader than its founders’ own faith. When reshaping the organisation, she told the paper, she wanted “a space to welcome a wider range of spiritual, religious, philosophical, and nonreligious perspectives”, and a member on Reddit said it was inviting “nuns and speakers from different backgrounds”. The petition to have UF record the Krishna House affiliation in the club’s constitution, if granted, would make the link part of the university’s own registry.^[1][6]

She also gave a different account of the club’s name. Rather than the meeting room, she said, she chose 108 because it “holds special significance to me”: she meditates with 108 mala beads daily, and the number carries “esoteric significance within the Hare Krishna tradition”. Meeting in room 108 was a “fun opportunity” that followed the name.

“Students deserve to know what they are joining”

The Finibus’s remaining complaint is not the link itself, which the author says does not make the club illegitimate, but that the link is not spelled out to the students the club recruits. Krishna House’s answer is that the club is a student initiative it supports rather than something it runs; the club’s answer is that it has asked the university to put the affiliation on record. As of 5 October, it found no mention of Krishna House in the club’s “Who We Are” materials, Instagram bio or GroupMe, and attendees told the paper the affiliation had not been announced at meetings. At the time of writing the Instagram bio still describes the club only as a registered UF club for meditation and wisdom talks.^[7]

“None of that makes Club 108 illegitimate nor does it mean students shouldn’t join, but students deserve to know what they are joining. … If Club 108 is proud of its affiliation with Krishna House, put it in the bio. Include it in the ‘Who We Are’ presentation. Tell students at the meetings. … The question is why students had to read an article to find out.”

Michael O’Malley, The Florida Finibus, 6 October 2026^[1]

The author closed by quoting Cazares’s own words back to her: “It’s important that students receive informed consent about the organizations they’re exploring and choosing to participate in.”

Where things stand

The Finibus report includes responses from both Krishna House and Club 108, quoted above. Beyond those, neither organisation has addressed the matter publicly. As of 8 October, 00:30 UTC, Krishna House’s Facebook page had not mentioned the club or the report, the Krishna Lunch and Krishna House websites carried nothing about it, and no ISKCON body had issued a statement. ISKCON News has covered the Krishna Lunch suspension and the launch of Krishna To Go, but not Club 108.^[4][5]

A note on the source. The Florida Finibus describes itself as an independent, student-run publication; its 6 October piece is written in the first person by a third-year student and argues a case rather than reporting neutrally, and this article quotes its findings as the paper’s claims, not as established facts. Its first article on the club, dated 21 September, was not accessible on the paper’s website at the time of writing and is summarised here as the second article describes it. Akincana Gocara has not independently verified the paper’s account of the club’s GroupMe, Instagram history or speakers.

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Sources

1. Michael O’Malley, “Krishna House and Club 108 Confirm Affiliation”, The Florida Finibus, 6 October 2026. thefloridafinibus.com/articles/krishna-house-and-club-108-co… (archived copy)
2. Sofia Garcia, “Krishna lunch banned from UF campus after operating for over 50 years”, The Independent Florida Alligator, August 2026. alligator.org/article/2026/08/krishna-lunch-banned-from-uf-c…
3. “UF ends contract allowing Krishna Lunch on campus, group’s adviser says”, WUFT, 27 August 2026. wuft.org/heard-on-wuft-fm/2026-08-27/uf-ends-contract-allowi…
4. “Krishna Lunch Service at UF Paused Pending Review”, ISKCON News, 6 March 2026. iskconnews.org/krishna-lunch-service-at-uf-paused-pending-re…
5. “Krishna Lunch Finds New Ways to Continue Serving Gainesville”, ISKCON News, 1 September 2026. iskconnews.org/krishna-lunch-finds-new-ways-to-continue-serv…
6. “Club 108: Is Krishna Lunch Back on Campus?”, discussion thread on r/ufl, 21–22 September 2026. reddit.com/r/ufl/comments/1wmios8/
7. Club 108 (@club108uf) on Instagram, profile and posts of 7 September to 5 October 2026. instagram.com/club108uf/
8. “Petition gains traction to revive Krishna Lunch at UF amid university’s silence”, Main Street Daily News, June 2026. mainstreetdailynews.com/news/petition-revive-krishna-lunch-u…
9. “Krishna To Go brings Krishna Lunch meals back to UF’s campus”, Main Street Daily News, September 2026. mainstreetdailynews.com/news/krishna-to-go-university-florid…