Florida’s colleges and universities are in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s crosshairs as he pushes to follow through on his January 23 inaugural promise to make the Sunshine State the place “where woke goes to die.”

The state’s 40 public colleges and universities — 10 of which allow students to pursue degrees in African American studies, Latinx studies, ethnic studies and gender studies — are facing an impending attack from House Bill 999. The bill, a right-wing legislative wish list of curricular and staffing changes, could, if passed, alter higher education in Florida. Meanwhile, DeSantis is using the tiny New College of Florida (NCF), a 63-year-old, once-private school, as a test case to push right-wing politics into Florida’s colleges and universities: He recently appointed six people to the NCF Board of Trustees, all of them deeply connected to right-wing institutions.

House Bill 999, which is currently pending, was introduced by Republican State Rep. Alex Andrade at the end of February. As written, the bill aims to control curricula, destroy tenure and put the entire public higher education system under state control. Among other things, it would ban the hiring of campus diversity officers, “remove critical race theory, gender studies, and any majors or minors that engender belief in these concepts,” and give state-appointed trustees the authority to approve all faculty and administrative hires.

The bill would also give trustees the right to review — and fire — tenured faculty for “cause,” a term that is never defined but that clearly undermines job security, and seeks to “align education for citizenship of the constitutional republic and Florida’s existing and emerging workforce needs.” Furthermore, it prohibits any and all projects that “espouse diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) or [critical race theory],” even if the funding for these projects comes from outside sources.

If the bill passes, it will build on the state’s already right-wing approach to primary education. In September 2022, the conservative Heritage Foundation named Florida the best state in the country for “education freedom.” This accolade resulted from the minimal oversight afforded by state educational entities over both private schools and homeschooling for kids in pre-K through 12th grade. Heritage also lauded the state’s welcoming environment for “parent-advocacy groups,” many of them newly formed to quash curricula that discuss racial and gender inequities.

The new Red Scare for red states: Diversity programs

Legislation has been introduced in at least a dozen states aimed at cutting DEI spending and rewriting hiring guidelines at colleges and universities.

But after corporate and educational efforts to supercharge diversity, equity and inclusion programs following the public outrage over George Floyd’s police killing in 2020, many Republicans believe the initiatives promote exclusion and division based on race, a critique that has resonated with conservative voters. It’s a flurry of legislative and executive activity that is advancing as the U.S. Supreme Court also seems poised to ban the use of affirmative action in college admissions later this year.

“It’s good for universities to aspire to be welcoming places to people from many backgrounds, many different experiences, many different perspectives,” said Jay Greene, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy. “But that very good thing has mutated into something not good. … Simply because we like the word diversity and we like the word inclusion … doesn’t mean that DEI initiatives are good.”

But in a February letter first reported by the Texas Tribune, Abbott’s chief of staff Gardner Pate wrote that using the statements during the hiring process violates federal and state employment laws. Public colleges in the state were quick to abide by it.

Texas A&M University announced this month that it would no longer have diversity statements when hiring. University of Houston Chancellor Renu Khator soon followed, saying her institution “will not support or use DEI statements or factors in hiring or promotion anywhere in the University of Houston System” to stay in compliance with state law.

The University of Texas Board of Regents also paused any new policies that promote diversity, equity and inclusion and are seeking a report on current policies across their campuses. While UT still strives for diversity on campus, Board Chair Kevin Eltife said “certain DEI efforts have strayed from the original intent to now imposing requirements and actions that, rightfully so, has raised the concerns of our policymakers around those efforts on campuses across our entire state.”

TrueTexan wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 12:26 pm Sorry for the dupe it is corrected

wooglin wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 1:56 pm Boggles the mind that these folks think this kind of crap is going to win anyone a national election. Doubt it will fly in a majority of states, either. I find “never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake” attributed to Sun Tsu and Napoleon. Either way, good advice.

highdesert wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 12:03 pm TT you duped this thread.

Ron DeSantis is the king of wedge issues and diversity and critical race theory are wedge issues in the 2024 election, Democrats accept them as fact and Republicans question them. Anything that Democrats and Republicans accept as true can be turned into wedge issues, nothing is sacrosanct.

New College is one of the 12 public institutions within the State University System of Florida, it's not a private institution that can make it's own policies. DeSantis was elected by a margin of 20% over the Democratic candidate, he can claim that he has a mandate to make changes.

'Important Victory' for Florida Higher Ed: Court Upholds Block on DeSantis Censorship Law

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday kept in place a preliminary injunction against Florida GOP policymakers' school censorship law in what rights advocates celebrated as "an important victory for professors, other educators, and students."

The appellate court denied a request from Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration and higher education officials to block a district judge's injunction that is currently preventing enforcement of the Stop Wrongs Against Our Kids and Employees (WOKE) Act—rebranded by its supporters as the Individual Freedom Act—in the state's public colleges and universities.

DeSantis' Stop WOKE Act "limits the ways concepts related to systemic racism and sex discrimination can be discussed in teaching or conducting training in workplaces or schools," parroting a Trump administration executive order that was ultimately rescinded by President Joe Biden, the ACLU explained last year.

The new appeals court order upholds the injunction Walker issued in November, which began by quoting George Orwell's novel 1984. Calling the controversial law "positively dystopian," the judge wrote at the time that "the powers in charge of Florida's public university system have declared the state has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of 'freedom.'"

"All students and educators deserve to have a free and open exchange about issues related to race in our classrooms."

YankeeTarheel wrote: Tue Mar 21, 2023 8:32 am And DeSatan has the chutzpah to call Alvin Bragg "politically motivated" !!!!!