On Monday, Governor Ron DeSantis continued to further his education agenda by gathering a collection of academics, students, and commentators to support his claim that higher education is ‘woke.’
Sitting before a screen that condemned the DEI swindle, DeSantis and the speakers fired off their instances of how they saw colleges and universities as having been hijacked by purveyors of left-wing brainwashing intent on removing merit-based decisions and access to a wide range of opinions.
DeSantis used exam results from the College Board, a company he has disparaged in the past, to disparage the schools’ attempts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, according to Florida Politics.
He and others praised legislative measures as potential remedies for their problems, such as the proposed HB 999. Later in the day, according to the Tallahassee Democrat, the bill passed its first committee. Certain majors that don’t fit the agenda would be eliminated, and teacher tenure would also be put in jeopardy.
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Ron DeSantis Says DEI Program is a Drain on Resources
As reported by the Orlando Sun-Sentinel, DeSantis has described such initiatives as a drain on resources that force staff and students to adhere to a far-left doctrine. He also hosted a DNI discussion on the same day as the subcommittee meeting.
A recent examination of the state’s 12 colleges by the governor’s budget chief revealed that a total of $34.5 million was allocated to DEI faculty and programs. The state contributed about $20.7 million, or less than 1% of the budgets for the colleges.
In order to ensure that state universities’ curricula support both the mission of providing a curriculum that promotes citizenship in a constitutional republic and that state’s existing and emerging workforce needs, the bill requires the Board of Governors to periodically review specific information related to state universities.
The board may direct each constituent university to remove from its programs any major or minor that is based on or otherwise uses pedagogical methodology associated with Critical Theory, including, but not limited to, Critical Race Theory, Critical Race Studies, Critical Ethnic Studies, Radical Feminist Theory, Radical Gender Theory, Queer Theory, Critical Social Justice, or Intersectionality, as defined in Board of Governors” after the review is complete.
According to the proposal under consideration, public institutions should model civic discourse that recognized the importance of perspective diversity, intellectual rigor, and an evidence-based approach to history.
Any Florida College System institution, state university, or directly supported organization is prohibited from using state or federal funds to promote, support, or maintain any campus initiatives that advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, promote or engage in political activism, or uphold preferential treatment or special benefits to individuals on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or religion, according to the bill.
As part of any hiring, promotion, disciplinary, or evaluation process, a state university is also prohibited from asking for or accepting pledges to support statements or commitments for or against certain viewpoints about diversity, equity, and inclusion, Critical Race Theory rhetoric, or political identity or ideology.
The law, according to opponents who showed up for the subcommittee meeting, would restrict academic freedom and the First Amendment rights of both students and professors.
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