The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Defending All Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Programs at State Colleges and Universities in Florida

DeSantis said last month that he intends to defund all diversity, equity and inclusion programs at state colleges and universities in Florida. These programs and policies were created to give representation to people who have faced discrimination because of their race, ethnicity, disability, gender, religion or sexual orientation.

DEI programs encourage all students to feel comfortable on a campus and are meant to promote multiculturalism and encourage students from traditionally underrepresented communities. The University of Florida has a Chief diversity officer, an office for accessibility and gender equity and a Center for Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement.

The governor asked all state universities to account for their spending on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in December, and this announcement was preceded by that.

“This would be the most ambitious reform to higher education in a half-century,” Rufo tweeted. “Gov. DeSantis is channeling the sentiment of the voters, who have demanded that taxpayer dollars stop subsidizing left-wing racialist ideology and partisan political activism. Democracy returns.

One of DeSantis’ new board members, Eddie Speir, wrote in an online post that he planned to propose in that meeting “terminating all contracts for faculty, staff and administration” of the school, “and immediately rehiring those faculty, staff and administration who fit in the new financial and business model.”

Over the last three years, however, DeSantis has turned his back on free speech in the name of pushing back against ideas he finds contemptible. He has railed against progressive curricula and academic theories as “an attempt to really delegitimize our history and delegitimize our institutions” and urged his supporters to “think deeply about if we are a disfavored class based on our principles, based on having conservative views,”

Hundreds of marchers, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and other activists, held a rally outside Florida’s state Capitol on Wednesday to protest Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration’s rejection of a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies.

Sharpton said historical inflections points on racism and bigotry in the US always involved education, from slavery through Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Movement.

Our children need to know the whole story, not only how bad they were, but how strong they are. The people that fought in the back of the bus got to the front of the White House.

The crowd include members of the LGBTQ, Native American and Latinx communities, said Sharpton, who pointed out that they were all marching together. You should have left us alone. Now you have brought us all together.”

The marchers were chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Ron has got to go!” I’m proud that I am Black and also I’m black. Some carried signs with messages such as “Save our history” and “We will not be silenced.”

Shaia Simmons is a former teacher at the march, and she accused the state of an injustice by rejecting the new course.

“Black history isn’t important to just Black people, it is important to everyone,” Simmons said. “It is the fabric of the country … For us to try to wipe that away or to negate the importance of it causes angst in our community. It is more than just the AP course. The history of African Americans in this country is being whitewashed. African Americans are treated differently in all aspects of the education system.

“It’s ridiculous that they’re not letting this one AP class be thought,” said her daughter, Izzy Cummings. It affects us in a direct way. If we cannot learn about the past, it will change our future.

The Florida Department of Education informed the College Board of its decision to reject the new course in a January 12 letter that later became public and drew widespread criticism from Black leaders in Florida as well as the White House.

The testing organization behind the new course accused the education department of spreading misinformation for political reasons last weekend.

The framework of the new Advanced Placement course on African American Studies was released by the College Board earlier this month, but many of the topics were objected to.

A Princeton professor at Florida’s Palm Beach Atlantic University tells CNN affiliate WPBF he is not affiliated with the racial justice unit

An English professor at Florida’s Palm Beach Atlantic University says his job is under review after his employer told him they received a complaint that he is “indoctrinating” students.

The dean and the provost spoke to Joeckel at the end of the class, saying they wanted to speak to him privately about the racial justice unit in his classes.

“The told me they had concerns that I was indoctrinating students. Joeckel said that the word they used was indoctrinating. “I had no idea this was coming.”

Palm Beach Atlantic University did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN Saturday. A university spokesperson on Friday told CNN affiliate WPBF, “I’m advised we can not comment on a personnel matter.”

There is a handbook for the employees of the private Christian university where it says that discontinuance of employment can occur at any time. The institution does not offer tenure, the review process for employment decisions regarding senior faculty that is meant to safeguard academic freedom.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/18/us/palm-beach-atlantic-university-professor-racial-justice-unit/index.html

Joeckel and the Pedestrians who Ostracize Education and the Students: A Call to Protect the Laws of Minority Rights in Florida

A number of students came to Joeckel’s defense online. Lauren Carleton, who graduated in May, told CNN she had taken two of Joeckel’s classes and didn’t feel she was being pressured to think a certain way.

“He is open-minded, and never wants to push his agenda on students; he pushes students to be critical thinkers and open-minded. That was my experience,” she said.

The review of Joeckel’s employment is taking place as Gov. Ron DeSantis proposes to defund all diversity, equity and inclusion programs at state colleges and universities. And his administration rejected a proposed Advanced Placement African American studies course in high schools.

“Of course I can’t say with certainty the connection, but things like this do not happen in a vacuum. What happened to me is definitely influenced by a toxic political culture, and it’s my opinion that the university is playing a role,” Joeckel said.

DeSantis has also sought to shut down a drag show, citing a 1947 legal precedent banning “men impersonating women.” He wants to challenge the Supreme Court decision on libel, narrowing the scope of press freedom.

This fight of assaults on speech will need leadership to escape. University presidents need to stand up and insist, and ensure, that all viewpoints – left and right alike – get a fair hearing on campus. They also need to resist intrusive legislation that micromanages curriculum and undercuts academic freedom.

Sometimes progressive orthodoxies can stifle views that are different from their own. As far as a principle goes, it’s not a principle unless it’s extended to all, and that’s what he seems to be bent on doing.

In pushing back against what he describes as wokeness run amok, DeSantis has embraced the tactics that he once decried and put the government’s power behind the efforts to offend him and his supporters.

The momentum for the national campaign is growing because of his tactics. To blunt their appeal, it is essential to understand what the governor and his supporters are mobilizing against. It’s been said that progressives have taken control of schools and universities to impose an ideology that is contrary to the values of most people in Florida.

Questions about pronouns, bathroom use, sports and the role of adolescents have been raised as a result of the current visibility and appreciation of trans and non-Binary identities. The 2020 murder of George Floyd spurred schools, colleges and companies to take new steps aimed to root out the entrenched, stubborn legacy of racism in their institutions. These developments are vital to bring about a more equal society.

Efforts to promote equity tend to cross over into censoriousness. Last week the publisher announced that they would no longer publish works that could be seen as offensive to overweight or people with horse-like features. In 2015, a student performance of “The Vagina Monologues” by Eve Ensler (now known as V) was cancelled on the basis that the play itself was transphobic because the script failed to acknowledge that not all women have vaginas.

Some curricula and programs don’t like to answer questions about race or believe that the question is not relevant to the issues at hand.

The University of Central Florida fired Professor Charles Negy in 2020 after he posted a message about “Black privilege” on social media. While the university claimed that he was guilty of misconduct, an arbitrator ordered him back to work after finding no cause for his determination. The incident seemed to form part of a broader pattern at the University.

The harassment policy was struck down by the appeals court due to its breadth and slipperiness. The court found it “clear that a reasonable student could fear that his speech would get him crossways with the university and that he’d be better off just keeping his mouth shut.”

The bill, filed by a Republican lawmaker last week, would put board of trustee members in charge of faculty hiring; defund diversity, equity and inclusion programs; eliminate majors or minors related to critical race theory or gender studies; and authorize boards of trustees to review tenure of faculty.

The legislation states that general education courses at state colleges and universities must promote the values necessary to preserve the constitutional republic and cannot define American history based on universal principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence. General courses with a curriculum based on exploratory or questionable content would not be allowed.

to make hiring, firing and post-tenure review determinations, making it impossible for faculty to critique any policy or challenge any position that runs counter to that of state officials. The very thing that has made U.S. universities one of the best in the world is the core of academic freedom. This bill will kill the higher education system in Florida.

Students and faculty at the New College of Florida are planning to demonstrate during a board of trustees meeting Tuesday after Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a conservative takeover of the small public liberal arts college.

Christopher Rufo, a supporter of race theory, was replaced along with six other board of trustees members by DeSantis in January. Richard Corcoran was appointed as the interim president by the new board. The base salary for Corcoran will be $699,000.

DeSantis’ office insists that the New College of Florida in Sarasota has seen declining enrollment and focuses too heavily on diversity and inclusion, critical race theory and gender ideology.

Leffler said New College of Florida has always been a school that has encouraged “free academic thought.” Lawmakers, he said, are trying to strip away that freedom by telling students what they can and can’t study.

Rufo praised the bill, which he said restored colorblind equality in higher ed. Rufo leads the initiative on critical race theory at the Manhattan Institute.

D.E.I. Can Erode Academic Freedom. Is It Really Wrong? Commentary of A.M. Mulvey

People pursuing graduate degrees might opt for schools in other states that support academic freedom, Irene Mulvey, president of the American Association of University Professors, told CNN earlier this month.

“The consequences for students are enormous,” Mulvey said. “They are denied the opportunity to learn and grow, students are denied the opportunity to hear important perspectives. That’s the real tragedy.”

Amna Khalid, a history professor at Carleton College in Minnesota, has written extensively in the Chronicle of Higher Education and other publications on such subjects as “Yes, D.E.I. Can Erode Academic Freedom. There is no need to pretend Otherwise and The Data Is In doesn’t work.

there is a vast and growing literature showing that existing D.E.I. programming used in many schools and corporations is not just ineffective, it’s actually pernicious. It demoralizes people, reduces trust, increases hostility and conflict, and even sometimes reinforces stereotypes or legitimizes prejudicial behaviors.

What complaint do you have of DeSantis et al. Not that knowledge being produced is unreliable, or that students are failing to get good jobs, etc. No. They don’t like how institutions boost their enemies’ cultural and political power. They wish to leverage these institutions in order to achieve their own goals. They’re not committed to academic freedom.

prevent teachers from discussing certain areas of research, or force them to toe particular lines, or drive them toward self-censorship, or weaken tenure protections. These are not moves that enhance academic freedom but undermine it. They aren’t concerned about academic freedom. They are worried about power.

Florida’s public universities and colleges are focused on Western Civilization, prohibiting D.E.I., C.R.T. and other programs that are not in line with the state’s constitution.