On Tuesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) announced that his state would be ending diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)\u00a0 funding for public universities, and increase scrutiny toward underperforming professors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DeSantis said that his state is \u201cgoing to eliminate all DEI and CRT bureaucracies in the state of Florida, no funding and that will wither on the vine. And I think that that\u2019s very important because it really serves as an ideological filter, a political filter\u2026 We probably are the first state that\u2019s actually leading by example, but I can tell you those bureaucracies are not representative of what the people of this state and the taxpayers of this state want.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DeSantis added that \u201cDEI bureaucracies\u201d are \u201chostile to academic freedom\u201d and \u201cconstitute a drain on resources.\u201d Notably, according to an analysis<\/a> from the Heritage Foundation, universities hire an average of three diversity staffers for every 100 tenured faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The move will be part of proposed legislation for 2023 that aims to \u201cfurther elevate civil discourse and intellectual freedom in higher education, further pushing back against the tactics of liberal elites who suppress free thought in the name of identity politics and indoctrination,\u201d a press release <\/a>from DeSantis\u2019 office said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c[The] legislation will ensure Florida\u2019s public universities and colleges are grounded in the history and philosophy of Western Civilization; prohibit DEI, CRT and other discriminatory programs and barriers to learning; and course correct universities\u2019 missions to align education for citizenship of the constitutional republic and Florida\u2019s existing and emerging workforce needs,\u201d the press release added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DeSantis said, \u201cIn Florida, we will build off of our higher education reforms by aligning core curriculum to the values of liberty and the Western tradition, eliminating politicized bureaucracies like DEI, increasing the amount of research dollars for programs that will feed key industries with talented Florida students, and empowering presidents and boards of trustees to recruit and hire new faculty, including by dedicating record resources for faculty salaries.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n