Gov. Ron DeSantis Signs a Bill Banning DEI Initiatives in Public Colleges – Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida approved a legislation that prohibits the expenditure of funds by public colleges and universities in the state on programs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“If you look at the way this has actually been implemented across the country, DEI is better viewed as standing for discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination,” DeSantis said during a news conference at New College of Florida in Sarasota. “And that has no place in our public institutions.”
In numerous institutions throughout the United States, there exist dedicated offices for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) with the purpose of fostering inclusivity among faculty and students, as well as increasing staff diversity. The significance of the bill signing location lies in Governor DeSantis’ specific focus on New College of Florida, aiming to steer it towards a more conservative direction.
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Earlier this year, he appointed six new members to the college’s board of trustees, thereby granting conservative allies control over the board. DeSantis accused the college’s leadership of excessively prioritizing DEI, critical race theory, and gender ideology, which he asserted as not aligning with the principles of a liberal arts education.
DeSantis said Monday that he’s viewed DEI initiatives as a discriminatory practice. “This bill says the whole experiment with DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida. We are eliminating the DEI programs.” The state’s higher education institutions are prohibited by the new law from teaching content that distorts significant historical events or includes a curriculum focused on identity politics or critical race theory.
This initiative is a component of DeSantis’ broader efforts to combat what he refers to as “woke indoctrination” in schools. Over the past two years, state education officials in Florida have refused numerous mathematics and social studies textbooks intended for K-12 students. Texas is also in the process of developing a comparable bill that aims to ban DEI programs within its state university system.
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“When you see elected leaders demonizing educators and weaponizing education, it’s a five-alarm fire for democracy,” Irene Mulvey, president of The American Association of University Professors, told Nature. “It important to understand that when governors attack DEI efforts, they completely mischaracterize them to create a straw-man demon that they now have to do away with.”
