“We must ensure school systems are responsive to parents and to students, not partisan interest groups, and we must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideology,” DeSantis said. “We will enact more family-friendly policies to make it easier to raise children and we will defend our children against those who seek to rob them of their innocence.”
Politics
JUST IN: DeSantis Takes Massive Action Against “Woke” Universities Over “Diversity” Curriculum
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is taking massive action against Florida Universities who teach “diversity” curriculum.
On December 28, a memo was sent to Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and Florida State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues by DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin. The memo instructed the officials to gather data on diversity initiatives in the higher education system as the Florida legislature begins to consider budget proposals. The memo was later posted to social media on Wednesday.
“It is important that we have a full understanding of the operational expenses of state institutions,” the memo said. “This letter is a request for information from the Department of Education and the State University System regarding the expenditure of state resources on programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory within our state colleges and universities.”
Check out what the Daily Wire reported:
For each initiative, university administrators were told to include a brief description of the program, the number of staff positions associated with the program, the total funding used to support the program, and the portion of the funding that came from taxpayer dollars.
Numerous reports have noted the inflow of capital into the nascent diversity sector, which garnered attention following the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. Public universities in Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, and Illinois employed diversity officials who pocketed salaries ranging from $329,000 to $430,000, according to a report from Fox News, while an analysis from the Heritage Foundation found that colleges hire an average of three diversity staffers for every 100 tenured faculty.
“State legislatures, boards of higher education, and university trustees should investigate the extent of resources devoted to DEI personnel at the universities they oversee and subsidize,” they concluded. “Stakeholders should demand evidence about whether DEI resources are necessary and effective for achieving appropriate goals.”
DeSantis is waging war against liberal colleges, specifically those who teach Critical Race Theory. Two years ago, DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1108 and House Bill 233; the former piece of legislation “requires state college and state university students to take both a civic literacy course and a civic literacy assessment as a graduation requirement,” while the latter “requires state colleges and universities to conduct annual assessments of the viewpoint diversity and intellectual freedom at their institutions.”
During his second inaugural address, DeSantis doubled down on his fight against woke universities.
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