By Diane Roberts
Ron DeSantis likes to say Florida is where “woke” goes to die. If by “woke” he means tolerance, science, inquiry, free expression, and knowledge, yes, Florida is where “woke” goes to die.
Florida is where public education goes to die; Ron DeSantis is poisoning it.
Not content with installing the quack Joseph Ladapo at the University of Florida medical school or attacking the accreditation system because the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools investigated academic freedom in the state, the governor has just appointed six new ultra-conservative trustees to the board of New College of Florida in Sarasota.
They want to trash its tradition of intellectual freedom and transform it into an institution DeSantis’ base would love, a Bob Jones-style religious school funded with taxpayer money.
The governor’s office claims he chose these trustees for their “firsthand understanding of the Florida education system.”
That’s just silly. And insulting. While one of the appointees actually went to New College, the others have no expertise in public education. They are graduates of private institutions. They work at private institutions or right-wing think tanks.
New College is a public college. It is supposed to serve the students of the state of Florida, liberal or conservative, religious or secular.
The governor has a well-known antipathy to most universities and colleges, claiming that they have become captive to “trendy ideology” such as equality, anti-racism, diversity, feminism, and climate science.
So, as the governor’s chief of staff says, they mean to destroy New College as it has been known and celebrated, and turn it into “the Hillsdale of the South.”
Easy pickings
New College is easy pickings for educational extremists. It’s small, with a student body of about 700. The college has struggled to get its enrollment up (as have many institutions post-COVID) and has lost revenue. Nearly 100% of students draw financial aid.
At around 4,000, the college’s alumni base is a fraction of FSU’s or U.F.’s. But those alums include winners of the Fields Medal in Mathematics, the first Latino to serve in the Georgia Senate, the director of Peru’s National Library, several college presidents, a raft of celebrated poets, Emmy award-winners, civil libertarians, and distinguished environmental scientists.
DeSantis and his ideological demolition gang are no doubt offended by the way New College prioritizes creativity over conformity; you can craft your own major and progress is measured by “demonstrated competence and real mastery rather than on the accumulation of credits and grades.”
Not for long, alas, not if this batch of MAGA-bots get confirmed. There’s Mark Bauerlein, a Donald Trump-supporting professor at Emory; Debra Jenks, a West Palm Beach lawyer; Charles Kesler, a former member of Trump’s “1776 Commission;” Eddie Speir, founder of a Christian school in Bradenton; and Hillsdale College government teacher, Matthew Spalding.
Spalding is a prolific producer of articles for The Heritage Foundation and the National Review attacking such administrative-state atrocities as equal-pay legislation and attempts to mitigate climate change.
‘Patriotic education’
Kesler promotes what he calls “patriotic education,” the kind that instills pride in young white folks by lying to them. The thoroughly debunked “1776 Report,” which lacked expert historians or even basic fact-checking, insists George Washington freed his slaves (he didn’t) and Martin Luther King opposed affirmative action (not true).
Demonstrating an impressive commitment to nonsense, on Jan. 3 Eddie Speir tweeted that the COVID-19 vaccine might have caused Bills player Damar Hamlin’s heart attack. Speir couldn’t even get Hamlin’s name right, calling him “Devin.”
But the pick of DeSantis’ litter is a Tucker Carlson favorite, conservative activist Christopher Rufo, whose party trick is whipping up fear and loathing over critical race theory.
Rufo’s a gaslighting master, accusing educators of brainwashing the youth of America with a Marxist-based curriculum calculated to make them hate the Founding Fathers.
He’s spectacularly short on evidence, but he’s managed to convince a lot of Republicans — even ones far less obsessed with lying to their voters than Florida’s governor — that elementary school children are being force-fed lessons on transgenderism while college students are made to immerse themselves in slave narratives and bullied by sinister professors into ditching Sigma Nu for the Socialist Workers Party.
Rufo told The New York Times he means to bring a “landing team” of right-wing fellow travelers to “design a new core curriculum” and “encode it in a new academic master plan.”
New College’s stated commitment to “a balance between recognizing and celebrating difference, respectfully supporting each other’s growth, and ensuring that historically marginalized and oppressed groups are not experiencing trauma and harm” will be junked.
Rufo likens the invasion of New College to Elon Musk’s hostile takeover of Twitter. We all know how that’s working out.
DeSantis’ wrecking crew
One of the nation’s top-ranked liberal arts colleges will become a place where you don’t talk about gender and race, you don’t confront the painful aspects of American history, and you sure as hell don’t say gay.
Rufo says the new New College will offer “an alternative for conservative families in the state of Florida to say there is a public university that reflects your values.”
In other words, none of that satanic critical race theory. DeSantis’ wrecking crew seem obsessed with critical race theory, not that any of them have exhibited the least knowledge of what it is. Eddie Speir, the Christian school huckster, assures us that “critical theory” has even infiltrated the church! It’s “pervasive and has crept into the Body of Christ in frameworks of feminism, Black theology, and other liberation theologies.”
Wouldn’t want the followers of Jesus to acknowledge the humanity of women and people of color, would we?
‘Indoctrination’
Unlike Speir, Rufo isn’t ignorant. He’s calculating, using the bugaboo phrase “critical race theory” to get himself on Fox.
He proclaims that it’s “an existential threat to the United States” — why should blameless white people be reminded that people of color still suffer from institutional disadvantages in education, the justice system, health care, and financial opportunities?
If DeSantis has his way, the new New College will no longer be allowed to pursue higher education’s mission to “engage in difficult conversations that consider a multiplicity of voices to build a more inclusive community.”
DeSantis says he’s against “indoctrination.” He seems to equate indoctrination with questioning authority, questioning national myths, questioning the world as it has been presented to decide what is true and what isn’t. Anyway, if progressive colleges indoctrinate students, surely conservative ones — like Hillsdale — do, too.
You have to wonder why DeSantis and his ilk are so terrified of ideas. He must have encountered “liberal” views at Yale and Harvard. He doesn’t seem to have been unduly swayed by them.
But who are we kidding? The assault on New College isn’t about educational philosophy. It’s about votes. It’s about the presidential election of 2024.
The governor of Florida will do anything to gin up his base, including trample on the rights of young people to receive the education they choose.
Diane Roberts is an 8th-generation Floridian, born and bred in Tallahassee. Educated at Florida State University and Oxford University in England, she has been writing for newspapers since 1983, when she began producing columns on the legislature for the Florida Flambeau. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the Times of London, the Guardian, the Washington Post, the Oxford American, and Flamingo. She has been a member of the Editorial Board of the St. Petersburg Times–back when that was the Tampa Bay Times’s name–and a long-time columnist for the paper in both its iterations. She was a commentator on NPR for 22 years and continues to contribute radio essays and opinion pieces to the BBC. Roberts is also the author of four books.
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Elliot says
Wonderfully written and unfortunately all too true. We are in the age of “wolves in sheep’s clothing” politicians and preachers.
R. says
Criminal professors supported by communist reports, liberal=criminal. Close the colleges.
Michael L Foley says
Ridiculous comment. And I’m an Republican.
Jean says
Ignorant comment. You sound like a product of the school system DeSantis wants and want to keep everyone else ignorant of the facts of life too. Your remark “Close the colleges” shows jealousy toward those who can and do go to improve themselves.
Laurel says
R: Do yourself a favor and get off those shows, papers and the social media for awhile. Give yourself a rest. You just may be out of touch.
Dan says
Thank you!
Edward says
Apparently it’s Very True that if you have a different opinion than some people then you MUST be a right wing radical. I believe that our school system is being poisoned by the liberal indoctrination of a lot of our so called “professors” and that if it’s going to be stopped it must be done at the highest level possible. We need to have our children be able to hear BOTH sides of the conversation and make up their own mind. My son goes to a major university in Florida and he’s been silenced on numerous occasions by Left wing leaning professors who threatened to fail Him if he asked those questions that would make people question what he was teaching!! Is that proper madam? What kind of hypocrisy are you preaching?
Bartholomew says
Really? That sounds ummmm unbelievable.
Ray W. says
Did your homeschooled child, now that he is in college, question the professor during a core math class for the third time whether 5 x 5 = 25?
I am working on my snark skills, so bear with me.
Bill C says
Yeah, we know, Columbus discovered America, nobody here before that. The lives of slaves were improved by the plantation system, right? It’s cynical how those who accuse “the left” of hatred and hypocrisy depend on this “leftist” paper to express their opinions about how evil “the left” is.
William Jay Robblee says
I agree 100% , The public education teachers and professors are indoctrinating students instead of teaching to think for themselves. Any speakers on campus are forbidden to speak unless they follow the party line. If a conservative tries to schedule an event, The faculty bans them because their ideas are not in line with their agenda of brainwashing the students.
Jean says
WTF is this “woke” you are all being indoctrinated in? More b.s. from Qanon to measure the depth of their success in turning you against the normality of our constitution. What is DeSantis doing banning books, banning CRT and banning certain teachings in schools? More banning of stuff in Florida than any other state! What happens when all your freedoms are gone under this guy? What happens when all independent thought is gone under this guy? He does whatever will get him time on FOX to spread more of his poisoned thinking to the masses. Beware this messenger indoctrinating you into his playbook of copying Trump. who was a disaster for our country and don’t let him lead you all down his path of destruction for our constitution and the essence of what America is.
Woodman says
Ron DeSantis has made Florida the place to come to get an actual education, not a four year 100,000:dollar indoctrination about how men can get pregnant, there are more than two genders and we have ten years left for this planet! You want to talk science? If that’s what you call science, you can keep it.
Laurel says
Woodman: Where do you get this stuff?
Oh, by the way, Biden is coming for your gas stove.
Greg says
This “Stuff” comes from a liberal/progressive/socialist/ Democrat /Marxist education system that is spinning facts into bs!
Laurel says
Greg: Please study the differences between liberalism, socialism, and Marxism. They are different systems, you know. It’s really, really hard for anyone to be all at once. Now these differences would be some of the things you would learn in school, if it wouldn’t be prohibited.
Greg says
They follow each other right up the ladder. All under the Democrat umbrella!
Laurel says
Greg: No sir, that’s just what you would like to believe. Let me share a little lesson with you that my mom gave me when I was very young. It may clarify some differences.
Isms
Socialism – If you have two cows, you give one to your neighbor.
Communism – If you have two cows, you give them to the government and the government gives you some milk.
Fascism – If you have two cows, you keep them and give the milk to the government. Then the government sells you some milk.
New Dealism – If you have two cows, you shoot one cow and milk the other. Then you pour the milk down the drain.
Nazism – If you have two cows, the government shoots you and keeps the cows.
Capitalism – If you have two cows, you sell one and buy a bull.
Now, I would love it if you can logically explain how all of that leads to democracy, and please be specific. You claim a ladder of these isms, that leads to a democratic umbrella. Please elaborate. Thanks.
Michelle Davis says
Best explanation of all the isms!
DMFinFlorida says
@ Laurel … well played. Thank you. The brain drain in this area is numbing.
Greg Miller says
We are not taking about cows. We are talking about the anti Americans within the education system!
Pierre Tristam says
Since when is anti-Americanism not a legitimate academic subject (and a fascinating one at that)? Anti-Americanism has been around for two centuries–it’s the burden of any dominant power–reams of books and studies and seminars are devoted to it, why shouldn’t colleges study it to better understand it? Of course you might mean that some of the college’s faculty are anti-American. If so: point to one example. One. Just one, Mr. Miller. And let’s analyze that. I’ll save readers time: Mr. Miller, who’s anti-factual (a zillions time more dangerous than anti-Americanism) has zilch.
Laurel says
Greg: I guess you either didn’t understand the symbolism or you did not have the answer to my request. You stated there was a ladder of these isms that leads straight up to Democracy, and I gave you the chance to explain how this ladder works with the different types of systems since each of these systems is different. That leads me to believe that you are flailing.
Jo D says
Just hilarious…and TRUE! Need to pass that one!
Frank says
Wow, the left is upset, what a surprise. They have had their way in public education for decades. Now they get upset when normal, mainstream folks push back against their woke agenda. Our public money should not be spent brainwashing young minds.
Laurel says
Frank: One thing I do agree with you on is public money should not be spent on brainwashing young minds, like religious schools.
William J Robblee says
Right on.
Pat Witschi says
This is why the youth of today have so many shootings and unrulyness. They are taught that only they matter and it is time to teach them that the world is not solely theirs and they need to respect that others also have rights and learn to respect others. When they learn to share and commit then this world will be a better place and there will be less violence. And that is what Gov. DeSantis is trying to convey. Sharing and respect earn a lot more than violence.
Laurel says
Pat W.: Uh, no he’s not. He’s droning his way to the White House, God forbid! Can somebody help DeSantis find a personality?
Peter R. Wallin says
Could not have read a more partisan article. Anyone who is against Musk’s freeing of Twitter has no credibility and is not a supporter of free speech which has been attacked by the main media and the vast majority of universities !
Greg Miller says
Clearly, the writer is an American values hating liberal/progressive/ socialist and probably Democrat. I totally support the efforts of Governor DeSantis to bring quality, BALANCED, enriching conservative thinking to New College. Good bye wokism!
Joe D says
Wow! You clearly have never looked up the definition of BALANCED in the dictionary, if you think what Ron DeSantis is doing is in any way “balanced” for Florida education. When you see out of state ( and probably in state) student attendance drop and qualified professors teach elsewhere, you’ll see Florida college standards drop even farther than they have now. Look at the lack of acceptance currently of many Florida Nursing school graduates to other states. Many Education graduates not being accepted to teach in other states….how much farther do you want Florida College standards to drop ? Maybe as low as the average school performance standards are when compared to national averages!
David says
While you are entitled to your opinion, I could not disagree with you more and I dont want my children to be exposed to CRT or thinking that their skin color has anything to do with how far they go in life, hard work does.
Herb Henry says
Hilsdale of the South has a nice ring to it. I love seeing freedom of speech promoted in education.
Shane Diggler says
Diane you need Jesus. Take your brain washed way of thinking and move to California.
Julianne says
Sounds like you’re scared that morals, principles and integrity will creep back in to your institution of brainwashing young people. Thank God!!
JoAnne Bohm says
It is a sad thing to watch as this country becomes more and more divided instead of the other way around. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course, but sometimes those opinions do far more damage than good when they don’t leave room for compromise. Now days you are either entirely for something or against something and there’s no middle ground. I find this article to be one of those so set against those of us who believe in Trump and DeSantis and their views on making America great again. The truly sad part is that those minds are so filled with hatred for the person for whatever reason, there’s no room for them to understand the other side in order to work together for the good of the nation.
Laurel says
JoAnne: The narrowing of minds is not the intent of education. The intent of education is the very opposite. The reason people are upset and divided is because of this trend to narrow down education to a one way view. I see many comments here that prefer a one view shoved down the throats of those who do not want it, at the taxpayer’s expense. Keep your separative views in private schools, paid by private money. Public schools should not be teaching a one view religion.
Clearly, here, most commenters should look up the word “woke” in the dictionary, instead of listening to Fox Entertainment’s made up version. That won’t happen, will it?
Michael Cocchiola says
And thus the right-wing attacks on education gather strength and the freedom to teach and learn are further diminished.
It’s going to take courageous school boards, administrators, and teachers to fight DeSantis’ creeping fascism.
Atwp says
Well he is the governor. We will see what he does during his next term.
Linda Bertone says
It just goes to show the liberals can’t stand to have a university that doesn’t push their agenda to everyone. It shows their absolute intolerance for freedom of speech. All Floridians should be proud to have a governor who is fighting back for our right to voice our views and not be forced to bow to the extreme agenda of the left.
Clayton Thompson says
Of course you attack the Governor because of your woke beliefs. Guess why attendance is down at New College! It’s down because of a lack of accountability in learning the college. Many folks leave the school and wobble towards meaningful employment with the exception of a small percentage. Time to have skillsets that work in the real world not the secular world.
Tom M says
How do you define “secular world”?
Laurel says
Tom M. They never do really give an answer, do they? They have to wait for it to come from Trump, DeSantis, Fox Entertainment, or confirmation bias social media before they can try to answer, but it’s never in logical detail. It’s redundant.
Jim says
Ron DeSantis is against indoctrination…. I love that line! He’s against any indoctrination that doesn’t fit his push for the presidency. It is a sad thing to see in this country – and particularly in this state – that freedom of speech is limited to those who spout the same positions as that of the government – in this case, DeSantis. The worst part is how many people fail to see this for what it is. Why is it okay to limit “liberal” discussions but not conservative (defined as far right) discussion? Society has always advanced by the discussion of opposite positions and opinions to assure that those with an open mind can assimilate contradictory information and make an informed decision on their own. The Nazi’s didn’t allow contradictory opinions. The Russians don’t either. And neither does communist China. It’s a shame to have to lump Florida into that group. Use “woke” and “liberal” in your speeches and please don’t ever let an inconvenient fact keep you from blissfully damaging democracy. I don’t think this kind of idiocy will continue much longer. As it has been said, “you can’t fool all the people all the time”!
Bruce says
Public education has been under attack by the lefts association with the teachers unions for years. Listen to the. Squeal when parents stand up.
Tim Clarke says
I’m glad the Governor has taken this step at New College. I hope it’s the first of many to restore common sense in our public education system, which by any measure has failed our country over the last fifty years. Let’s educate, not indoctrinate.
M. L. F. says
You obviously have no clue about the type of graduates that NC produces. Do some research. Have you ever attended a class at N C ? Graduate level scholarships out the wazoo. Alumni like the former President of the NY State Treasury. Just one example
Ray W. says
One of my law school classmates graduated from New College. Fresh out of law school, I prosecuted in the 12th Circuit. For a time, I worked a misdemeanor docket in Manatee County. My former classmate, then a young assistant public defender, worked in that courtroom as opposing counsel. I knew him in those years as a smart, funny, hardworking and dedicated lawyer who zealously defended his clients. I returned home to practice in this area; he went on to lead his office’s homicide defense unit, though he eventually entered private practice.
Once again, a commenter like Tim Clarke raises the “common sense” card. If common sense is a process, we all have to go through the process whenever we attempt to solve a problem, over and over again. If common sense is a result, people like Tim Clarke can decide for others what it means, or worse yet, people like Tim Clarke can allow others to decide for him what common sense means, thereby allowing him to avoid the intellectual rigor necessary to go through the process of determining the meaning of common sense in all of its many different settings. He can then regurgitate the adopted meaning of common sense without his ever having to understand what it means. I advocate that we all engage in a process designed to lead us to our own understanding of common sense. I advocate against anyone who attempts to decide for me what common sense means.
I repeatedly argue that many of our founding fathers, mostly the college educated ones, were a product of what is known in academia as the Scottish Enlightenment educational system. Almost all of the American college presidents of their day were proponents of that Enlightenment system. The 50-year period from roughly 1760-1810 is now known as the Age of Reason, though Hume was an early proponent, beginning in the 1740’s. One of the leading members of that movement, also known as the Common Sense movement, was Thomas Reid, a Scottish minister-philosopher who introduced the idea of educability into the language of philosophy.
According to Reid, a person was educable if he or she possessed two qualities, which he termed veracity and credulity. Veracity was defined as the capacity to speak, know and understand a particular subject matter. Credulity was defined as the capacity to accept that another person could speak, know and understand a particular subject matter. For example, if a person understands that 5 x 5 = 25, then that person can be said to possess veracity for multiplication tables, but that doesn’t also mean that the person possesses veracity for three-dimensional calculus. In order for that person to achieve veracity for three-dimensional calculus, either the student teaches himself, a near impossibility, or he must form credulity for a teacher who possesses veracity for three-dimensional calculus. The act of a student forming credulity for a teacher allows the student to learn from the teacher, thereby allowing the student to eventually achieve veracity for three-dimensional calculus. In essence, the act of forming credulity for a teacher gives that teacher credibility.
The problem comes whenever a person forms credulity for the wrong teacher. If such a person lacks veracity for the particular subject matter, the person can be easily misled. Can it be argued that a partisan politician may harbor a malicious motive to mislead those who lack veracity about a particular subject matter? That forming credulity for a partisan politician may hinder a student’s capacity to achieve veracity about a subject matter? That a partisan student may be unable to form credulity for a teacher who actually possesses veracity about a subject matter? Would such a partisan student, lacking veracity about a subject matter and unable to form credulity for a teacher who actually possesses the necessary veracity, fit Reid’s definition of being uneducable? Could this explain the importance to our founding fathers of checks and balances? Did our founding fathers understand that the uneducable would always exist among us and that partisan politicians would always seeks to control the uneducable? Is this why our founding fathers distrusted men of ambition? Did our founding fathers hope that their experimental liberal democratic Constitutional republic would foster men and women of virtue? Did our founding fathers also greatly fear the possibility of mob rule, such that they inserted checks and balances to every power delegated to members of government so that no single political party would ever gain unlimited power for an indeterminate period of time?
Behind all of this, remember always that a politician’s oath to defend the State and federal constitutions does not also contain an oath to tell the truth. Neither does that oath to defend expose the politician to any punitive sanctions for those who chose to rule by disinformation.
Prior to Reid’s gift to philosophy of his theory of educability, credibility was based on one’s status in society. I am a king, it was argued. Therefore, everything I say as king is law. This is known as teaching by rote method. I say it and you accept it, whether I know what I’m talking about or not. This might best be described as the flat earth model of teaching. One’s status conferred credibility, not one’s actual veracity. Reid revolutionized education. His model was one of collaboration between a teacher and a student, where each learns from the other. The previous model, based on status, was one of subordination. A teacher was superior to a student, not her equal. New College’s teaching method was one of collaboration, according to my former classmate, not one of subordination.
Can it be argued from his comment that Tim Clarke is attempting to forcibly assume the now-outdated role of rote teacher, a role based on superiority? Does he think everyone else must be subordinate to his version of common sense, process be damned?
As an aside, can it be argued that the last 80 years have been the most successful in the history of our great nation? The most successful in the history of the world? Food for thought. I argue that we have endured many mistakes and achieved many successes, but I might be wrong.
Foresee says
One man’s “common sense” is another man’s senseless comments. There is no absolute definition of common sense; therefore, TC’s assertion “to restore common sense in our public education system” is fallacious and without merit.
Laurel says
Ray W.:
“My idea of being properly educated is being right when the professor is wrong. Anyone can just spit back what the professor is saying. It takes a really educated person to think for themselves.”
and
“Of course when people talk about common sense, they mean uncommon sense. Every time you hear that someone has common sense, it means that he has uncommon sense, and it’s much harder to have common sense than is generally thought.”
– Charlie Munger
Ray W. says
Hello Laurel:
Sometimes when discussing the practice of law with young attorneys, I would channel my father’s story of the most important lecture he heard in law school. He often said that during his first year, a professor told the class that the most important thing they could learn was that the law was what the judge said on the day he said it, and don’t ever forget it. When channeling that story, I would occasionally add to that story by telling the young lawyer that most of the time we practice custom in the courtroom, not law. We know what our judge will do, we know what the prosecutor wants, we know what the client wants, and we practice custom because it is easy to do. Most judicial rulings are not appealed, so no one knows whether what the judge did was actually lawful; we just believe it to have been lawful because what happened is what always happens in that courtroom. Sometimes I would tell of Judge Blount’s common comment. He said he was known as Often Wrong Blount. He would laugh and state that he was often wrong but never in doubt. I would add another observation to the young lawyer that it takes a lot of work to practice law. I would tell the young lawyers to never memorize a statute. Someday, a legislator is going to come along and wipe out all your knowledge. Look it up anew, every time.
Tim Clarke confuses common sense with what might be called customary thought. Customary thinking doesn’t require work; it is therefore easy to do. Common sense requires intellectual rigor, which for some is very hard to do.
Laurel says
Ray W.: “Custom” would mean, as I take it, the custom of the time period. The real witch hunts of the past were the judgement, or custom, of the period. After all, one “witch” turned John Cleese into a newt, and therefore should have been punished! ;)
I’ve often asked my husband why people are comfortable with being evil. He always states “It’s easier” (though he’s the best person anyone could know). I still struggle with that, but maybe it takes some sort of intellectual rigor to be good and honest, which for some may be very hard to do.
I don’t know.
Jay Smith says
Maybe if educators would stick to the curriculum and leave their leftist political beliefs out of the classroom, steps like this wouldn’t be necessary.
Lorraine Ortega says
Well said! Thank you for presenting a voice of reason in a very false narrative world.
James says
Wonder if DeathSantis children go to public schools, bet they don’t. Would be nice if he stayed out of the education system, out of religion in government and stay out of Disney’s business and be a governor instead of a Trump want to be dictator. How he acts doesn’t matter because the polls say he is beating Trump for 2024, but in all honesty neither of them will get elected. Our country doesn’t want or need a Dictator.
Pogo says
@desantis’ floriduh, in the end, is just another “Banned In Boston”
https://www.google.com/search?q=banned+in+boston
The harder the shithead squeezes — the stronger we become.
In the meantime, the struggle to prevent Florida from becoming another China, Iran, North Korea, or Russia continues.
And so it goes.
Paul Pasternak says
Very true. We certainly don’t want to become like Iran: a country where the government is controlled by the most extreme religious leaders.
Pierre Tristam says
Greg of course could not provide a single instance, not one example, not one case study–not one, not a single one–of a professor (or let’s make it easy on him: an adjunct) at New College “spinning facts into bs.” I say this not knowing Greg from a hole in his brain, but I say it with full confidence that he is, in fact–like anyone else in this thread or anywhere claiming that new College professors are “spinning facts into bs”–the one doing exactly what he accuses professors of doing. Because that’s what this debate has been about, as all debates about academic freedom tend to be about. Ignoramuses parrot the fictional Fox/Newsmax/Onanist talking points, DeSantis chews and vomits them into kibbles and bits digestible by the same debased base, and it all comes out in verbal turds we have to read here. Brains, ever wasting. Meanwhile students pay the price as their education is asphyxiated by ideological vigilantes so scared by history’s shadows that they succor collective stupidity instead.
Laurel says
Pierre: I know a couple of college professors, and they just don’t have the time to do what these Fox Entertainment watchers are saying. They just aren’t doing what the far right claims. The far right parrots what they hear and gather around the water cooler, or bar, and say “yeah, I know what’s going on.”
c says
The problem is manifold :
1) Right or wrong, he’s getting the P/R he wants – and not just in the state …
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/ron-desantis-new-college-of-florida-20230112.html
2) This would/will be just another of the long string of illegal or unconstitutional acts he has performed – merely for the photo-ops … and with no regard nor concern about the subsequent reversal by the courts of whatever he did.
3) Regarding #2 above – there seem to be no consequences or repercussions to his constant hype-seeking and reversals – so it empowers him to continue.
Timothy Patrick Welch says
Hey…
New College is situated in a very Red area of Florida, where conservative values are still encouraged. Where local folks want to send their kids for an education free from all this left wing drama.
Why must students have to attend a private school to get a wholesome education, free from socialist influence?
Pierre Tristam says
A) The only onces creating drama are right-wing grievance avatars a-la-DeSantis.
B) A College is not an adjunct to the local chamber of commerce or the local dominant political party. It’s not there to reflect local ideological colors but, if anything, to transcend them with something a bit nobler in reach and purpose. The governor’s move, of course, is intended to do just that: turn a college into an ideological annex.
Pogo says
@Chestnuts for sale — take them home today. You can pay later.
Laughing all the way
https://www.google.com/search?q=you+have+two+cows
“…SALESFORCE.COM
You have two cows. You tell everyone else they don’t need cows, just milk. And you promise a 99.9% service level of delivery of milk by 6 am every morning…”
https://www.zdnet.com/article/you-have-two-cows/
And so it goes.