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State Laws Like Florida’s Are Threatening Academic Freedom

June 9, 2024 | FlaglerLive | 8 Comments

Florida is among the states that have cut diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public universities. (© FlaglerLive)
Florida is among the states that have cut diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public universities. (© FlaglerLive)

By Isaac Kamola

Over the past few years, Republican state lawmakers have introduced more than 150 bills in 35 states that seek to curb academic freedom on campus. Twenty-one of these bills have been signed into law.

This legislation is detailed in a new white paper published by the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, a project established by the American Association of University Professors, or AAUP. Taken together, this legislative onslaught has undermined academic freedom and institutional autonomy in five distinct and overlapping ways.



1. Academic gag orders

As detailed in the report, state legislators introduced 99 academic gag orders during legislative sessions in 2021, 2022 and 2023. All of the 10 gag orders signed into law were done so by Republican governors. These bills assert that teaching about structural racism, gender identity or unvarnished accounts of American history harm students.

These gag orders are widely known as “divisive concept” or “anti-CRT” bills. CRT is an acronym for critical race theory, an academic framework that holds racism as deeply embedded in America’s legal and political systems. The partisan activists, such as Christopher Rufo, have used this term to generate a “moral panic” as part of a political response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.

For example, in April 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 7, the “Stop Woke Act.” The law defines a “divisive concept” as any of eight vague claims. They include claims that “Such virtues as merit, excellence, hard work, fairness, neutrality, objectivity, and racial colorblindness are racist or sexist.”




U.S. District Judge Mark Walker described this law as “positively dystopian.” He noted that the government’s own lawyers admitted that the law would likely make any classroom discussion concerning the merits of affirmative action illegal. The vague wording of these gag orders has a chilling effect, leaving many faculty unsure about what they can and cannot legally discuss in the classroom.

2. Bans on DEI programs

The expansion of diversity, equity and inclusion – or DEI – services on campus was a major outcome of the racial justice protests in 2020. By 2023, however, the legislative backlash was in full swing. Forty bills restricting DEI efforts were introduced during the 2023 legislative cycle, with seven signed into law.

For example, Texas’ Senate Bill 17 drew directly from model policy language developed by Rufo and published by the Manhattan Institute, a right-wing think tank. SB 17 banned diversity statements and considerations in hiring. It also restricted campus diversity training and defunded campus DEI offices at Texas’ public universities.

As detailed in the AAUP white paper, only a handful of people testified in favor of SB 17, and almost all had stated or unstated affiliations with right-wing think tanks. In contrast, more than a hundred educators and citizens testified, or registered to testify, against the bill. Since its passage, Texas public universities have seen the closing of DEI programs and reduced campus services for students from minority populations. For example, after the Legislature accused the University of Texas-Austin of violating SB 17, the school was forced to shut down its DEI office. This involved laying off 40 employees.

“Sherry Sylvester of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a right-wing think tank, testifies in favor of banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs.”




3. Weakening tenure

Tenure was developed to shield faculty members from external political pressure. The protections of tenure make it possible for faculty to teach, research and speak publicly without fear of losing their jobs because their speech angers those in power. As detailed in the report, however, during the 2021, 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions, 20 bills were introduced, with two bills weakening tenure protections signed into law in Florida and another in Texas.

In Florida, for example, SB 7044 created a system of post-tenure review, empowering administrators to review tenured faculty every five years. The law further empowers administrators to dismiss those whose performance is deemed unsatisfactory. The law also requires that faculty post course content in a public and searchable database.

The AAUP criticized the law, noting that SB 7044 has “substantially weakened tenure in the Florida State University System and, if fully implemented as written,” would effectively “eliminate tenure protections.” Now even tenured faculty have reason to fear that what they teach might be construed as a “divisive concept,” as CRT, or as promoting DEI.

4. Mandating content

Lawmakers in several states have also passed legislation mandating viewpoint diversity, establishing new academic programs and centers to teach conservative content and shifting curricular decision-making away from the faculty.

For example, Florida’s Senate Bill 266 expanded the Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, without faculty input or oversight. The original proposal for the Hamilton Center stated that the center’s goal was to advance “a conservative agenda” within the curriculum.

SB 266 also gave the governing boards overseeing the university and college systems the authority to decide which classes count toward the core curriculum. This power was exercised in November 2023 after Manny Diaz, the education commissioner in Florida, requested that the boards remove an introduction to sociology course. He stated on social media that the discipline had been “hijacked by left-wing activists and no longer serves its intended purpose as a general knowledge course for students.”

5. Weakening accreditation

The accreditation process is an obscure area of academic governance whereby colleges and universities regularly subject themselves to external peer review. Nonprofit accrediting agencies conduct these institutional performance reviews.




As detailed in the report, during the 2021-23 legislative cycles, six bills were introduced – three of them were passed into law – weakening the accreditation process, thereby making it easier for political interests to shape university policy.

For example, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, warned the school’s board of trustees that establishing the School of Civic Life and Leadership without faculty oversight and consultation raised serious concerns about institutional independence. The Legislature responded with Senate Bill 680, which would require that North Carolina public universities choose a different accrediting agency each accreditation cycle. Eventually passed as part of the omnibus House Bill 8, this policy allows schools to “shop” for an accrediting agency less likely to object to such political interference in the curriculum.

These five overlapping and reinforcing attacks on academic freedom and institutional autonomy threaten to radically transform public higher education in ways that serve the partisan interests of those in power.

Isaac Kamola is Associate Professor at Trinity College.

The Conversation arose out of deep-seated concerns for the fading quality of our public discourse and recognition of the vital role that academic experts could play in the public arena. Information has always been essential to democracy. It’s a societal good, like clean water. But many now find it difficult to put their trust in the media and experts who have spent years researching a topic. Instead, they listen to those who have the loudest voices. Those uninformed views are amplified by social media networks that reward those who spark outrage instead of insight or thoughtful discussion. The Conversation seeks to be part of the solution to this problem, to raise up the voices of true experts and to make their knowledge available to everyone. The Conversation publishes nightly at 9 p.m. on FlaglerLive.
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Proudmfingparent says

    June 9, 2024 at 9:35 pm

    No its actually teaching like we all learned. Its leaving all the woke nonsense that’s being taught elsewhere out of the learning process. Most if not all of that crap has no place in school or being taught to our children. Now yes my kids have the right too pick and choose what they believe in but that bullshit.s. Its not taught in my house and my children have grown up to see the world the way they want and have brains even to see what is right and what is wrong.

  2. Comen on now says

    June 10, 2024 at 1:50 am

    I don’t know how this is surprising. The GOP has been doing this for the past few years. WE CAN’T VOTE ON THIS! They just make it so. We can’t oust anyone elected (let alone appointed by the Governor), so we have no say in what happens. Our Governor says we, as Floridians, support him and all the decisions he makes/ laws he enacts. Do we though?! If we elect someone who just makes his ideologies happen, with out the vote of his constituents, is that what we wanted???? Have some guffaw (nicely put) people and stand for what you want. Even if it is the same thing our Governor wants, if we don’t vote on it and he can just MAKE IT SO, then we are not fairly represented, right??!

  3. Pierre Tristam says

    June 10, 2024 at 5:37 am

    What “woke nonsense”? What “crap”? A couple of examples?

  4. Judith Michaud says

    June 10, 2024 at 8:46 am

    Florida has to suffer with RonDonSantis until 2027! Will we survive ?

  5. RobdaSlob says

    June 10, 2024 at 11:01 am

    Would this author’s position still stand if professors were teaching racism is acceptable?

  6. Bill C says

    June 10, 2024 at 3:00 pm

    A few days ago, hoping to become Trump’s VP pick, Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donalds described slavery as an economic boon and good for the enslaved. You mean return to what was taught in schools in the ’50’s? Might as well get rid of computer literacy in schools too and return to the good ‘ol days of the three R’s.

  7. Deborah Coffey says

    June 11, 2024 at 7:58 pm

    I’m not sure you actually know the meaning of “bullshit.” You just wrote an entire paragraph of it because obviously your kids do NOT have the right TO (not “too”) choose what they believe in because they will never be able to tell truth from fiction. What kind of choice is that? BTW, what do you consider to be “woke nonsense?” Are you talking about historical truth or, something else?

  8. Deborah Coffey says

    June 11, 2024 at 8:05 pm

    Actually, the author’s position is exactly that…that professors are being forced to teach that racism is acceptable by way of Republican lawmaking. So, lots of professors who are simply not willing to teach historical lying are leaving and going elsewhere.

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