Republican-led states are passing laws which severely limit the discussion of race, gender, and sexuality in classrooms from K-12 through the univesity level. Nowhere is this more evident than in Florida under Ron DeSantis and the Republican-led legislature. As someone who has worked for universities most of my life, it is important that I speak out. I taught for almost 40 years at the university level. I was an active researcher and author and served as an Academic Dean for 12 years. Universities are sanctuaries which promote free speech and debate, challenge preconceived notions and simplistic explanations, and teach students to think critically and speak out against injustice. They are crucial to a successful democracy.
I am extremely alarmed at the actions of Governor DeSantis and the Republicans in the state legislature in Florida in their efforts to restrict free speech of faculty, staff, and students on campus; micromanage university courses and majors; eliminate majors and particular classes; eliminate funding for student groups and programs that focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion; intimidate faculty and administrators; influence faculty hiring; threaten faculty tenure; threaten funding in general; and place a chilling effect on the ability to teach different social and historical perspectives that develop necessary and important critical thinking skills in students. DeSantis has gone so far as to demand to see copies of documents, power points, and emails used in staff and faculty training sessions. Under the proposed legislation of HB 999 black fraternities and sororities, black student unions, African American studies programs, Asian American studies programs, Latin American studies programs, programs that help students with disabilities, and programs for veterans could be eliminated because they all are part of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The legislation forbids the teaching of topics “based on unproven, theoretical, or exploratory content." That could include such topics as evolution, gravity, theoretical physics, and virtually all current research. It states that federal grants that are tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion could not be spent by Florida universities. Not only is this probably illegal, this could affect university run day-care centers and a multitude of university initiatives. The designed vagueness of some of the provisions in HB 999 is chilling and threatening.
I know of cases where extremely talented individuals have decided not to pursue employment at Florida universities because of this oppressive, politicized education environment being imposed by DeSantis and the Republicans. I have already advised a few of my past students who have a Ph.D. not to seek a university faculty position in Florida at this time. An African-American faculty member at UCF recently canceled two classes on race fearing he would lose his job. If it continues, there is no doubt that current faculty and staff will leave the state. Florida’s universities will suffer and their students, Florida students, will suffer. DeSantis’ actions at New College, a public institution, are a blatant effort to remake a successful, thriving college into a far right-wing private Christian institution along the lines of Hillsdale College in Michigan. He is sending more than a threat to the other public universities and colleges in Florida. I beleive this is just the beginning and it is our children and students who will lose if he and the Republicans are allowed to continue.
These actions are not limited to universities. DeSantis and the Republicans are doing the same in public K-12 schools under the guise of parental choice and the protection of the “feelings” of white students. His “Don’t Say Gay” legislation openly encourages discrimination, stigmatization, and outright threats to the already fragile and vulnerable LGBQT student population in K-12 public schools. DeSantis has gone so far as to demand access to the medical records of some of these students. He recently blocked the AP African American Studies class from being taught in Florida high schools. This will make all Florida students less competitive in gaining admission to universities. While “basic” African-American history is required to be taught in high schools, only schools in 11 of the state’s 67 counties have met the statewide requirements. The requirement is purposely underfunded and ignored by the Republican-led state government. The teachers who teach this history are fearful of losing their jobs and honestly don’t know what they can and cannot teach under DeSantis. DeSantis is attempting to literally whitewash US history.
DeSantis and the Republicans bribed high school teachers with extra salary if they complete a course, designed by Hillsdale College, on the teaching of civics. Those that took the course complained of the massive infusion of religion in the teaching of civics, the dumbing down of the importance of slavery and Jim Crow, restricted and narrow interpretations of the Constitution, and materials that simply were not factual.
DeSantis and the Republicans blocked a math text book from being sold to public schools because it supposedly contained CRT. I looked at the so-called CRT materials. They were not CRT. And please note that I had a CRT course in graduate school. I state the fact again that CRT is only taught in law schools and graduate programs at universities. Proposed textbooks for Florida have deleted the fact that Rosa Parks was arrested due to racism.
DeSantis and Republicans are banning books in Florida schools. School libraries have placed curtains over banned books that include Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburg Pirates. Teachers have either covered their own book collections in their classrooms with a curtain or simply moved their books back to their homes. Why? They fear losing their jobs because they contain banned books or books by and about African-Americans and LGBQT individuals. More than 200 books have been banned from school libraries since July of last year including Stamped from the Beginning, Forever, How to Be an AntiRacist, The Bluest Eye, Two Boys Kissing, and Mexican White Boy. Books about Anne Frank and Harriet Tubman have been banned.
These are not the actions of a conservative. They are designed specifically to limit freedom of speech, limit the search for knowledge, and eliminate critical thinking in our education system. They are designed to discriminate against certain groups in the public education system of Florida. These are the actions of an authoritarian.
His authoritarian actions are not limited to education. DeSantis has also restricted private businesses from dealing with health issues and race and gender issues among their own employees. He has used the power of the state to punish private businesses which dare to speak out against him in public. He has made it more difficult for African American groups to exercise their freedom of assembly rights. He has limited the ability of local governments to make decisions concerning police funding. He has limiited the ability of school boards to deal with health issues of their teachers, staff, and students. He has restricted the ability of women to have any say whatsoever in their reproductive health care and, in effect, he has put their health at risk.
All of this is being done right in front of our eyes. He is making use of the common authoritarian playbook adopted by the Nazis in the 1930s and currently by Putin in Russia, Orban in Hungary, and Erdogan in Turkey.
Just to remind you, here's a passage written by Peter Drucker, an Austrian economist, who was a lecturer at Frankfurt University in 1933.
Frankfurt was the first university the Nazis tackled, precisely because it was the most self-confidently liberal of major German universities, with a faculty that prided itself on its allegiance to scholarship, freedom of conscience, and democracy. The Nazis knew that control of Frankfurt University would mean control of German academia. And so did everyone at the university. Above all, Frankfurt had a science faculty distinguished both by its scholarship and by its liberal convictions; and outstanding among the Frankfurt scientists was a biochemist-physiologist of Nobel-Prize caliber and impeccable liberal credentials. When the appointment of a Nazi commissar was announced...every teacher and graduate assistant at the university was summoned to a faculty meeting to hear this new master, everybody knew that a trial of strength was at hand. I had never before attended a faculty meeting, but I did attend this one. The new Nazi commissar wasted no time on the amenities. He immediately announced that Jews would be forbidden to enter university premises and would be dismissed without salary on March 15; this was something that no one had thought possible despite the Nazis’ loud antisemitism. Then he launched into a tirade of abuse, filth, and four-letter words such as had been heard rarely even in the barracks and never before in academia. . . . [He] pointed his finger at one department chairman after another and said, “You either do what I tell you or we’ll put you into a concentration camp.” There was silence when he finished...The meeting broke up shortly thereafter with the commissar assuring the scholars that indeed there would be plenty of money for “racially pure science.” A few of the professors had the courage to walk out with their Jewish colleagues, but most kept a safe distance from these who only a few hours earlier had been their close friends. I went out sick unto death—and I knew that I was going to leave Germany within forty-eight hours...[By the fall of 1933, more than 15% of university teachers had left, lost their jobs, or were fired because of their political beliefs. This included Albert Einstein.]
DeSantis and his Republican minions are autocratic and dangerous. DeSantis is a greater threat to democracy than Trump. It is time to wake up, raise our voices, take collective action, and stop them. Let the rest of America know what is going on in the sunshine state.
Finally, on a related note, my blog does not receive any monetary support from other individuals or groups. I will not have to register it with DeSantis and his Republican minions. Bloggers who are funded by outside groups or individuals and who criticize DeSantis may be required to register with DeSantis in the future should SB1316 become law.
Commentaires