Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has said that he plans to cut funding for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in Florida’s state colleges and universities.
DeSantis, who is expected to announce that he’s running for The White House, wants to ban funding for teaching critical race theory in higher education.
According to The Times:
The state governor’s decision is part of an election promise to purge public education of what he considers “trendy ideologies” by pledging the dismantling of programmes that promote certain groups.
“People want to see true academics and they want to get rid of some of the political window dressing that seems to accompany all this,” DeSantis said.
“These bureaucracies are hostile to academic freedom and really they constitute a drain on resources.”
The move, which would also bar funding for teaching critical race theory in colleges and universities, comes as the Republican governor prepares to announce a run for the US presidency.
The education system has become a key political battleground in which a focus on racial, social and cultural injustices are categorised as “wokeism” and “indoctrination”.
Backed by a Republican-controlled state legislature, DeSantis has installed political allies in top university posts, restricted how race-related topics can be taught and mandated surveys of students and professors to assess their beliefs, to prevent campuses from becoming “hotbeds for stale ideology”.
He said: “In Florida, we will ensure that taxpayer-funded higher ed institutions will focus on pursuing truth, promoting excellence, and providing students with a foundation so they can think for themselves — not to enforce ideological conformity and political activism.”
Last week his administration blocked a new high school course in African-American studies, parts of which he said were “pushing an agenda on our kids”.
The College Board, the independent body that developed the advanced course, is due to publish a revised curriculum today, but denied that it bowed to pressure from the state.
