Saturday, January 07, 2023

POSTMODERN MCARTHYISM 


DeSantis seeks conservative overhaul at Florida liberal-arts college

Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press


Ana Ceballos, Jeffrey Solochek
Fri, January 6, 2023 

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a group of hard-line conservative loyalists Friday into leadership positions at the New College of Florida, a move that comes as the Republican governor plots a remake of the state’s higher education system.

Several of the appointees are vocal opponents of gender- and race-related education issues that have fueled the right’s culture wars in schools. They were picked as DeSantis, who is eyeing a potential 2024 White House run, vows to fight “philosophical lunacy” in the schools.

The new appointees will now help oversee the Sarasota college, which has a reputation for being one of the most progressive higher-education institutions in the state.

Of the six appointed by DeSantis, the marquee names are Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who helped turn critical race theory into a conservative rallying cry, and Matthew Spalding, a government professor at Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college in Michigan.

Rufo and Spalding have backed DeSantis’ proposals targeting critical race theory, a 1980s academic legal concept holds that racial disparities are systemic in the United States, not just a collection of individual prejudices.

DeSantis also appointed:

▪ Charles R. Kesler, the editor of the conservative Claremont Institute’s publication, The Claremont Review of Books;

▪ Eddie Speir, the superintendent of Inspiration Academy, a private Christian school in Bradenton that has as its mission to “cultivate, nourish and inspire students, using a mentorship model to develop an integrated life of faith from the inside out, in an environment of family, care and love.”

▪ Mark Bauerlein, a pro-Donald Trump English professor at Emory University, whose latest book, “The Dumbest Generation Grows Up,” casts a critical eye on education for giving up on the classical canon and instead allowing students to choose for themselves what they want to learn.

▪ Debra Jenks, a New College alumna who currently is a securities mediation lawyer in Palm Beach County.

These individuals were picked, in part, because New College needs a new direction, DeSantis spokesperson Taryn Fenske told the Herald/Times in an email.

“NCF needs new leadership that sends a clear and attractive signal to students, throughout Florida and nationwide, that this is an institution intending to remain humble in size yet nation-leading in its approach to ‘innovation’ and ‘excellence,’” Fenske said.

Rufo celebrated the appointment by declaring: “We are recapturing higher education.”
‘Recapturing higher education’

As DeSantis kicked off his second term in office on Tuesday, he made clear that he plans to focus on reshaping the state’s higher education. In particular, he said, he wants to make sure his administration eradicates “trendy ideologies” from the classroom.

“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 during his inaugural speech at the steps of the historic Florida Capitol in Tallahassee.

Then, DeSantis’ office made public a memo that it had sent out to state colleges and universities asking the for information about resources they are putting into activities and program related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.

“As the Executive Office of the Governor prepares policy and budget proposals ahead of the 2023 Legislative Session, it is important that we have a full understanding of the operational expenses of state institutions,” Chris Spencer, the director of DeSantis’ Office of Policy and Budget, wrote in a memo Dec. 28.

The information need to be submitted by Jan. 13. It remains unclear exactly what will be done with the information once it is collected.

Signs of a major shake-up

As word spread of DeSantis’ appointment to New College on Friday, reaction from academics came swiftly via social media.

“Terrible news,” tweeted Ohio State University political science associate professor Benjamin McKean. “DeSantis is aiming to destroy New College.”

Acadia University politics instructor Jeffrey Sachs wrote, “With leadership like this, how could college NOT educate freethinkers?”

Rufo lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three sons, according to his website. He caught the attention of national figures, like DeSantis, during the pandemic after frequently appearing on conservative media outlets to criticize the concept of critical race theory.

Eventually, the ire against the theory became a rallying cry for conservatives, many of them in Florida. And DeSantis tapped into those ideas to build a reputation as a warrior. He has often declared that Florida is where “woke goes to die.”

When Rufo tweeted his enthusiasm for the appointment, he drew a barrage of congratulations from conservatives, including Erika Donalds, the wife of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who was nominated this week for U.S. House speaker.
Hillsdale connection

Spalding’s appointment to marks another instance in which Hillsdale College is helping DeSantis reshape the state’s higher education system.

“I am honored by the appointment and look forward to advancing educational excellence and focusing New College on its distinctive mission as the liberal arts honors college of the State of Florida,” Spalding said in a statement Friday. “A good liberal arts education is truly liberating and opens the minds and forms the character of good students and good citizens.”

Hillsdale President Larry P. Arnn called DeSantis “one of the most important people living,” during the Hillsdale National Leadership Seminar in Naples last February. And the Times/Herald found that the private Christian college was among several national groups that helped the governor develop a civics education training program for teachers that some educators said was seeped in “Christian fundamentalist” overtones.

READ MORE: DeSantis’ ‘full armor of God’ rhetoric reaches Republicans. But is he playing with fire?

DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier told the National Review that the administration intends to convert the college, which has under 700 students, to a classical model akin to that of Hillsdale College.

Twelve years ago, Hillsdale College set out to reshape public education through the growth of charter schools and in recent years has expanded its reach in Florida’s education system.

And in Florida, Hillsdale’s influence has been seen in the state’s rejection of math textbooks over what DeSantis called “indoctrinating concepts,” the state’s push to renew the importance of civics education in public schools, and the rapid growth of Hillsdale’s network of affiliated public charter schools in Florida.

Arnn, Hillsdale’s president, was appointed by Trump to chair the president’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which was formed to “advise the president about the core principles of the American founding and to protect those principles by promoting patriotic education,” according to Spalding, who Trump appointed as the commission’s executive director.

Spalding is also the vice president for Washington operations and the dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C., extension

Hillsdale’s digital digest, Imprimis, features the writing of conservative thinkers like Christopher Rufo, who has worked with DeSantis to combat issues like critical race theory and gender identity. The publication also includes articles with titles, like “The January 6 Insurrection Hoax,” “The Disaster at Our Southern Border,” “Gender Ideology Run Amok.” “Critical Race Theory: What it is and How to Fight it,” and “Who is in Control? The need to Rein in Big Tech.”



Gov. Ron DeSantis seeks conservative overhaul at Sarasota’s New College of Florida


Ana Ceballos, Jeffrey Solochek
Fri, January 6, 2023 



Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a group of hard-line conservative loyalists Friday into leadership positions at the New College of Florida, a move that comes as the Republican governor plots a remake of the state’s higher education system.

Several of the appointees are vocal opponents of gender- and race-related education issues that have fueled the right’s culture wars in schools. They were picked as DeSantis, who is eyeing a potential 2024 White House run, vows to fight “philosophical lunacy” in the schools.

The new appointees will now help oversee the Sarasota college, which has a reputation for being one of the most progressive higher-education institutions in the state.

Of the six appointed by DeSantis, the marquee names are Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who helped turn critical race theory into a conservative rallying cry, and Matthew Spalding, a government professor at Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college in Michigan.


Rufo and Spalding have backed DeSantis’ proposals targeting critical race theory, a 1980s academic legal concept holds that racial disparities are systemic in the United States, not just a collection of individual prejudices.

DeSantis also appointed:

▪ Charles R. Kesler, the editor of the conservative Claremont Institute’s publication, The Claremont Review of Books;

▪ Eddie Speir, the superintendent of Inspiration Academy, a private Christian school in Bradenton that has as its mission to “cultivate, nourish and inspire students, using a mentorship model to develop an integrated life of faith from the inside out, in an environment of family, care and love.”

▪ Mark Bauerlein, a pro-Donald Trump English professor at Emory University, whose latest book, “The Dumbest Generation Grows Up,” casts a critical eye on education for giving up on the classical canon and instead allowing students to choose for themselves what they want to learn.

▪ Debra Jenks, a New College alumna who currently is a securities mediation lawyer in Palm Beach County.

These individuals were picked, in part, because New College needs a new direction, DeSantis spokesperson Taryn Fenske told the Herald/Times in an email.

“NCF needs new leadership that sends a clear and attractive signal to students, throughout Florida and nationwide, that this is an institution intending to remain humble in size yet nation-leading in its approach to ‘innovation’ and ‘excellence,’” Fenske said.

Rufo celebrated the appointment by declaring: “We are recapturing higher education.”
‘Recapturing higher education’

As DeSantis kicked off his second term in office on Tuesday, he made clear that he plans to focus on reshaping the state’s higher education. In particular, he said, he wants to make sure his administration eradicates “trendy ideologies” from the classroom.

“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 during his inaugural speech at the steps of the historic Florida Capitol in Tallahassee.

Then, DeSantis’ office made public a memo that it had sent out to state colleges and universities asking the for information about resources they are putting into activities and program related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.

“As the Executive Office of the Governor prepares policy and budget proposals ahead of the 2023 Legislative Session, it is important that we have a full understanding of the operational expenses of state institutions,” Chris Spencer, the director of DeSantis’ Office of Policy and Budget, wrote in a memo Dec. 28.

The information need to be submitted by Jan. 13. It remains unclear exactly what will be done with the information once it is collected.
Signs of a major shake-up

As word spread of DeSantis’ appointment to New College on Friday, reaction from academics came swiftly via social media.

“Terrible news,” tweeted Ohio State University political science associate professor Benjamin McKean. “DeSantis is aiming to destroy New College.”

Acadia University politics instructor Jeffrey Sachs wrote, “With leadership like this, how could college NOT educate freethinkers?”

Rufo lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three sons, according to his website. He caught the attention of national figures, like DeSantis, during the pandemic after frequently appearing on conservative media outlets to criticize the concept of critical race theory.

Eventually, the ire against the theory became a rallying cry for conservatives, many of them in Florida. And DeSantis tapped into those ideas to build a reputation as a warrior. He has often declared that Florida is where “woke goes to die.”

When Rufo tweeted his enthusiasm for the appointment, he drew a barrage of congratulations from conservatives, including Erika Donalds, the wife of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who was nominated this week for U.S. House speaker.
Hillsdale connection

Spalding’s appointment to marks another instance in which Hillsdale College is helping DeSantis reshape the state’s higher education system.

“I am honored by the appointment and look forward to advancing educational excellence and focusing New College on its distinctive mission as the liberal arts honors college of the State of Florida,” Spalding said in a statement Friday. “A good liberal arts education is truly liberating and opens the minds and forms the character of good students and good citizens.”

Hillsdale President Larry P. Arnn called DeSantis “one of the most important people living,” during the Hillsdale National Leadership Seminar in Naples last February. And the Times/Herald found that the private Christian college was among several national groups that helped the governor develop a civics education training program for teachers that some educators said was seeped in “Christian fundamentalist” overtones.

READ MORE: DeSantis’ ‘full armor of God’ rhetoric reaches Republicans. But is he playing with fire?

DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier told the National Review that the administration intends to convert the college, which has under 700 students, to a classical model akin to that of Hillsdale College.

Twelve years ago, Hillsdale College set out to reshape public education through the growth of charter schools and in recent years has expanded its reach in Florida’s education system.

And in Florida, Hillsdale’s influence has been seen in the state’s rejection of math textbooks over what DeSantis called “indoctrinating concepts,” the state’s push to renew the importance of civics education in public schools, and the rapid growth of Hillsdale’s network of affiliated public charter schools in Florida.

Arnn, Hillsdale’s president, was appointed by Trump to chair the president’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which was formed to “advise the president about the core principles of the American founding and to protect those principles by promoting patriotic education,” according to Spalding, who Trump appointed as the commission’s executive director.

Spalding is also the vice president for Washington operations and the dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C., extension

Hillsdale’s digital digest, Imprimis, features the writing of conservative thinkers like Christopher Rufo, who has worked with DeSantis to combat issues like critical race theory and gender identity. The publication also includes articles with titles, like “The January 6 Insurrection Hoax,” “The Disaster at Our Southern Border,” “Gender Ideology Run Amok.” “Critical Race Theory: What it is and How to Fight it,” and “Who is in Control? The need to Rein in Big Tech.”

New College of Florida campus

DeSantis aims to create 'Hillsdale of the south' with conservative overhaul of a Florida college's board



Zac Anderson
Fri, January 6, 2023 

New College of Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis overhauled the board of Sarasota's New College on Friday, bringing in six new members, including prominent conservative activist Christopher Rufo and a dean of conservative Hillsdale College, in a move his administration described as an effort to shift the school in a conservative direction.

"It is our hope that New College of Florida will become Florida's classical college, more along the lines of a Hillsdale of the south," DeSantis Chief of Staff James Uthmeier told the conservative Daily Caller website.

The shakeup of the 11-member board is certain to create major tensions at New College, an institution that started as a progressive private school before becoming the state's liberal arts honors college. The small school's student body and faculty have a reputation for leaning left politically.

Turning New College into a Florida version of Hillsdale would amount to turning it upside down, a wholesale transformation that many current students and faculty are likely to resist.

Rise of Christopher Rufo:How critical race theory went from conservative battle cry to mainstream powder keg

Rufo:What I discovered about critical race theory in public schools and why it shouldn't be taught

Rufo has gained prominence for his activism on transgender and racial issues, making him a leader in the new wave of conservative culture wars. He joined DeSantis when the governor signed HB 1557, the Parental Rights in Education Act, which is derided by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

'Woke mind virus'? 'Corporate wokeness'? Why red America has declared war on corporate America

Rufo recently applauded DeSantis on Twitter for requesting information on diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory at all Florida colleges and universities.

"Gov. DeSantis is going to lay siege to university 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' programs," Rufo wrote.



Joining Rufo on the New College board is Matthew Spalding, a professor of constitutional government at Hillsdale College and the dean of the college's graduate school of government in Washington, D.C.

Hillsdale is a small Christian college in Michigan that has been active in conservative education politics.

"As Gov. DeSantis stated in his second inaugural speech: 'We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth,'" DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin told the Daily Caller. "Starting today, the ship is turning around. New College of Florida, under the governor's new appointees, will be refocused on its founding mission of providing a world-class quality education with an exceptional focus on the classics."

DeSantis spoke at Hillsdale's National Leadership Seminar last year and has tapped the school to help reshape Florida's education system.

At least seven states have passed laws restricting the teaching of critical race theory at institutions of higher education. The portion of Florida's law affecting colleges is temporarily blocked, but some professors who teach the subject are canceling those courses, ProPublica reported this week. Penn State abandoned plans made following the murder of George Floyd to create a Center for Racial Justice when its leadership turned over last year.

Critical race theory: What is it and how did it become a political dividing line?

What is wokeness? What does it mean to be 'woke,' and why does Florida Governor Ron DeSantis want to stop it?

The other new board members at New College are Charles Kesler, a professor of government at Clermont-McKenna College, Mark Bauerlein, who teaches at Emory University, Debra Jenks, a New College alum and attorney, and Jason "Eddie" Speir, the co-founder, chairman and superintendent of Inspiration Academy, a Christian school in Bradenton.

The new DeSantis appointees make up a majority of the board and will be able to control the school's direction.

New College routinely ranks well on higher education "best of" lists, having been singled out as a good value and among the best public liberal arts colleges. It is known for attracting accomplished students to an intimate setting that blends academic rigor and quirky experimentalism.

DeSantis’ targeting of race and diversity at Florida universities seen as political ploy

Gerren Keith Gaynor
Fri, January 6, 2023

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona dismissed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ latest action as “an attempt to get a national name for himself.”

Democrats are slamming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent targeting of critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public universities, and have dismissed his latest action as a ploy to boost his political ambitions.

DeSantis, in continuing his “Stop W.O.K.E. Act” despite a court injunction limiting its reach, has requested state public universities to submit a “comprehensive list of all staff, programs and campus activities,” including funding, associated with diversity or CRT. The Florida governor has become a leading national Republican figure for his very public condemnations of issues he believes are rooted in “trendy” and “woke” ideologies influenced by the political left.


Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a November rally in Orlando in November before his reelection. In his first term, the Republican signed bills restricting classroom lessons. Now he is targeting public university programs.
 (Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

Since taking office in 2019, DeSantis, a former two-term Republican congressman, has signed bills restricting instructions on race and LGBTQ+ identity in school classrooms. Similar bills have been introduced or passed by Republican-controlled legislatures across the country since late 2021. What’s more, the targeting of race, sexuality and gender identity in academia has been analyzed as a political strategy used by Republicans to win elections.

During a recent sit-down interview with theGrio, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said he believes the latest move by DeSantis, who is reportedly mulling a run for president in 2024, is “an attempt to get a national name for himself.”

Cardona said that rather than “supporting efforts to limit universities from doing what they do best,” DeSantis and other Republican governors should be more focused on working with the Biden-Harris administration to make sure that universities “have what they need to get students back into the classrooms, learning at high levels and graduating without tremendous debt.”

Florida State Sen. Shevrin Jones warns that DeSantis’ continuous aim at race and diversity in the classroom could have impacts that extend beyond simply earning political points.

“Governor DeSantis and his team are on an all-out national marketing campaign. And all of it is being done at the expense of people’s lives,” Jones told theGrio. “What this confusion is doing is creating havoc within university systems.”

The Florida governor’s office has not disclosed why they are seeking information from public institutions of higher education or what they plan to do with it; however, Jones said he would not be surprised if DeSantis used that data to penalize institutions that offer coursework or programs related to race and diversity.


Florida A&M University is the only HBCU in Florida. State Sen. Shevrin Jones said he is especially concerned about its programs in the face of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ efforts. / AdobeStock

“If they’re looking for controversy in DEI and CRT, which is taught at our university system, then they’re going to find it, and they’re going to cut the funding for that. I will bet you that that’s the route that the [state] department of education and the governor’s office is going down,” he said.

The Miami-Dade lawmaker, who has been a vocal critic of DeSantis since taking office, said he is especially concerned about what impact any blowback could have on Florida A&M University, which is the state’s only HBCU that is a public university and offers programs on African American studies.

“Deans and presidents are now confused themselves on what can be taught and what can’t be taught, and teachers don’t want to teach it because they don’t want to get in trouble,” explained Jones. What’s worse, he said, “They’re creating this chaos and havoc within these systems, because they can.”

But Jones cautioned that this recent action from DeSantis is only the beginning from him and Republicans, both within the Sunshine State and nationally.

“What Gov. DeSantis and the Republicans are about to do in this next legislative session, mark my words, they are going to try to set a national tone not just here in Florida when it comes to our university systems — all across the country,” he said. “This will now become the Republicans’ next issue to harp on.”


Christopher Rufo in Seattle, Washington.
Contributing: Nirvi Shah, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gov. Ron DeSantis wants conservative overhaul at Sarasota's New College of Florida


Gov. DeSantis asks Florida universities for names of all staff, programs linked to diversity and CRT


TheGrio Staff
Thu, January 5, 2023 

Faculty union officials said they are concerned that any material provided by institutions in response to the governor’s request could be used to retaliate against educators, particularly those who teach about race.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants colleges around the state to produce a detailed list of all personnel, programs, campus activities and funds associated with critical race theory and diversity initiatives.

While a DeSantis spokesperson said to “stay tuned” when asked why the state requested the material, the governor has vowed to fight against what he views as “woke” philosophy in higher education, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

“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 at his second inauguration Tuesday, according to the Sentinel.

A Dec. 28, 2022 memo — written by the governor’s budget director Chris Spencer and forwarded to Chancellor Ray Rodrigues of the State University System of Florida and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz — says the governor’s office needs the information for budget planning.

It also references the governor’s controversial “Stop Woke Act.”

Universities that disobey the law’s prohibition against teaching that someone is “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive” because of their gender or ethnicity, whether knowingly or unintentionally, risk losing state support.

Last month, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker granted a preliminary injunction to suspend the “Stop Woke Act,” declaring it to be “positively dystopian” and in violation of the First Amendment. The state challenged Walker’s decision, asking that the injunction be suspended.

Faculty union officials said they are concerned that any material provided by institutions in response to the request by the governor’s office could be used to retaliate against educators, particularly those who teach about race.

University of Central Florida union chair Robert Cassanello, who joined one of the legal actions opposing the “Stop Woke” ordinance, said some faculty members already have revised their course material or decided not to teach specific courses because they fear retribution, the Sentinal reported.

He said he anticipates that the school will flag a spring class he is teaching about Jim Crow in the United States.

“What it sounds like to me is Gov. DeSantis plans to punish universities over what they may or may not be teaching in classes or through programs or initiatives,” Cassanello said, according to the Sentinel.

Andrew Gothard is president of the United Faculty of Florida, a union representing more than 25,000 faculty members across the state. He wants colleges and universities to disregard the state’s request, which he believes builds on previous threats by the governor to cut funding to organizations that do not support his values and interests.

“It continues his efforts to chill the freedom of speech rights of faculty, students and staff, especially those who disagree with his ideological viewpoints and stances,” Gothard said, according to the Sentinel.

The University of Florida and UCF officials said they were working on the state’s request, which Board of Governors spokesperson Renee Fargason said all 12 state universities still needed to fulfill. They have until Jan. 13 to respond.

“Our hope is that the institutions don’t comply,” Gothard added, according to the Sentinel. “At some point, we as citizens of a democratic society have to stand up and say, ‘That’s enough.’ You can’t just target people and antagonize and brutalize them because they disagree with you. That’s not democracy. That’s not America. And it shouldn’t be Florida.”


In ‘free state of Florida’ dodgy COVID-19 research is welcomed, critical thinking muzzled | Opinion



The Miami Herald Editorial Board
Thu, January 5, 2023 

In the “free state of Florida,” academics have plenty of freedom to contest the efficacy and need for COVID-19 vaccines, but they are muzzled if they question the belief that America is a color-blind society where systemic racial injustice doesn’t exist.

This double standard is the inevitable result of a state government that handpicks the kind of speech that’s allowed at state universities and colleges. The same state government that, under the heavy hand of Gov. DeSantis, complains about “censorship” of conservatives by privately run social-media platforms, yet engages in the same tactics it decries.

Florida has ordered its public colleges and universities provide “a comprehensive list of all staff, programs and campus activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.” The latter is an academic theory that, among other things, studies how racism is embedded in American institutions and laws. Conservatives have turned CRT into a scarecrow to repel anything that makes white people feel they are personally blamed for racism.

The state’s request comes as the governor’s office prepares its budget proposals ahead of the 2023 legislative session. The message is clear: CRT courses and diversity initiatives can put a university’s state funding on the chopping block.

This chilling effect appears to be the intent of DeSantis’ promise to end “wokeness” in Florida. And it’s working. A University of Central Florida sociology professor told ProPublica he’s canceled courses on race, which included a reading on the “the myth of a color-blind society,” out of fear he might lose his job. UCF’s provost blatantly told faculty the school would take disciplinary action against professors who repeatedly violated Florida’s “Stop W.O.K.E. Act” to avoid losing funding. The law prohibits classroom instruction that purportedly makes students feel guilty for past discrimination by members of their race (a subjective standard, to say the least). It also bars portraying racial colorblindness — which the law calls a virtue — as racist.

This is a blatant attack on free speech and academic freedom. Not surprisingly, a federal judge barred the law from being enforced in public universities, calling it “positively dystopian.” The DeSantis administration is appealing the case, ProPublica reported.

While CRT is treated as the abomination that Florida must root out, our university system continues to bankroll Florida’s chief vaccine denier, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. Appointed by DeSantis in the midst of the pandemic, he has peddled debunked treatments for the virus, such as hydroxychloroquine, and describes the scientific community as intolerant to different points of view on pandemic response. It turns out the administration he works for lives in a glass house.

Ladapo, a tenured professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine, recommended men aged 18-39 do not get mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. The guidance was based on a study by the Department of Health, which answers to Ladapo, on the health risks of the vaccines for men in that age group. A seven-page report authored by a committee of UF College of Medicine professors criticized the study, calling its research of “highly questionable merit” and relying on cherry-picked data to support an anti-vaccine hypothesis.

UF has no plans to investigate the study, the Tampa Bay Times reported this week. Its vice president for research, David Norton, told the Times that Ladapo oversaw the research in his role as surgeon general and not as a faculty member. Then, perhaps not sensing the irony, Norton said via a statement that his office “continues to strongly support the freedom afforded to university researchers to independently pursue topics and present findings.”

Those who toe DeSantis’ line appear to have ample freedom to pursue their academic and research interests, no matter their questionable methods or the harm they may cause. Those who question DeSantis’ belief on race and racism aren’t so fortunate.

In the end, the real losers aren’t university professors who are often vilified as leftist indoctrinators. The real losers are students, adults who should have the option to take a college course on critical race theory.

The state of Florida acts as if it’s protecting students from what DeSantis labeled “trendy ideology.” But it’s more like a helicopter parent who prevents their children’s exposure to perhaps uncomfortable truths. In doing so, Florida denies young people the tools to question their place in society and have their own beliefs questioned.

Perhaps keeping them in the dark is exactly the end game.

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