Kayla Jimenez, USA TODAY
Thu, February 23, 2023
Florida college students are livid with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for targeting the civil rights of LGBTQ+ students and people of color by pushing to ban diversity, equity, and inclusion, limiting discussion of racism and privilege in schools and his threats to do more.
Sort of.
A small number of protestors walked out of their college classes Thursday during a planned statewide protest of DeSantis and his policies. One man at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville carried a "Keep Surveillance Out of Education!" sign and a Pride flag. Others at Florida International University waved signs that read "Trans Rights = Human Rights." In a similar scene at the University of Florida, about 100 people on a campus of more than 55,000 students held signs advocating for transgender healthcare and said the state is restricting free thought and expression.
The Florida College Democrats and Dream Defenders organized Thursday's "Stand for Freedom" movement and walkout, challenging DeSantis' education-related policies and threats targeting the civil rights of LGBTQ+ students and people of color.
They are calling on the DeSantis administration to restore diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in colleges and universities, according to the "Stand for Freedom" pledge.
"We are Florida’s students and citizens. It is our education that is being tarnished and our schools being discredited," the pledge states. "This is our fight for freedom."
'This is our fight for freedom': Florida college students plan statewide walkout against Gov. DeSantis.
Last month, DeSantis' announced plans to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts made in previous years across Florida campuses. His legislative proposal would ban colleges and universities from spending money, regardless of its source, on support for initiatives related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, critical race theory or "other discriminatory initiatives."
In response to a question about the protests, a DeSantis spokesperson referred to an earlier statement.
“In Florida, we will build off of our higher education reforms by aligning core curriculum to the values of liberty and the Western tradition, eliminating politicized bureaucracies like DEI, increasing the amount of research dollars for programs that will feed key industries with talented Florida students, and empowering presidents and boards of trustees to recruit and hire new faculty, including by dedicating record resources for faculty salaries,” said DeSantis on Jan. 31.
Rev. Al Sharpton, Black leaders: DeSantis is 'wrong to mess with Black history'
What do Florida college students say?
Those who participated in the University of Florida protest said DeSantis is abusing his political power by overreaching into the education system, including K-12 schools, by dictating what kind of curriculum can be taught in classrooms.
About 100 University of Florida students gathered at Turlington Hall on Thursday afternoon, part of a statewide walkout in protest of recent education-related efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis, including his policies targeting LGBTQ+ and people of color.
Sabrina Briceno, a member University of Florida’s College Democrats and Stand For Freedom Florida, said the students protesting want to "accurately learn our history, and that includes history that he might not agree with."
On the Florida State University campus, Ava Anderson said she doesn't agree with any of the policies DeSantis has introduced.
“Personally, I feel like we’re going in a factious direction," the 21-year-old sociology and psychology major said. "I’m Jewish, so it does scare me to see how he’s criticizing people’s identities.”
And in Sarasota at New College of Florida, which has been a focus of DeSantis' efforts to create a more conservative education model, professor Debarati Biswas said she fully supports the students.
"We value academic freedom at New College... the students are choosing what they want to learn," Biswas said. "They are creating their own curriculum and that brings with it growth and critical thinking."
'Black history is not inferior': Black leaders object to Florida's 'culture war against African Americans'
University of Florida student Madigan Wilford, center, came out in support of the trans population during a planned a statewide walkout in protest of recent education-related efforts by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
A protest at Florida State University's campus in Tallahassee earlier this month drew about 50 people rallying against DeSantis' initiatives. A political activism group called Students for a Democratic Society led that movement to protest against his efforts to remove DEI from college curricula across the state, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
Board shake-ups, threats to tenure: How conservatives are reshaping colleges
How is DeSantis shaping education in Florida?
DeSantis' announcement is just his latest action on academia.
Earlier this year he replaced several members of the board of trustees with conservative appointees at New College of Florida, attributing low student enrollment and other financial challenges to the college’s “skewed focus and impractical course offerings.” They quickly fired the progressive public institution's president. “New College of Florida has been completely captured by a political ideology that puts trendy, truth-relative concepts above learning,” Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’s press secretary, previously told USA TODAY.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the crowd before publicly signing the Stop WOKE Act in April 2022.
DeSantis Stop WOKE Act, legislation intended to limit discussion of racism and privilege in schools and workplace trainings, became law in 2022. A federal judge last year partially blocked the law from being applied to public universities.
During the 2022 election, DeSantis endorsed and helped finance conservative school board candidates in several districts, most of whom won their races. This week, DeSantis shared a list of 14 school board members he hopes to help oust in 2024 because they "do not protect parental rights and have failed to protect students from woke ideologies."
He rejected the College Board's new AP African American Studies course, saying it violates Florida law and lacks educational value.
Why are colleges offering up more DEI degrees? Demand for diversity expertise is growing.
DeSantis signed another bill last year, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" law, which bans instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.
DeSantis' administration asked 12 state universities for information about how many people were diagnosed with gender dysphoria or received treatment in campus clinics across Florida. It's not clear what will be done with the data.
CRT and DEI: What do those terms really mean?
Contributing: Tarah Jean, Tallahassee Democrat; Samantha Gholar, Sarasota Herald-Tribune; and Alan Festo, Gainesville Sun
Contact Kayla Jimenez at kjimenez@usatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter at @kaylajjimenez.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Protesters call on DeSantis to lay off diversity efforts in Florida
Florida students walk out to protest DeSantis race education policies
KIARA ALFONSECA
Thu, February 23, 2023
Hundreds of students across Florida walked out Thursday in protest against Gov. Ron DeSantis and his policies concerning higher education.
Students walked out of their classrooms at the University of South Florida, University of Florida, Florida State University, and more in opposition of his efforts. Some high school students also joined in on the statewide walkout.
DeSantis recently announced plans to ban colleges and universities from having programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as critical race theory.
Critical race theory is a discipline that seeks to understand how racism has shaped U.S. laws and how those laws have continued to impact the lives of non-white people.
DeSantis also signed the so-called "Stop WOKE" Act into law in 2022, which restricts race-related curriculum and conversation in workplaces, schools and colleges. However, it has been temporarily blocked from being implemented in colleges and universities. The law is still being battled out in court.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks as he announces a proposal for Digital Bill of Rights, Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee/AP)
“I think 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 at a January news conference about the effort.
Students protesting DeSantis say they value their academic freedom and liken the efforts of his administration to censorship.
"We want to take these classes and for the state to come in and say, 'Well, we might not want to allow you to have that' … At what point are college students going to be considered adults by the state of Florida?" Jonathon Chavez, president of College Democrats at USF, told ABC News.
He continued, "We want to make our own decisions and our education, how we want to better ourselves. We think it's quite silly that the state would try to restrict that."
DeSantis' office did not respond to ABC News' requests for comment.
The Florida State University (FSU) college entrance is pictured in Tallahassee, Fla. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Dream Defenders, a group of Black and brown anti-racism activists, are hosting "Black History teach-ins" amid the walkouts to combat the plethora of efforts from DeSantis to restrict race-related education.
“Ron DeSantis has been on a rampage. He’s banning books and flags in classrooms everywhere. He’s making sure our history isn’t getting taught. He’s getting rid of teachers, professors and faculty that look like us and support us,” said Nailah Summers, the co-executive director of the Dream Defenders, who publicly called for a statewide day of action, along with the newly formed Stand for Freedom, a coalition of student organizations spanning Florida’s college campuses. “He’s made it harder to protest, harder to vote, and harder to live in Florida.”
DeSantis' administration is also under fire by demonstrators for reportedly requiring state schools to provide information about gender-affirming care they've provided for students.
"At our schools, we found that transgender students [had stopped] receiving those services", said Chavez. "They don't know what that is going to be used for. They're scared that it might be used to restrict them further. And that's a very real and tangible outcome for a very simple request."
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