DeSantis launches second term by taking on ‘woke’ public universities
Jeremiah Poff
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) used the first days of his second term as governor to make a pair of high-profile moves aimed at controlling “woke” influences in higher education.
On Friday, the governor announced his intention to appoint six new members to the board of trustees of the New College of Florida, including several high-profile conservative academics and activists, including Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Christopher Rufo, Hillsdale College professor Matthew Spalding, and Mark Bauerlein, a professor at Emory University and a senior editor for the magazine First Things.
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Rufo, a prominent anti-critical race and gender theory activist, wrote in a tweet Friday that his goal was to help the new conservative majority board of trustees “transform New College into a classical liberal arts institution.”
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1611406507815636993?s=20&t=aQR6RkH9Vv8PySmAyNlrpw
“We’re working hard to create the first ‘public Hillsdale College,'” he said in another tweet, referencing the well-known conservative Michigan liberal arts college that eschews federal funds.
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1611457281048338433?s=20&t=aQR6RkH9Vv8PySmAyNlrpw
His ambitions were echoed by DeSantis’s chief of staff James Uthmeier, who told the Daily Caller that the hope was “that New College of Florida will become Florida’s classical college, more along the lines of a Hillsdale of the South.”
The appointments, which require state Senate confirmation, came days after the governor’s office published a Dec. 28 letter to the state commissioner of education requesting that he require all public colleges and universities in the Sunshine State to report all funding expenditures related to critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to the state government.
https://twitter.com/BryanDGriffin/status/1610710708135821312?s=20&t=MXi1PLExfWVB4C0lWUnWFw
“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,” the letter read. “To that effect, this letter is a request for information from the Department of Education and the State University System regarding the expenditure of state resources on programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory within our state colleges and universities.”
DeSantis, who is widely seen as a top contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has garnered a reputation for consistently and forcefully combating liberal policies and institutions through the power of the state government, especially in the educational sphere.
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Last year, he championed the “Stop WOKE Act,” which prohibited state universities and public schools from offering classes that incorporated critical race theory and told students that they were collectively guilty of historical injustices because of the color of their skin. Opponents have argued the law is an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of speech and academic freedom, and they successfully obtained an injunction temporarily blocking the measure.