The Miami Herald reported today on Governor DeSantis’ plans to cleanse higher education in the state. Conservatives are creating “civics” institutes as a vehicle for patriotic indoctrination, not as a means to think critically about how to improve democracy. Censorship, which DeSantis practices, would be condemned in any genuine civics class.
Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday announced a package of major reforms to Florida’s higher education system, including tighter controls on faculty tenure, the establishment of “civics institutes” at three universities and prohibitions on diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Speaking at a news conference in Bradenton, the governor unveiled a plan that would allow university boards of trustees and presidents to conduct reviews of tenured faculty members “at any time,” in addition to the periodic reviews that now take place. Regarding university presidents in particular, he proposes “reestablishing their authority over the hiring process.”
Currently, according to a flier distributed by the governor’s staff, “faculty committees can tie the hands of university presidents and bind them to only consider a small pool of recommended candidates.”
And under a heading in the flier that reads “Education not indoctrination,” he proposes changes in standards and course content “to ensure higher education is rooted in the values of liberty and western tradition.” His plan would require schools to “prioritize graduating students with degrees that lead to high-wage jobs, not degrees designed to further a political agenda.”
The proposal also would prohibit state schools from “supporting campus activities or programs that promote divisive concepts like DEI and CRT.” The letters refer to diversity, equity and inclusion programs and critical race theory.
In addition, he proposes establishing “world-class civics institutes” at the University of Florida, Florida International University and Florida State University. The institutes, according to the flier, would develop courses and curricula “that can be used to educate the next generation on the values of liberty and constitutionalism.”
The flier included information on the governor’s higher education budget proposals as well. He proposes $100 million for “recruitment and retention of highly qualified faculty at state universities” and $15 million for faculty and student recruitment at New College of Florida, where he recently appointed six conservative members to the board of trustees.
The New College board meets Tuesday for the first time since the appointments.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/article271870522.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
DeSantis is trying to remake public education in Florida. He already is hand selecting superintendents in public school districts. He only chooses those that will easily comply with his right wing agenda. He also intends to require school board candidates to declare their political affiliation order to run for office. The state legislature includes enough regressive members that they will rubber stamp any of his partisan ideas. After winning his election by 70% of the vote, DeSantis is drunk with power and intolerant of of any divergence of opinion. He is the “gator state” dictator.
He prefers online learning like this:
Hi Greg,
It’s nice of you to think French is relevant enough to teach in schools!
Oh and Hercule Poirot was NOT French!!!
He was Belgian.
He was fictional! At least according to Miss Marple.
How far into madness will the country go before it WAKES from the coming Fascist nightmare? This is the question.
It’s the left that are the real fascists. ( Read this quick before it before it gets deleted ).
Lol. Hilarious, Harry. Tell us another one.
“…New College of Florida, where he recently appointed six conservative members to the board of trustees” is an understatement. Christopher Rufo is one of the new trustees.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/29/ron-desantis-florida-university-new-college-woke-war
Barf bags fall from ceiling
You’re thinking of oxygen. I think you have to ask the flight attendant for a barf bag now and hope he/she gets back in time. In that case, like politics today, it becomes the neighbor’s problem.
Oh, yeah. Ofc.
But oxygen in that situation is also essential! Just messier and becomes other people’s problem.
I know this, ofc, Greg. I spent years flying around the country, talking to teachers.
Will Putin be chosen as the new president of New College, my daughter’s alma mater? She received a Fulbright scholarship after graduation, due to the fine professors at New College. A very high number of Fullbright scholars, per capita, come from New College. The reputations of the professors there are well known to the Fullbright committee… and other august institutions. Now the “smartest person in the room,” facist Ron, is determined to destroy the college/university system in Florida.
It’s just horrifying.
De Santis is vying for the Trump votes while Trump is edging towards the center. Trump urged Republicans not to create a debt crisis while De Santis has become the Uber Trump of yesteryear. If a year from now they’re vying for the nomination the “loser” may threaten a third party run .. and an 80 year old Dem candidate is not going to mobilize the under 30 voters … isn’t politics fascinating? Remember the first teacher to be harried by politicians was Socrates, and it didn’t work out too well for him
Trump accused DeSantis of being too liberal on COVID. Which is funny but not true. They are fighting for the lunatic fringe.
Assuming”lunatic fringe” is a fatal error, 74M voted for Trump and De Santis won easily ….
What a dangerous man.
What he’s done to libraries/librarians is truly a crime.
It’s sickening. What a creep.
That needs to be the theme of the opposition in the general presidential race in 2024. This guy is a creep.
“Conservatives are creating “civics” institutes. . . ”
GDit, they aren’t ‘conservatives’. They are regressive xtian fundie extremist theocrats. They are xtian theocrats plain and simple not conservatives.
•Remember when Florida universities could attract professors like Mary Budd Rowe and Richard Allington?
•I wonder if colleges and universities outside FL will give faculty applicants from FL schools extra consideration—affirmative action to flee FL. /sarcasm
How very peculiar. RDeS seems to be trying to create a trademark of sorts for FL— a higher-ed “lab” for producing nationalistic dittoheads. Perhaps there will be special grad-degree factories that turn out Ron-D-Clones.
In this context, “woke” means anything they want, ergo, it will. Especially anything with a whiff of lib stink.
It is only the courage of Students and Professors that will end this. There have been far more repressive times in American and World History that People from Workers to Women to Students stood up to Fascist and it did not end well for the fascists. Public opinion can turn rapidly and be mobilized .
Corcoran is likely to fire the faculty and replace them with Theofascists.
It’s my understanding that Madison Cawthorn moved to Florida and is looking for a job.
And the workers in Lowell weren’t fired? The Women and Students in Iran fired upon . The question then becomes what do the Students do ? What do Teachers and Students in HSs do? What do workers and women ,Gays and Minorities do. What does the rest of the State and Nation do. The Dangers from a Christofascist State don’t recede by being ignored. Sadly too many will ignore it .
The inclusion of Chris Rufo on the board of this college proves that we are, as a nation, far to the right. We have always been that way, but now things so cynical, so obviously fascist are allowed in the public space. Rufo has essentially been open about using Goebbels-style propaganda techniques in the culture war.
Now imagine if some leader or group on the tyrannical left had behaved similarly. What if a person prominent in the national discourse had declared that methods identified with Stalin lay at the base of some propaganda effort? The country would have exploded with rage. The House would have created a committee called the House Committee on Un-American Activities (oh, wait, it happened already). Comments from across the political spectrum would have flooded the media.
The absence of reaction is a perfect barometer. Our country stands nearer to fascism now than it has since Twain raised a weak voice at the turn of the last century to decry the ravages of White Supremacy.
The public has a short memory, and DeSantis is sending out signals, the details of which will be soon forgotten. Message: I care about white people. I will turn back the clock 50 years. No more protests or ethnic studies. I will crush, he promises, the liberal elites. Can you believe this guy went to Harvard? He somehow skipped the mandatory elite indoctrination sessions.
It’s ironic that such a proponent of choice wants to be the only one allowed to choose.
That’s what Milton Friedman called “Free to Choose.”
The institutes…would develop courses and curricula “that can be used to educate the next generation on the values of liberty and constitutionalism.”
And when that fails, at least you have a textbook example of how to teach irony.
But one must perceive irony to teach it, grasshopper.
Soon, we’ll be seeing teachers in gray uniforms droning on with state fed information to indoctrinate students their way, because as we all know, “indoctrination is in the eye of the beholder”. Then periodically, they’ll be called in to sit in front of the “Wokeness purging board” to make sure they’re not sneaking in any grooming techniques which may stray from the party line. That’s DeSantis’ & the Dominionists goal.