‘HOSTILE’

DeSantis Vows to Defund Diversity Efforts at Florida Universities

He claimed diversity efforts were “hostile to academic freedom” while simultaneously saying students will be forced to take courses on western civilization.

Two weeks after Florida universities were forced to report any spending on critical race theory to the governor’s office, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he will defund diversity and inclusion efforts in colleges across the state. “These bureaucracies are hostile to academic freedom, and really they constitute a drain on resources and end up contributing to higher costs,” he said on Tuesday, equating efforts to increase diversity on campuses with imposing a leftist agenda on higher education. Seeming contradicting his goal of “academic freedom,” DeSantis said that, going forward, all students will be required to take courses on the history and philosophy of Western civilization. “We don’t want students to go through at taxpayer expense and graduate with a degree in Zombie studies,” he added. Last week, Florida officials rejected a proposed AP African American studies class for high schools, claiming the course lacked “educational value.”