Not that long ago, Florida’s public colleges and universities were shielded with an independence befitting an institution of higher learning. Today, it’s barely a veneer.
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How low can Florida higher education go?
The recent trashing of New College library books that reminded many of the Nazi book-burnings in pre-war Germany, and the news that millions of University of Florida funds went to pay for consulting contracts and high-paying jobs of the school’s former president’s cronies, are just the latest in an ongoing political problem that continues to undermine Florida’s public colleges and universities — ideological interference by state government leaders.
Not that long ago, Florida’s public colleges and universities were shielded with an independence befitting an institution of higher learning. Today, it’s barely a veneer. The change began under the administration of Florida Gov. Rick Scott and has accelerated during Gov. Ron DeSantis’ tenure. The extreme, wedge-issue politics may resonate with Florida’s right-wing but it’s having the opposite, deleterious effect on higher education.
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Laws and policy directives that limit what can be taught, that demean Black students and discriminate against gays and transgender students, and that bar faculty from testifying as expert witnesses and make it harder for them to obtain tenure, have a chilling effect on academic freedom. So do efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programs and using a “hostile takeover” as a political blueprint to convert a liberal arts campus to a conservative Christian college.
There’s also SB 520, the 2022 law that basically hides the identity of any candidate for college and university president from the public until the appointment is pretty much a fait accompli. It also allows for important academic appointments to be made behind closed doors. Florida used to be known for its open government and transparency. Not so much now.
Unfortunately, none of this is breaking news to DeSantis, the Florida Board of Governors and the Florida College System. They’ve heard this before, in a 2023 report by the American Association of University Professors that found the state’s assault on higher education “Orwellian” and the “canary in the coal mine,” after a proliferation of anti-diversity legislation similar to Florida’s began spreading like a virus in other Republican-controlled states.
“The survival of the institution of higher education free from political interference and the ideological agenda of autocrats hangs in the balance,” the report concluded. “Being a bystander is no longer an option.”
The governor’s reaction? He dismissed the report, calling it “a hoax.”
One-man rule over Florida higher ed
It’s clear who’s calling the shots when it comes to higher education in Florida’s public universities. Not students, faculty or school administrators, including college and university presidents. It’s the governor.
The State University System, for one, is a 17-member board of governors that oversees Florida’s public universities. The governor appoints 14 of those board members to seven-year terms; DeSantis got to pick 11 who are now on the board. Each university has its own 16-member board of trustees. Six of those trustees are appointed by the governor; five others are appointed by the state board of governors, which has a majority of its members picked by DeSantis.
Armed with a compliant Florida Legislature, and an overwhelming majority of the board members — typically like-minded corporate executives, conservative activists, donors, entrepreneurs and former politicians — it’s easy to see how education is being chipped away by a new form of indoctrination.
In the old days, those appointments didn’t really matter. Appointees typically put the needs of the college or university first. Their job was to do their part to make their institution better, not prioritize political whims coming out of Tallahassee. Unfortunately, top-down takeovers, like what occurred at New College in Sarasota and what almost occurred here at Florida Atlantic University, now may be more the norm than the old pattern of shared governance in which faculty, students and local administrators had more say in academic affairs.
That era won’t return unless enough Floridians make it clear that blind obedience to political agendas and authoritative control over what is taught and who actually teaches it isn’t the same as quality education. A change is needed if Floridians want their public colleges and universities to truly prepare students to deal with a complex, diverse world.
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Publish date : 2024-09-07 13:00:00
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