UNF Faculty decry Governor’s plan to defund campus Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The University of North Florida faculty is speaking out after Governor Ron DeSantis announced a plan to divest state dollars from college and university programs that promote Critical Race Theory and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Governor Ron DeSantis framed his initiative as an effort to weed out “bureaucratic bloat”, that has pushed ideological agendas in higher education hiring and curriculum.

“That’s not what we believe is appropriate in the State of Florida. Instead, we need our higher education system to focus on promoting academic excellence, the pursuit of truth,” stated DeSantis.

UNF identified 20 campus programs, courses and activities backed by $1.7 million in state funding that could be construed as containing critical race theory or diversity equity and inclusion.

The state funding equates to roughly half of the $3.5 million in total funding for the programs and courses.

On the list, are the university’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Intercultural Center, the Interfaith Center, LGBTQ+ Center, Women’s Center, and four college courses.

One of those courses, Race, Gender, and Politics, is taught in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration.

“We can’t exactly pretend that race and issues of race and gender have nothing to do with politics,” said Dr. Nick Seabrook, who chairs the department.

Seabrook said depending on what the Florida Legislature does, the university could lose 25+ employees and dramatically cut services for marginalized students.

“Ultimately the negative effects of this are gonna fall on our students and in particular, the students who need these resources and who need this assistance in order to be successful in college,” said Seabrook.

UFF UNF, the campus faculty union, sees the Governor’s proposal as a backdoor effort to impose the so-called ‘Stop W.O.K.E.” Act on universities after it was blocked by a federal court last year.

Union President Elizabeth Brown argued withholding funding is another way to achieve a chilling effect on what can be taught in universities.

She worries the trajectory the Governor is taking the state’s universities could harm their national standings and enrollment.

“We need to be able to learn, teach and students need to be able to be exposed to a broad assortment of ideas, mostly so that they can figure out what they think and then they can be competitive in the global economy,” said Brown.

Brown said the union plans to fight back against any effort to stifle academic freedom by the state.

How they’ll do that, remains to be seen.

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