Ron DeSantis' War on Academic Freedom Continues
Ron DeSantis is at it again
Ron DeSantis is at again with his unending war on academia. Whether it is his de facto ban on books in his state, or his consistent attempts to suppress the presence of LGBTQ people in public schools, DeSantis has displayed a horrid inclination towards censoring ideas that don’t fit with his reactionary agenda. And it seems that Florida’s chief minister of truth has decided to go another step further.
On May 15th, 2023, the Washington Post reported that DeSantis, whose career of continuous academic censorship merits a full-throated rejection by the nation at large, has once again decided to restrict what can be talked about in public schools. Per the Post:
Florida’s new law prohibits public colleges from spending state or federal money on DEI efforts. These programs often assist colleges in increasing student and faculty diversity, which can apply to race and ethnicity, as well as sexual orientation, religion and socioeconomic status.
The law also forbids public colleges from offering general education courses — those that are part of a required curriculum for all college students — that “distort significant historical events,” teach “identity politics,” or are “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, or privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, or economic inequities.” 1
This law is not only a step towards a more top-down style to public education, which inevitably leads to state control over the freedom of thought in academic circles, but it is also an attempt to mandate an established order that researchers and academics can’t challenge. Or anyone, for that matter.
In March of this year, I warned against his approach to education, not only because of its clear partisan and authoritarian implications but also because of its ability to influence the state of government and public life. As I explained then:
If a governor or even a state legislature can determine when and where people are able to learn, even as adults, about specific subjects of public life, then it stands to reason that they can control the very ideas that could be used to criticize them and remove them from power. So long as there are no legal protections in place to prevent this authoritarian garbage, more people are going to suffer and our republic will suffer with them.2
Such a reality seems almost desirable to DeSantis, who has repeatedly claimed he is fighting a war on the so-called Woke agenda. It is worth noting that many conservatives can’t define what that is, such as Bethany Mendell, whose interview on the Hill’s Rising with Briana Joy Gray could be charitably called a trainwreck.3
But that failure to define, despite its laughable appearance, is precisely by design. If conservatives like DeSantis can use woke amorphously, then they can use it any way they like to beat down any ideological or intellectual challenge to their agenda.
And that is exactly what DeSantis is trying to do. Through his campaign to malign ideas and people he doesn’t agree with, DeSantis is successfully securing a specific type of education that he controls.
The idea that one man can upend the entirety of academic freedom in one of the largest states in the Union, all while making a bid for the highest executive office in the county, is terrifying.
Not only is it likely going to lead to more authoritarian measures, but it is also illustrative of just how far our nation has fallen. To have an informed public, academic freedom must be maintained. That can’t happen with Ron DeSantis in power.
Jack Stripling, “DeSantis Signs Bill to Defund DEI Programs at Florida’s Public Colleges,” Washington Post, May 15, 2023, accessed May 15, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/05/15/desantis-defunds-dei-programs-florida-colleges/.
Conor Kelly, “We Must Protect the Schools,” Substack newsletter, The Progressive American, March 7, 2023, accessed May 15, 2023, https://progressiveamerican.substack.com/p/we-must-protect-the-schools.
Conor Kelly, “Conservative Author Can’t Define What Woke Means,” Substack newsletter, The Progressive American, March 16, 2023, accessed May 15, 2023, https://progressiveamerican.substack.com/p/conservative-author-cant-define-what.