TALLAHASSEE, FL—Florida's State Board of Education announced last week their imposition of "strict regulations" on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives on college campuses, leading the James Madison Institute, a libertarian non-profit think tank, to laud the state's efforts.
The board's ruling will prohibit taxpayer funds going toward DEI programs and replaces the "Principles of Sociology" course with a course in American History.
“The James Madison Institute applauds the Florida Department of Education’s efforts to put a stop to ideologically-driven programs that elevate intersectional grievances over scholarly merit," The organization said in a press release. "We also affirm the Department’s renewed emphasis on the teaching of American History, especially the founding ideals that animate our nation’s ongoing quest to become a more perfect union,"
In a press statement, the Florida Department of Education echoed these sentiments, saying, "The aim is to provide students with an accurate and factual account of the nation's past, rather than exposing them to radical woke ideologies, which had become commonplace in the now replaced course,"
Last year, the Governor signed into law a ban on state or federal funds going toward DEI promotion. He additionally required universities to self-report how much money was being used to fund these initiatives, which he later said amounted to $34 million.
Not all groups approve of the Board's new regulations. The LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida released a statement highlighting fears of minority oppression, and anger against the Governor:
"This is a brazenly political attack on Florida's colleges, and all minorities in Florida, and is one more way state agencies have been weaponized to support Governor DeSantis's failing political ambitions," The group said. "Shame on the State Board of Education for passing rules that weaken and threaten Florida's colleges in service to one more manufactured culture war,"
