We know Ron DeSantis is a right-wing whack job. We also know DeSantis-appointed board trustee Christopher Rufo has made a career out of trolling liberal with made-up facts.
But there's so much more! Here's a response by Don Moynihan, Professor of Public Policy, Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, to the New York Times report that whitewashed the new regime:
"It is not just the environment of New College itself, but the broader public university state environment in which it operates. You would never learn that Florida is a state featuring some of the most restrictive constraints on campus speech in the country, leading the way in passing educational gag orders, such as the Stop WOKE Act, that violate the first amendment.
"Florida has so politicized higher education that it can no longer recruit well qualified leaders who do not match the ideological pre-requisites of Republicans and advocates like Chris Rufo. Even after Santa Ono, the President of the University of Michigan, denounced DEI, he was denied a position to lead the lower-ranked University of Florida. DeSantis personally intervened to block the recruitment of a Dean at the University of Florida because right-wing social media influencers considered all of the candidates to be too woke.
"It is hard to overstate how weird it is to have the Governor of a state decide such a position, which is basically mid-level management in higher education. It also underlines that faculty governance can only exist in Florida as long as it does not offend the online right, and the Republican government.
"Faculty are afraid to talk about a wide range of subjects, such as race, gender, or anything that could be taken as criticism of the state government. State law encourages students to secretly record faculty in order to get them punished for wrongspeak. One faculty member in Florida described the new classroom environment:
"Since Mr. DeSantis’s crackdown, I’ve seen my colleagues harassed and investigated for addressing topical issues, even outside the classroom. The climate of fear gives the government precisely the result it wants. Administrators and faculty members alike practice anticipatory obedience to avoid even the appearance of wokeness, stifling the sort of open and civil discussions that lead students to develop their own views."
https://bsky.app/profile/sethcotlar.bsky.social/post/3mmhshtu3v22z
