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DeSantis Cracks Down On Woke Universities, Seeks Details of ‘Diversity’ Curriculum Spending

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Gov. Ron DeSantis has instructed his administration to petition colleges and universities throughout Florida to provide details about any funds they are spending on so-called “woke” curricula like the instruction of Critical Race Theory and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” training.

“As the Executive Office of the Governor prepares policy and budget proposals ahead of the 2023 Legislative Session, it is important that we have a full understanding of the operational expenses of state institutions,” his office wrote in a memo to Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and Florida State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues.

“Governor Ron DeSantis has prioritized a cost-effective higher education system that delivers high-quality service to Floridians to best prepare them for employment. Additionally, state law requires dutiful attention to curriculum content at our higher education systems as specified in sections 1000.05 and 1007.25 of the Florida Statutes,” the letter continued, per Slay News.

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“Each Florida College System and State University System institution must complete the attached document to provide a comprehensive list of all staff, programs, and campus activities related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and critical race theory,” the letter added.

The schools have been ordered to provide information regarding the following:

  • Brief description of the program or activity
  • Positions, including full and partial FTE
  • Total funding spent to support the initiative
  • Of the total spent to support the initiative, the amount that is state-funded

“Responses from each institution should be aggregated by your respective offices and submitted together to the Executive Office of the Governor Office of Policy and Budget,” the governor’s office noted.

DeSantis, who handily won a second term after defeating Democratic challenger and former Gov. Charlie Crist by nearly 20 points, has taken on the ‘wokeness’ of CRT throughout his previous term. As the Daily Wire notes, DeSantis

signed Senate Bill 1108 and House Bill 233 into law two years ago; the former piece of legislation “requires state college and state university students to take both a civic literacy course and a civic literacy assessment as a graduation requirement,” while the latter “requires state colleges and universities to conduct annual assessments of the viewpoint diversity and intellectual freedom at their institutions.”

He has also taken on other left-wing gender curricula in public schools, signing a measure passed by the Republican-controlled legislature that bars teaching children between kindergarten and the third grade materials regarding sexual orientation and gender ideology.

“We must ensure school systems are responsive to parents and to students, not partisan interest groups, and we must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideology,” DeSantis noted during his second inaugural address. “Florida must always be a great place to raise a family – we will enact more family-friendly policies to make it easier to raise children and we will defend our children against those who seek to rob them of their innocence.”

DeSantis has built a reputation battling left-wing cultural influences, especially when it comes to primary and secondary education.

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In August, for instance, DeSantis fired up his supporters during a speech in the city of New Port Richey, where he was discussing the Sunshine State’s education system.

After declaring that Florida “is the place where ‘woke’ goes to die,” the Republican governor and current frontrunner ahead of November’s gubernatorial election, according to polling, went on to tout advancements in education and other areas during his first term, according to WFLA.

DeSantis also said he and the GOP-controlled legislature remain committed to pushing back on highly divisive curricula such as critical race theory and radical left-wing gender ideology.

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“Obviously in the classroom, we’ve battled a lot of ideologies. What I’ve said is the state of Florida is the place where woke goes to die. We are not going to let this state descend into some type of woke dumpster fire. We’re going to be following common sense, we’re going to be following facts,” DeSantis told the crowd.

He also made some remarks regarding the way today’s teachers are educated.

“I think these schools of education and the specific way they go about, I don’t think is the right way to do it. I don’t think these schools have proven to be effective. I think what you do is you get people that have proficiency in core academic disciplines, then you have them go in. But trying to teach them at certain schools of education, I think that’s been overtaken by ideology. I think that’s a turn-off for a lot of people,” the governor added.

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