The text of DeSantis' higher education bill has been released. It's as terrifying as the press release suggested it would be. Florida HB 999 would enact the most draconian and censorious restrictions on higher education in the history of this country. flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2…
As outlined in the release, the bill would ban diversity statements, make tenure and faculty hiring committees meaningless, and centralize control of core curricula and mission statements in the hands of political appointees. Unexpectedly, it would also ban gender studies majors.
All gen ed courses must promote "the values necessary to preserve the constitutional republic" through traditional, historically accurate" coursework. "Courses based on unproven, theoretical, or exploratory content" are banned from gen ed; the ban enforced by DeSantis appointees.
"Critical Race Theory rhetoric" also cannot be used in the hiring process -- whatever that means. There's a lot of "whatever that means" language in here, enforced by bureaucrats of DeSantis' choosing.
@jeremycyoung Sounds amazing. I hope my state adopts it soon.
@jeremycyoung @ewindham3 "Historically accurate " ? Who is the judge? Is history going to become only fairy tales? This is despicable authoritarian behavior.
@jeremycyoung General ed. The basics. History, math, science, etc. These are not the deep dive courses into an area of study. Pull yourself together man.
@jeremycyoung Bill gets rid of DEI/CRT, replaces w civics. Gets rid of useless "gender studies" degrees. No more forcing teachers to make "obey" pledges. Sounds good to me! Thanks for posting bill so we can all read it!
@jeremycyoung Courses based on theoretical content banned from Gen Ed? Does that include theory of relativity, theory of evolution, subatomic physics, astrophysics, etc? The germ theory of disease?