DeSantis signs Florida bill defunding DEI programs at public colleges
One AmericaNov 26, 2022
The Facts
On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation that bans state colleges from using tax dollars to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, as well as a host of other educational reforms to higher education.
Speaking at the New College of Florida in Sarasota, DeSantis stated that DEI "has no place in our public institutions" and referred to such programs as teaching "discrimination, exclusion and indoctrination." Florida, he said, isn't the place to study "niche subjects" such as critical race theory or "gender ideology."
The Spin
Republican narrative
Tax money shouldn't be diverted to divisive, woke educational programs that prioritize politics over education and identity over merit. Colleges have been hijacked by activists whose curricula go against Western values, democratic ideals, and freedoms of expression and thought — a push that's profoundly unpopular with the general public and shouldn't be supported.
Democratic narrative
Republicans are waging a war on education as part of their culture war agenda. The GOP has manufactured a boogeyman with their distorted ideas of critical race theory and diversity programs to shore up their attacks on an imaginary "woke" enemy. This assault on education harkens back to the days of McCarthyism, as "wokeness" becomes a label applied to any and all opponents of the GOP.
