‘A Drain On Resources’: DeSantis Announces War On College Diversity Funding And ‘Deadweight’ Professors

Ben ZeisloftJanuary 31, 2023

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), declared that the state Florida Would you scrap? Diversity, equity and inclusion Finance from the public Universities Increase scrutiny for underperforming professors

DeSantis was the first to enter a Second term Following a landslide win, I recently asked the chief executive of a public university to provide an explanation. A detailed account In Florida, members of the legislature are required to consider budget proposals. He revealed His office will work Tuesday, he said. “eliminate all DEI and CRT bureaucracies in the state of Florida” So that the programs “wither on the vine.”

“It really serves as an ideological filter,” DeSantis noted the political pressure and forced speech that arises under the auspices diversity programs. “We probably are the first state that’s actually leading by example, but I can tell you those bureaucracies are not representative of what the people of this state and the taxpayers of this state want.”

DeSantis asked university administrators to provide a brief description about each program, the amount of funding used for that program and the percentage of funding that was provided by taxpayer money. He also said that “DEI bureaucracies” These are “hostile to academic freedom” And “constitute a drain on resources.”

Consultants and university administrators often reap large financial rewards from their promotion for the DEI movement within postsecondary educational institutions. An Analysis According to the Heritage Foundation, colleges employ an average of three diversity workers for every 100 tenured professors.

DeSantis previously signed legislation mandating performance reviews for tenured faculty members every five years. He made further announcements “accountability for tenured faculty” By granting university trustees and presidents “the power to call a post-tenure review at any time.”

“The most significant deadweight cost at universities is typically unproductive tenured faculty,” He stated. “Why would we want to saddle you as taxpayers with that cost if we do not have to?”

DeSantis is the one who proposed them. Nominated A number of conservative officials were appointed to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees in the hope that it would also eliminate controversial ideologies. Christopher Rufo (a Manhattan Institute Fellow and an activist who has voiced opposition to critical race theory) was one of the appointees. Matthew Spalding, a Hillsdale College professor in constitutional government, was also among them.

DeSantis highlighted the importance of creating curricula that reflect the philosophy and values of Western civilization. He also mentioned the need to provide training courses in Florida for truck drivers, nurses, and other professions that are under-represented in the state’s economy and state.

“You see the growth of administrative bloat around the country with higher education, and it dwarfs what they are spending on people who actually teach our students. … They are not really improving the academic performance,” He commented. “They are expanding bureaucrats and administrative staff and trying to impose an agenda through that way. That is a failed model, and we want to make sure that’s not what’s happening here in the state of Florida.”

DeSantis has also sounded the alarm over the College Board’s forthcoming AP African American Studies curriculum. The course is offered in one version. Inclusion Students were invited to think about the benefits of abolishing prisons and black queer theory. Florida Department of Education mandates traditional black history to be taught in public schools. Blasted Material as “contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value” Appelled the College Board for the publication of the content “historically accurate.”