We’ve long known that Gov. “DeathSantis” of Florida will do anything to suppress the truth about Covid in his state as far back as June 2020 (Ron DeSantis denies COVID resurgence, but state data show otherwise). He fired his Health Department’s data manager in June 2021 for objecting to the removal of Covid data from the state website. Now we have an official report from an ad hoc committee of the faculty senate of the University of Florida that DeSantis tried to interfere with Covid researchers there:
Some examples of challenges reported to the ad hoc committee include external pressure to destroy deidentified data, barriers to accessing and analyzing deidentified data in a timely manner, and barriers to publication of scientific research which, taken together, inhibited the ability of faculty to
contribute scientific findings during a world-wide pandemic. . . .
More problematic than the individual examples of pressure to stifle unpopular viewpoints or restrict research was the palpable reticence and even fear on the part of faculty to speak up on these issues. There was grave concern about retaliation and a sense that anyone who objected to the state of affairs might lose his or her job or be punished in some way.
Among the report’s conclusions:
It is evident that faculty throughout UF are feeling greater and greater pressure to conform to political pressures and to stifle or modify their speech and research to avoid retaliation. It is also clear that this pressure is coming from the senior UF administration and not just from the COI [Conflict of Interest] office. The charge of this ad hoc committee was to look primarily at outside activities, but it was evident from faculty comments that there have been incursions on academic freedom within the institution, such as pressure to alter one’s research, change websites or course names, and even to change course content. There were also extensive comments provided about the University’s IP policy and attacks on the academic freedom of faculty doing research in foreign countries. [emphases added]
The university, according to the report, responded to these incursions only when the pressure of negative press made it impossible for the board to ignore them.
The report also includes a letter from the ACLU to the University of Florida in which they point out that:
UF simply should not be looking to Governor DeSantis to decide which speech activities it will permits its employees and students to engage in. That is precisely the opposite of the values that universities are thought to stand for.
The Hill has a story this morning on the report: University of Florida researchers pressured to destroy COVID-19 data, told not to criticize DeSantis: report which includes the Hill’s requests for comment from the offending parties:
A spokesperson from the University of Florida did not have any further comment on the report when reached for additional information by The Hill.
A spokesperson for DeSantis told The Hill that "The report referenced contains plenty of unsourced allegations and innuendo, but zero evidence that Governor DeSantis or anyone connected to the governor’s office has exerted or attempted to exert improper influence on UF. This is because it did not happen."
Uh huh. Here is a response from a more responsible party, Danaya Wright, a constitutional law professor and former Faculty Senate chairperson:
""We knew there was more silencing and pressure coming from above. The Big Above. There was grave concern about retaliation and a sense that anyone who objected to the state of affairs might lose his or her job or be punished in some way. . . . COVID research, it is life and death to not be able to do your job.”
So here is yet more evidence that DeSantis is killing off people, knows he is killing off people, and that his biggest priority is keeping the people he’s killing off from finding out that he’s killing them.