Announcing his plan to ‘reform’ higher education at a press conference in Bradenton on Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took an opportunity to double down on his allegations of indoctrination of students, then used the occasion to take a swipe at former President Donald Trump.
When asked about Trump’s recent criticism of him over his COVID–19 response in the state, DeSantis snapped back swiftly and aggressively.
"If you take a crisis situation like COVID, the good thing about it is, when you're an elected executive, you have to make all kinds of decisions; you’ve gotta steer that ship,” DeSantis said.
RELATED STORY: DeSantis’ decision to ban AP African American Studies course in Florida may haunt him
He continued, “The good thing is, the people are able to render a judgment on that, whether they reelect you or not, and I'm happy to say in my case, not only did we win reelection, we won with the highest percentage of the vote that any Republican governor candidate has in the history of the state of Florida,” he said to rousing applause. “That verdict has been rendered by the people of the state of Florida.”
Boom! Expect the ketchup to be flying at Mar-a-Lago when the former guy sees that clip.
Yes, DeSantis won, and he may be all bluster about it, but since the start of the pandemic, over 7 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Florida alone and at least 1 in 253 residents have died, or a total of over 84,000 dead. Still stand by your sterling COVID record, Ron?
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The 2024 presidential election is off to an odd start. DeSantis, for one, hasn’t officially announced if he’ll run, and Trump is limping along with some speeches and campaign stops but without all of the usual cheesy fanfare and has yet to step foot into Iowa.
The Associated Press (AP) reports that so far, only former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has visited this year, and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina announced a planned visit in the coming weeks.
Alan Ostergren, a Republican lawyer in Des Moines who is deeply involved in Republican politics, told the AP, “No one wants to be on a limb by themselves against Trump… They’ll all break at some point. But no one wants to go first.”
Next up on DeSantis’ education reform agenda were public colleges and their purpose. And once again, he continued his culture war on education.
On Jan. 12, DeSantis wrote a rejection letter to the state College Board nixing the Advanced Placement African American Studies (APAAS) course, claiming it is “inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value.”
The College Board, which runs the SAT and Advanced Placement tests, recently launched the APAAS pilot course in 60 U.S. schools, but conservatives have pounced on the class, alleging that it promotes critical race theory (CRT)—a curriculum that has never been taught anywhere except in law schools, and has been adopted by Republicans as a boogeyman in order to pass anti-Black education legislation.
“I think you have the dominant view, which is not the right view. The dominant view is the use of higher education under this view is to impose ideological conformity, to try to promote political activism,” DeSantis quacked, according to WFLA. “That’s what a university should be. That’s not what we believe is appropriate in the state of Florida. Instead, we need our higher education to focus on promoting academic excellence, the pursuit of truth, and to give students the foundation to think for themselves.”
DeSantis continued by attacking “DEI bureaucracies,” calling them “hostile to academic freedom” and “a drain on resources,” a not-so-subtle reference to critical race theory and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
He explained that his Stop W.O.K.E. Act was signed to stop “imposing an agenda on people.”
He added: “They will also do things like require diversity statements is what they call it, but that’s basically like making people take a political oath.”
The governor’s office then handed out “Education not Indoctrination” pamphlets to the media, explaining that moving forward, there would be requirements “rooted in the values of liberty and the western tradition.” Forgive me if I stop here to vomit in my mouth.
Below is a list of some of DeSantis’ requirements:
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Requiring any general education course to provide a strong education foundation and “not promote ideological indoctrination”
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Require colleges and universities to “prioritize graduating students with degrees that lead to high-wage jobs” and not those “designed to further a political agenda”
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Prohibiting “political filters like DEI statements” when making hiring decisions
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Prohibiting public institutions from “supporting campus activities or programs that promote divisive concepts like DEI and CRT.”
The worst part of DeSantis’ racist and fascist educational policies is that 15 other states have followed suit. And let us not forget that in 2021, ProPublica reported that at least 14 public employees across the nation, six of whom were Black, were chased out of their jobs by anti-CRT mobs. Not to mention those in education who received death threats over everything from mask policies to teaching about race and LGBTQ-related topics.
This attack on the Black, brown, Indigenous, and LGBTQ communities started with Trump and Fox News and the mantle has been taken up by DeSantis and other Republican lawmakers, despite the fact that the majority of Americans disagree with it.
Fortunately, the nation has attorneys such as Ben Crump, who are refusing to allow DeSantis to deny students the right to learn about American history, with all of its many, many flaws.
Standing in the Florida Capitol last week, Crump, along with local activists and Democratic lawmakers, took aim at DeSantis’ racist decision to ban the course and said they plan to file a lawsuit against the governor.
“If he does not negotiate with the College Board to allow AP African American Studies to be taught in classrooms across the state of Florida, these three young people will be the lead plaintiffs in a historic lawsuit,” Crump said, vowing that the Republican governor “cannot exterminate our culture.”
