CBS 12
By Danielle Waugh
Wednesday, June 23rd 2021
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (CBS12) — Citing concerns that universities are “indoctrinating” students and not presenting a wide variety of viewpoints, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new law this week that requires Florida public colleges to administer “intellectual diversity” surveys to students and staff.
The law, HB233, requires the State Board of Education to create an “objective, non-partisan” survey about whether competing ideas and perspectives are presented in the classroom, and if students feel free to express their beliefs.
“Parents, one of the things they worry about, is if you send a kid to a university will they be indoctrinated or will they actually be taught to think for themselves, challenge assumptions and be critical thinkers and learners?” Gov. DeSantis said at the bill signing. “We want our universities to be focused on critical thinking, academic rigor. We do not want them as hot beds for stale ideology. That’s not worth tax dollars and it’s not something we will be supporting going forward.”
The law states the results of these surveys of Florida state universities will be published but does not detail how they will be used.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Senator Ray Rodrigues, did not respond to CBS12 News’ request for comments and details Thursday.
Some groups, like the FSU College Republicans, praised the passage of the law. “This administration has been exemplary in their protection of ideological equality and we are proud to have advocated for this bill,” the group posted on Twitter.
Gabby Wiggins, Secretary for the FSU Republicans, told CBS12 News: “I think it will be helpful and it will allow a lot of conservative students who are afraid to speak out, it will help them gain confidence and speak freely about the deeply rooted ideas they have.”
Yago Cecchini, Chair of the FAU College Republicans, says conservative students across the country feel like their viewpoints are not always accepted.
“I think what you’ve been seeing since the election of President Trump in 2016 is coming down on conservative speech on campus,” he said.
But some professors, like FAU English Professor Nick LaRocca, were quick to speak out against it.
“This is more of the same phoniness, addressing a fake issue in a very functional place, the higher education system of the state of Florida, perpetrated by the same people who have asserted the election was fraudulent, CoVID is the flu, and the problem isn’t their rampant denial of science and for that matter accurate information but the scientists and journalists who research and report it—and now the educators who teach it,” Professor LaRocca told CBS12 News.
Another FAU faculty member, Senior Communications Professor Dr. Deandre Poole, called the survey a “political litmus test” that could intimidate professors and keep them from pursuing political debates due to fear of fallout from the survey.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner and Democratic candidate for Governor Nikki Fried compared the law to something “authoritarian regimes” do in a Tweet Thursday.