The state of Florida has barred public colleges from using taxpayer dollars for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, the state Board of Education said in a press release.
Florida’s Board of Education passed a rule Jan. 17 implementing “strict regulations to limit the use of public funds for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, activities, and policies in the Florida College System (FCS),” according to a press release on the Board of Education‘s website. (RELATED: DeSantis Pledges To Defund Diversity, Equity And Inclusion At Public Universities)
The rule applies to Florida’s 28 state college campuses, and the board “will ensure that taxpayer funds can no longer be used to promote DEI,” the press release said.
“Higher education must return to its essential foundations of academic integrity and the pursuit of knowledge instead of being corrupted by destructive ideologies,” Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. stated, according to the press release. “These actions today ensure that we will not spend taxpayers’ money supporting DEI and radical indoctrination that promotes division in our society.”
Florida-based lawyer and attorney for George Floyd’s family, Benjamin Crump, expressed his concerns over the new rule, arguing the state is going “down a misguided path of censorship in Florida.”
The Florida State Board of Education has implemented new “strict regulations” to prohibit the use of public funds for DEI programs, activities, and policies at 28 state college campuses. We continue to go down a misguided path of censorship in Florida! https://t.co/kZnxrKxlDO
— Ben Crump (@AttorneyCrump) January 17, 2024
The Board of Education further exchanged the “Principles of Sociology” course for a general education course focused on American History, the press release stated. The course is intended “to provide students with an accurate and factual account of the nation’s past, rather than exposing them to radical woke ideologies, which had become commonplace in the now replaced course,” the press release revealed.