The new book written by Ron DeSantis offers a warning to the US electorate

Why Sebas’ – the next generation of Trumpism – isn’t ‘Sebas’ going to win the 2020 Democratic nomination?

Editor’s Note: David M. Perry is a journalist, historian and co-author of “The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe.” He is a senior academic adviser in the history department of the University of Minnesota. Follow him on Twitter. The views expressed here are his own. CNN has more opinion on it.

The independence of institutions of public higher education has been attacked by republicans around the country for years. By saying colleges and universities teach liberal and conservative beliefs, politicians such as DeSantis and wealthy conservatives want to be able to hire and fire workers in ways that would allow them to educate students in conservative beliefs. The secretive selection of Sasse to lead the University of Florida plays right into this disturbing trend.

With political clout and a reputation as a man of integrity, the man known as ‘Sebas’ has a chance to win the 2020 Democratic nomination and challenge for the presidency in two years. But if he has such integrity, why is he potentially aligning himself with DeSantis – who is busy positioning himself as the next generation of Trumpism – by taking this job?

When President Sasse became a Senator, he was an Educator and an Empirical Professor: The Case for Reforming Florida Colleges and Universities

Of course, politicians have been named as college presidents before, but as of 2014 only about 2% were from elected or appointed office, and these appointments have almost always been controversial. Things were bad in the year but we are more divided today than in the year before.

I’ve been interested in Sasse ever since he became a senator because, like me, he has a PhD in history. He is one of the most prominent history PhDs in American politics. He got a PhD from Yale and worked for a president who was also interested in the Christian religious right in the US.

The student newspaper reported that a current freshman at the University of Florida said he didn’t know if it was prejudiced against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transexual individuals or if it was just a political stunt. Either way, he said, “We either have someone who’s a genuine homophobe as our president or we have a sleazy politician who just says what the people that he’s trying to get elected by want to hear.”

Sasse stated Obergefell is the law of the land so there is no need to be concerned, this kind of reassuring rhetoric was used by conservative nominees to the supreme court in the past, when abortion was a hot-button issue.

He has argued against abortion many times in his career. Rahul Patel, the chair of the search committee, has said that “[Sasse is] putting aside politics and coming back to academia to lead us through this exciting new era.” Students at Florida, already organizing protests, don’t believe you can just erase a long history of hostile political acts by taking on a new job title.

Some students and advocates say they believe DeSantis has proposed sweeping changes to Florida’s colleges and universities for political gain because he is expected to run for president in 2024.

DEI programs will encourage students from traditionally underrepresented community to feel comfortable in a college setting and promote multiculturalism. The flagship school of the state, the University of Florida, has an “office for accessibility and gender equity”, a “chief diversity officer,” and a “center for Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement.”

Tuesday’s announcement was foreshadowed in December when the governor’s office asked all state universities to account for all of their spending on programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion or critical race theory.

The Republican governor has also installed a controversial new board at the New College of Florida, a public liberal arts college, with a mandate to remake the school into his conservative vision for higher education.

In an online post that was published just before the school board meeting, Eddie Speir wrote that he was going to propose to eliminate all contracts for faculty, staff and administration and rehir those who fit in the new financial situation.

In the last three years, DeSantis has moved back against ideas that he finds contemptible in order to push back against free speech. He has been critical of progressive curriculums and academic theories and has urged his supporters to think about whether or not they are a disfavored class based on their principles.

In the official framework made public on Wednesday, topics such as Black Lives Matter, slavery reparations and queer theory are no longer subjects to be taught. They are not included on the list of topics that states and school systems can suggest to students.

The course’s official framework is meant to guide the course’s expansion to hundreds of additional high schools in the coming academic year, as 60 schools currently test the course. Several historically Black institutions were consulted with by developers as part of their work with the College Board.

The College Board has been taking input also from teachers running the pilot classes as the draft curriculum has gone through several revisions over the last year.

Black History Month and Black Transgenders: Emmitt Glynn’s Course on “The Wretched of the Earth”

“To wake up on the first day of Black History Month to news of white men in positions of privilege horse trading essential and inextricably linked parts of Black History, which is American history, is infuriating,” said David Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. “The lives, contributions, and stories of Black trans, queer, and non-binary/non-conforming people matter and should not be diminished or erased.”

The course has been popular among students in schools where it has been introduced. At Baton Rouge Magnet High School in Louisiana, so many students were interested that Emmitt Glynn is teaching it to two classes, instead of just the one he was originally planning.

His students read “The Wretched of the Earth” which deals with the violence inherent in colonial societies. In a lively discussion, students connected the text to what they had learned about the conflict between colonizers and Native Americans, to the war in Ukraine and to police violence in Memphis, Tennessee.

“We’ve been covering the gamut from the shores of Africa to where we are now in the 1930s, and we will continue on through history,” Glynn said. He said he was proud to see the connections his students were making between the past and now.

For the 17 year old, taking the class filled some of the gaps she had been taught. “Taking this class,” she said, “I realized how much is not said in other classes.”

Matthew Evans said that the class had taught him a lot of perspectives on Black history. He said that the political controversy was a distraction.

The College Board: What is going on at a New College, where is all the information? What has happened, what has changed and what has not

The College Board offers AP courses across the academic spectrum, including math, science, social studies, foreign languages and fine arts. The courses are optional. Taught at a college level, students who score high enough on the final exam usually earn course credit at their university.

In a written statement Wednesday, College Board CEO David Coleman said the course is “an unflinching encounter with the facts and evidence of African American history and culture.”

“No one is excluded from this course: the Black artists and inventors whose achievements have come to light; the Black women and men, including gay Americans, who played pivotal roles in the Civil Rights movements; and people of faith from all backgrounds who contributed to the antislavery and Civil Rights causes. Everyone is seen, he said.

The African American studies course is divided into four units: origins of the African diaspora; freedom, enslavement and resistance; the practice of freedom; and movements and debates.

“It’s ridiculous that they’re not letting this one AP class be thought,” said her daughter, Izzy Cummings. “It affects us directly. It will change our future if we can’t learn from the past.

“I give them the information and I’ve seen light bulbs go off. I ask them how it affects them. How do you feel about learning this?’ ” he said. It’s also new to me and I’m taking it easy. We’re making history, not just learning about it.

That New College faces challenges is indisputable. Its enrollment had been dipping until last year. Its dorms are moldy, its labs dated. There are few activities outside the classroom. In reviews posted on niche.com, a college ranking site, current and former students have criticized decrepit facilities, lack of structure and, in some cases, what they described as an obsession among students with identity politics.

“Everything that’s been happening has been very disruptive,” said Elizabeth C. Leininger, an associate biology professor, noting that the spring semester began the day before the Jan. 31 board meeting. When we get a hurricanes here in Florida, everyone is very focused.

The Experience of DeSantis: How he Learned and Influenced the Students’ Leftism on Yale, and Why he Willed to Graduate

The college performs poorly in state metrics because they are designed for huge universities with economies of scale that the school does not have.

The narrative offers a lot of resentfulness because of this hard-heartedness. Before he arrived at Yale, DeSantis was a history major, but he had never seen a limousine. The students who were most strident in their leftism were from the most privileged background. He experienced “unbridled leftism” on campus, and this pushed him far to the right, where he has remained.

Students, parents, alumni and faculty said that the self-selecting group of young adults attracts them because they feel drawn to the existing student body. They said that doesn’t mean that what is taught in class is in line with students’ views.

The 17 year old, who plans to graduate from high school next year, said that he was more conservative at New College after graduating from high school. He said professors teach a lot of points of view and encourage students to make their own decisions. He wanted to become a corporate lawyer after majoring in quantitative economics.

Rev. Sharpton: Protest of a new Advanced Placement Course on Black Studies in the State Capitol. The new Florida College Board will replace Richard Corcoran with Ron DeSantis

Hundreds of marchers, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and other activists, held a rally outside Florida’s state Capitol on Wednesday to protest Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration’s rejection of a new Advanced Placement course on African American studies.

The US has a history of racism, from slavery through Jim Crow to the Civil Rights movement, according to Sharpton.

To know how strong our kids are, we need to know the whole story. They come from a people that fought from the back of the bus to the front of the White House.”

“Make note that we are all marching together,” said Sharpton, noting that the crowd included members of the LGBTQ, Native American and Latinx communities. We should have been left alone. Now you have brought all of us together.

The marchers were yelling “Ron DeSantis has got to go!” and “I’m Black and I’m proud!” Some carried signs with messages such as “Save our history” and “We will not be silenced.”

Shaia Simmons, a former teacher at the march, called the state’s rejection of the new course a “gross injustice” and a “slap in the face to all Americans.”

The Florida Department of Education received a letter from the College Board rejecting the new course in January and it was widely criticized by Black leaders in Florida and the White House.

The testing organization behind the new course last weekend accused the state Education Department of “slander” and spreading misinformation about it for political gain.

The framework of the new Advanced placement course on African American studies was released earlier this month by the College Board, but some of the topics that were objected to were removed.

In January, DeSantis replaced six of the 13 members on the college’s board of trustees with conservative allies, including Christopher Rufo, who has fueled the fight against critical race theory. The new board forced out the college’s president and appointed DeSantis ally Richard Corcoran as interim president. A base salary of 700K will be earned by Corcoran.

Richard Corcoran was appointed interim president of the college by the new board. Corcoran will serve on the job from February 27 to September 1, 2024, and will earn a base salary of $699,000.

The overhaul of the college’s leadership has Sharf and other students questioning their future at the school, prompting student protests accusing the governor, who is expected to run for president in 2024, of impeding their educational freedom for political gain.

With mounting attacks on diversity and inclusion, students and activists fear that marginalized people will not have a safe place to get a college education in Florida.

Critics worry the state might influence other Republican-led states to adopt similar measures, which will further deplete their options. Last week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott demanded that state agencies stop using diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in hiring with his office, calling the practice “illegal.”

DEI programs are created to promote representation for people who have faced discrimination in the past because of their race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation.

New College of Florida is not an example of a nation without diversity and inclusion, but an option that makes students more likely to attend higher education

This could result in Florida colleges struggling to retain students and recruit faculty, Mulvey said. People pursuing graduate degrees could go to schools that support academic freedom in other states.

Mulvey said that the consequences for students are enormous. They are denied the opportunity to grow and learn. Students are not allowed to hear important perspectives. That’s the real tragedy.”

The National Black Justice Coalition executive director believes that policies that reject diversity and inclusion will make people quit higher education in Florida.

“So much of what the policies are designed to do and the language more specifically … is to tell people that they don’t matter,” he said. “That their contributions, their history, their ways of attempting to strengthen democracy do not matter and should not have a place in the version of America that they are now naming as classical.”

Several other states followed Georgia’s example and passed legislation against abortion after the legislature there passed an anti-deI measure. He thinks New College of Florida could be a good test case for pushing conservatism in schools across the country.

New College of Florida students are looking at other options for their future education. The school has 700 students and 100 full-time faculty.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/15/us/desantis-new-college-inclusion-reaj/index.html

The New College of Florida is a South Carolina college, but the Newcomer wants it to be South Carolina: A student advocacy and educator’s perspective

Sharf said she worries that the new board will erase the inclusive queer culture on campus to make the college more attractive for traditional affluent White students.

In a statement, the Commissioner said that he wanted New College of Florida to be more along the lines of a South Carolina college. In Michigan, there is a private conservative Christian college.

“I would not want to attend a school that is ‘Hillsdale of the South,’” Sharf said. I would probably have to leave it if it were hostile to trans students.

Alex Obraud, a third-year anthropology student, said the changes feel like a backlash against progress on the issues of racial justice and the LGBTQ community.

Obraud also views it as an attack on educational freedom and on the safe space that New College and other universities across the country offer for students.

When it comes to making education accessible to everyone and making sure that people feel safe is important, Obraud said.

Chris Kottke, a math professor at the New College of Florida, rejected Republican lawmakers’ claims that the school was a bastion of liberal indoctrination.

Kottke said instructors have always taught students how to think not what to think. Kottke said while most of the diverse clubs on campus don’t rely on state funding, he worries about whether they will be able to continue to safely operate.

The FL govt. Phil DeSantis: After his gubernatorial run and the wake of Malcolm X, Jeremiah Trump, and the rest is history

He said he was a First Amendment defender. During his first gubernatorial run in 2018 he pledged on his campaign web site to defend “First Amendment speech rights against those in academia, media and politics who seek to silence conservatives.”

In the following year, he announced an agreement between the state’s 40 public colleges and universities to adopt a free speech pledge modeled on the Chicago Principles. In a statement done by the Chicago committee on free expression, it says that debate and discussion can be allowed even if some or even most members of the University community feel that the ideas put forth are offensive or immoral.

DeSantis is correct to point out that progressive orthodoxies can stifle opposing views. But a principle isn’t a principle unless it’s extended to all, and DeSantis now seems bent on using the power of his office to apply free speech protections only to the ideas he supports.

Indeed, in pushing back against what he decries as wokeness run amok, DeSantis has embraced the very tactics he once decried, putting the weight of government power behind efforts to repress viewpoints that offend him and his supporters.

DeSantis’s tactics are winning adherents in Florida and fueling momentum for a national campaign. To blunt their appeal, it is essential to understand what the governor and his supporters are mobilizing against. The fear that progressives have taken control of schools and universities is being fanned by DeSantis because he believes it is at odds with values in Florida.

The new visibility and appreciation of transgender and non-binary identities and rights has raised important questions about pronouns, bathrooms, sports and the autonomy of adolescents. The murder of George Floyd in 2020 led to a change in the way schools, colleges and companies deal with racism. Positive developments are important to bringing about a more equal society.

In some cases, though, efforts to promote equity cross over into censoriousness. Just last week Roald Dahl’s publisher announced plans to scrub beloved works like “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Matilda” of references that could be construed as offensive to the overweight, wig-wearers or people with horse-like features. In 2015, a student performance of “The Vagina Monologues” by Eve Ensler (now known as V) was cancelled on the basis that the play itself was transphobic because the script failed to acknowledge that not all women have vaginas.

Some programs and curricula give a simplistic, one-sided or flat-out illiberal view of race, dismissing questions or other perspectives that don’t jive with their ideas or that aren’t related to racism.

Charles Negy was terminated from his position as a professor at the University of Central Florida after making comments about “black privilege”. While the university claimed he was guilty of misconduct, an arbitrator found no just cause for his determination and ordered him reinstated. The incident seemed to form part of a broader pattern at the University.

The harassment policy was struck down by a federal appeals court because it was too broad. The court found that a reasonable student would be better off not saying anything because his speech could get him in trouble with the university.

HB 999 is an abomination. It’s the most comprehensive attack on academic freedom we’ve seen. This bill will turn Florida colleges and universities into state propaganda factories if passed, as it will ban concepts and theories, limit faculty and student speech, and erode faculty involvement in hiring decisions.

The legislation, filed this week, would also require that general education courses at state colleges and universities “promote the values necessary to preserve the constitutional republic” and cannot define American history “as contrary to the creation of a new nation based on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.” General courses could not be taught with a curriculum based on theory or exploration.

to make hiring, firing and post-tenure review determinations, making it impossible for faculty to critique any policy or challenge any position that runs counter to that of state officials. HB 999 targets the very core of academic freedom, the very thing that has made U.S. universities the envy of the world. The bill will be a blow to Florida’s higher education system.

Students at the New College of Florida are going to demonstrate Tuesday during a trustees meeting after the governor took over the college.

Leffler said New College of Florida has always encouraged free academic thought. Lawmakers, he said, are trying to strip away that freedom by telling students what they can and can’t study.

The bill was praised by Rufo, who said on Twitter that it restores the “principle of colorblind equality in higher ed.” Rufo is the director of the critical race theory initiative at the Manhattan Institute.

Jay Parini: Borges and Me: A Portrait of a Border Collapse/Rescue Memory with Jorge Luis Borges

Editor’s Note: Jay Parini, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College. His most recent book, the memoir “Borges and Me,” is an account of his travels through the Scottish Highlands of Scotland with Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges in 1971. The opinions expressed in this commentary are of his own. Read more opinion articles on CNN.

That is not likely. Only fans or parties actively looking for someone to back in 2024 will read the book, and within a few months unsold copies will lie on the remainder tables, rubbing shoulders with Mike Pompeo’s new memoir, “Never Give an Inch,” or past examples of campaign self-advertisements such as “A Call to Service” by John Kerry, “A Time for Truth” by Ted Cruz or even Trump’s “Crippled America.”

I’ve read many of these books and they aren’t good. Nevertheless, DeSantis takes the usual dullness to a fresh level, redefining what cliched writing can sound like. It’s one thing to offer the public a bit of wooden prose, but DeSantis gives us an entire lumber yard.

And we can be sure the governor read the book and approved of its contents before publication. So we must assume the ideas (and “ideals”) in this book, such as they are, belong to him.

The book runs through his life and times, with a section on his love of baseball and his parents roots in Pennsylvania and Ohio. They were Italian-Americans — a family of immigrants, although DeSantis has shown little interest in helping recently-arrived migrants on their American journey: he famously flew two planeloads, primarily comprised of Venezuelan migrants, from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in 2022, a cruel, calculated political stunt designed to embarrass the Biden administration and liberal elites with their “sanctuary cities.” That he would play politics with the lives of these poor souls doesn’t, I fear, speak well for him – nor that he performed throughout the ensuing media cycle with such glee.

Everywhere in the book, one senses his rage against political correctness. He rails about the woke agenda that he sees consuming almost every level of life in America.

The First Amendment is unimportant, except for when his own free speech is concerned. He seems not to know what Thomas Jefferson said, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.” Jefferson understood that he has a patriotic duty to speak without fear of reprisal from the authorities.

The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic and other legacy media are rails against. These are “the praetorian guard of the nation’s failed ruling class, running interference for elites who share their vision and smearing those who dare of oppose it.” (I suspect he would, no doubt, wish to exempt Rupert Murdoch’s media empire from this judgment.)

A day after announcing he would seek a second term as Florida’s chief executive, Ron DeSantis gave a speech that avoided much of the divisive rhetoric that has fueled his political ascent but did signal another round of cultural wars is on the way.

In his concession speech, the newly elected governor said his win was a “vindication” of his agenda and mandate to “shoot for the stars” and “swing for the fences” in the coming year. He encouraged lawmakers to “ignore all the background noise” as they tackle a lengthy list of priorities that are sure to enrage Democrats but animate future Republican primary voters.

“We find ourselves in Florida on the front lines in the battle for freedom,” he said. Florida has been made the nation’s most desired destination and we have produced historic results. But now’s not the time to rest on our laurels.”

The remarks laid the groundwork for what is expected to be a breathless sprint by the GOP-controlled legislature to rack up policy wins that could form a platform to launch DeSantis’ highly anticipated bid for the White House.

The word “woke”, a staple of the political speeches he has delivered in recent months, was not used in his remarks, and he was not as combative towards President Joe Biden. He largely focused on more agreeable topics like improving education, alleviating traffic congestion and championing truck drivers, police officers and nurses.

He criticized the medical security state that required Covid-19 vaccines and banned mandates related to coronaviruses, two outlier positions that helped him rise to fame as a conservative star during the Pandemic.

Legislation was filed moments before the speech began that would ban abortion after six weeks except in instances of rape and incest and it would be illegal to send abortion medications through the mail. In his speech, he nodded to supporting the effort to protect life. He signaled support for the legislative attempts to follow the steps his administration has taken to ban treatments for children with gender dysphoria.

“Our schools must deliver a good education, not a political indoctrination,” DeSantis said. We have to say that our children are not good for science experiments, and we cannot allow people to make money off of it.

Why Do Public Universities Make D.E.I. Programs Solves Their Own Agendas? Comments on DeSantis and Khalid

After the legislature finishes its work, he plans to make an announcement on his candidacy in May or June. But DeSantis is already taking steps to build out a political team for a potential run and recently huddled with donors, elected Republicans and conservative influencers in Palm Beach, where they plotted strategy and policy in former President Donald Trump neighborhood.

His out-of-state travel has also picked up. While lawmakers meet over the next 60 days, DeSantis is expected to spend the next couple months on the road promoting his new book, “The Courage to Be Free.” DeSantis is scheduled to travel to Alabama on Thursday before heading to the early nominating states of Iowa and Nevada this weekend.

Lawmakers have succumbed to political pressure from the popular governor in the past, and are poised to approve his agenda when the legislature convenes in the upcoming session.

Amna Khalid has been writing about D.E.I. can Erode Academic Freedom in various publications, most recently in the Chronicle of Higher Education. Let’s Not Pretend Otherwise” and “The Data Is In — Trigger Warnings Don’t Work.”

there is a vast and growing literature showing that existing D.E.I. programming used in many schools and corporations is not just ineffective, it’s actually pernicious. It demoralizes people, reduces trust, increases hostility and conflict, and even sometimes reinforces stereotypes or legitimizes prejudicial behaviors.

What is the main complaint of DeSantis et al.? Not that knowledge being produced is unreliable, or that students are failing to get good jobs, etc. No. They don’t think that institutions strengthen their cultural and political power. And they want to instead leverage these institutions in the service of their own agenda. They aren’t committed to academic freedom.

prevent teachers from discussing certain areas of research, or force them to toe particular lines, or drive them toward self-censorship, or weaken tenure protections. These are not moves that enhance academic freedom but undermine it. They don’t care about academic freedom. They’re concerned about power.

Florida’s public universities are grounded in the history and philosophy of Western Civilization, prohibit D.E.I., C.R.T., and correct their missions to align education for citizenship in the constitutional republic.

Editor’s Note: Sophia Brown is a senior at New College of Florida and editor of the school newspaper, The Catalyst. The views are of her own. CNN has more opinion.

But I still wasn’t entirely prepared for his attacks on academic freedom at New College of Florida, the liberal arts college in Sarasota, where I’ve been a student for the past four years.

When people ask why I went to New College, my answer was always the same, I always wanted to go to a small school with a rigorous academic program. But there’s much more to it than that.

New College: A Disruption of the Confederate Flag and a Chance to Rejoin the Science of Democracy and the Art of Education

I went to a high school where students would wear shirts bearing the image of the Confederate flag. During my freshman year there, my classmates drew swastikas on the corners of my desk when they weren’t looking. I don’t think it was meant maliciously against me, but it showed the degree to which they had internalized and normalized hateful behavior. It was a high school that was tolerant enough to have a Gay Students’ Association, but intolerant enough that some kids would sign each other up as a prank.

New college was a departure from what has been done before. It has made me very passionate about education, and taught me that I do not have to compromise who I am. I do not need to leave my identity at the door in order to have the education that I deserve. My full identity can sit in the classroom with me because it informs my education and interests in a way that I cannot sever from myself.

I am a senior at New College and will be graduating in a few weeks. The time has been great. I have had a fantastic academic experience and am editor-in-chief of the Catalyst. But who knows how much longer it will be allowed to continue?

My friend recently said that the New College is no longer alive. I hope she’s wrong. I hope it can return to what it used to be: a college where we don’t have to worry about being interfered with by powerful individuals and entities that will never know who we are or what we want to learn.