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The new rules, which easily passed in a Florida Board of
Education meeting on Wednesday, would bring the state's public
higher education institutions in line with a bill that Governor
Ron DeSantis signed in May.
The law banned the spending of tax dollars on college diversity,
equity and inclusion programs (DEI) and restricted how race and
gender could be taught on campuses.
DeSantis, who is challenging former President Donald Trump to be
the Republican nominee in November's U.S. presidential election,
has aggressively fought efforts to build racial, social and
religious diversity in Florida schools.
He has made the issue a pillar of his platform, emerging as a
leader in a larger Republican war against what conservatives see
as a left-wing agenda to sow racial and political divisions in
U.S. public education.
Many higher-education experts and free-speech advocates have
criticized his policies as attacks on academic freedom.
Under the new rules, public colleges and universities must not
spend state or federal funds on programs that promote
"differential" treatment of individuals based on "race, color,
sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation."
They are also barred from spending such funds on activities
"intended to achieve a desired result related to social issues,"
which the rules define as "topics that polarize or divide
society among political, ideological, moral, or religious
beliefs."
The law that DeSantis signed last year required the "core"
general education course curriculum to be revised by faculty
committees appointed by the boards who oversee the state's 28
public colleges and 12 public universities.
Those committees recommended cutting sociology from the list of
"core" social-science courses, and replacing it with an
introductory survey course on U.S. history before 1877, the
final year of the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era in which
U.S. lawmakers sought to integrate into society enslaved people
who had been freed.
Sociology will still be available to Florida students who wish
to take it, and colleges can still recommend it as a core
social-science course, despite the fact that it will no longer
be considered such under state law.
(Reporting by Julia Harte in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty
and Matthew Lewis)
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