by Ari Kaufman at lidblog.com
I find the term “swamp” to be ambiguous and misleading, especially considering many media pundits and politicians who invoke the smear are often themselves the epitome of Washington, D.C.
But since the University of Florida (UF) calls its football stadium “The Swamp,” it’s appropriate that the Sunshine State is endeavoring to lead universities in draining some edu-leftism.
There is no hope for my alma mater, the University of California, inarguably the most left-wing and corrupt college system around, nor is there hope for state universities in blue places like Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and even more purplish states like Wisconsin and North Carolina. But with the leadership of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and incoming UF president Ben Sasse, the former U.S. senator, the Sunshine State has a great opportunity.
More than two dozen presidents of Florida‘s public universities recently pledged to tone down their schools’ dangerous obsession with the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) agenda. They vowed to promote open access, not racial preferences, critical race theory, or ideologies that condemn diversity of thought.
These presidents thankfully seek intellectual diversity on campus, not a vacuous one based on skin color or gender.
The university presidents’ statement is tepid and, therefore, shouldn’t be controversial. They simply vowed to remove any “instruction, training, and policies” that advocate for reverse discrimination or discourage debate. Unfortunately, these aren’t efforts to remedy actual curricula, nor even a promise to decrease the number of supercilious DEI administrators; the latter is relevant when 12 of UF’s 16 colleges have at least one dean-level DEI officer.
After decades of futile reforms to higher education, it’s a start, yet a bolder approach is needed. DEI is an amoral, regressive ideology destroying our once-proud schools because, above all else, it weaponizes “anti-discrimination” laws to intimidate well-meaning dissenters.
Florida’s Board of Governors — which sets policy for the state’s higher education — can roll back the system’s DEI programs and insist on meaningful curricular changes. Those revisions should start at UF, the nation’s fourth-largest school by enrollment.
The sanguine Sasse already shared some ideas about re-establishing leadership and building a new regime because he knows DEI cannot peacefully coexist with a realistic vision for education.