SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
florida legislature
Rights Groups Alarmed as 'Unconstitutional' Attack on Academic Freedom Heads to DeSantis' Desk
"Prohibiting ideas in the name of freedom is not freedom at all," said one critic of a bill that would outlaw teaching systemic racism in college courses. "It is censorship."
May 04, 2023
Civil liberties defenders on Wednesday decried yet another bill passed by Florida's GOP-controlled Legislature attacking academic freedom, while calling on Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to take the unlikely step of vetoing the measure.
S.B. 266 would require Florida's Board of Education and its state university system's board of governors to establish faculty committees tasked with reviewing and, if deemed necessary, rejecting or adjusting all general education courses.
Under the bill, these courses "may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics… or is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities."
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) said that "this provision is flatly unconstitutional."
"Bans on ideas in the collegiate setting are unconstitutional, illiberal, and shortsighted," the group argued. "Prohibiting ideas in the name of freedom is not freedom at all. It is censorship."
\u201cWe do not increase freedom of speech by eliminating someone's speech. \n\nBottom line.\n\nHere\u2019s my close on an amendment trying to ensure faculty speech is protected via HB999/SB266. It unfortunately failed along a party line vote.\u201d— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani \ud83d\udd28 (@Rep. Anna V. Eskamani \ud83d\udd28) 1683078612
S.B. 266 also prohibits universities and colleges from funding activities, speakers, events, and clubs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
According toThe Chronicle of Higher Education, Florida is one of 20 states where bills targeting DEI on college campuses have been introduced. Last week, Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed the nation's first law prohibiting colleges from mandating DEI training.
In Florida, critics compared S.B. 266 to the Stop WOKE Act, a censorship law signed by DeSantis last year limiting how state university professors teach race, gender, and U.S. history. The legislation is widely viewed by progressives as part of the GOP-led war on critical race theory, a graduate-level academic framework for understanding systemic racism in the United States. In March, a federal appeals court upheld a preliminary injunction against the law.
"Just as it was positively dystopian with the Stop WOKE Act, it remains unconscionable that the state Legislature has spent this much time and energy trying to prevent students and faculty from engaging in conversations with which legislators personally disagree," ACLU of Florida staff attorney Jerry Edwards said in a statement.
"Instead of engaging in meaningful policymaking to improve Floridians' lives, lawmakers have conjured a boogeyman out of thin air to expand the government's reach in all corners of our state," Edwards added. "Free speech does not end at the classroom door. The attack on free speech in education must end here. Gov. DeSantis must veto this unconstitutional bill."
\u201cRepublicans are expanding Desantis\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill up to 8th grade.\n\nAnd they're banning teaching "systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege" as part of America's story (can\u2019t really teach slavery).\n\nDeSantis signs it all soon.\n@newrepublic\nhttps://t.co/UrPjj9U7vb\u201d— Prem (@Prem) 1683206919
Leah Watson, senior staff attorney with the national ACLU's Racial Justice Program, said that "S.B. 266 is part of a coordinated attack by partisan politicians on our right to learn about systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege in higher education. It serves only to undermine progress toward racial justice and must not be allowed to go into effect."
"This attack on DEI will remove important support for students of color, erase their heritage from campuses and classrooms, and ultimately lead to increased racial bias," Watson added.
NAACP Legal Defense Fund senior counsel Charles McLaurin warned that "if enacted, the S.B. 266 bill in Florida will threaten the quality of higher education inside and outside the classroom."
"All educators and students are entitled to participate and contribute to a fair and high-quality educational experience that is grounded in basic values of accuracy, equity, and truth," he added.
Also on Wednesday, the Florida Senate voted to expand the state's so-called "Don't Say Gay or Trans" law—a ban on "classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity"—through eighth grade. The original law signed by DeSantis last year was applicable in grades K-3.
\u201cDon't Say Gay 2.0 has been filed. It would create an even more toxic school environment for LGBTQ students thru grade 8.\n\nParents of LGBTQ kids in school were already contemplating leaving the state.\n\nDeSantis culture wars aren't silly sideshows-- they're ruining people's lives.\u201d— Carlos Guillermo Smith (@Carlos Guillermo Smith) 1677851469
Under the expanded law, high school teachers would be banned from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in a manner that is not "age appropriate or developmentally appropriate" for students. The legislation also prohibits educators from addressing transgender students by their preferred pronouns.
S.B. 266 and the expanded Don't Say Gay or Trans law—both of which DeSantis are expected to sign—come on top of a series of GOP-led Florida laws targeting K-12 education that have been condemned as academic censorship. These include a ban on an Advanced Placement African-American history course for high school students and a mandate that every book in classroom libraries be vetted by a state-trained "media specialist."
\u201cThe \u201cDream Defenders,\u201d a group of far-left activists, have occupied the Florida capitol building as revenge for DeSantis\u2019 passage of his anti-woke policies relating to the teaching of CRT and pronoun enforcement in schools and colleges. \n\n\u201d— Ian Miles Cheong (@Ian Miles Cheong) 1683197857
On Wednesday evening, 14 people including members of Dream Defenders, Florida Rising, and Showing Up for Racial Justice were arrested after an hourslong occupation of DeSantis' Tallahassee office to protest a wide range of policies and actions including attacks on education and academic freedom.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Florida GOP Send 'Egregious' Voter Suppression Bill to DeSantis
"We can't disregard, given recent history, that the Legislature's unspoken intent, once again, is to impose barriers and confuse voters," the Miami Herald's editors wrote.
Apr 28, 2023
Voting rights defenders on Friday condemned the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature's passage of a bill that critics said will make it harder to register Black and Latino voters while easing the way for Gov. Ron DeSantis to seek the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
The Florida House of Representatives passed S.B. 7050 by a 76-34 party-line vote after the state Senate approved the measure—which DeSantis is expected to sign into law—earlier this week.
S.B. 7050 would boost the power of Florida's Office of Election Crimes and Security to review and conduct preliminary investigations into "any alleged election irregularity" and "make referrals for further legal action."
Under the proposal, voter registration groups could be fined up to $250,000 per year—penalties are currently capped at $50,000— for failing to submit completed registration applications to officials within 10 days.
"We can't disregard, given recent history, that the Legislature's unspoken intent, once again, is to impose barriers and confuse voters," the Miami Herald's editorial board wrote in response to the legislation.
\u201cMultiple voting rights organizations have opposed the bill, arguing that these measures will \u201cmake it harder for Floridians to register and vote, and undermine Florida\u2019s election administration."\u201d— Black Voters Matter Fund (@Black Voters Matter Fund) 1682547588
An amendment to the bill allows Florida's governor to run for federal office without having to resign, a measure largely seen as opening the door for DeSantis to run for president.
In a letter sent Tuesday to Florida legislative leaders, officials from dozens of civil and voting rights groups warned that S.B. 7050 would "make it harder for Floridians to register and vote, and undermine Florida's election administration."
Mary Kay Rosinski, co-president of the League of Women Voters Villages/Tri-County, noted that the bill would:
- Create more barriers to conducting voter registration drives;
- Establish steeper fines for volunteer, community-based registration groups;
- Add more restrictions on mail-in ballots;
- Give the Office of Election Crimes and Security expanded authority to investigate and prosecute alleged election violations; and
- Remove the government's liability for issuing voter registration cards to returning citizens whose voting rights have not been restored.
According to the progressive advocacy group Common Cause, one of the letter's signers:
Provisions within the bill specifically target community-based voter registration groups with enormous fines and draconian new restrictions. These groups have made it possible for many Floridians to exercise their right to vote: One out of every 10 Black and Latino voters and one out of every 50 white voters in Florida have registered with the support of these organizations. These groups are especially important for Floridians who do not possess a Florida driver's license or Florida state ID, making them unable to use the state's online voter registration system.
In a particularly egregious restriction, this discriminatory legislation prohibits legal immigrants, Green Card holders, and people who are in the process of becoming U.S. citizens from helping register voters with community-based groups under threat of a $50,000 fine per person. These individuals make up a big part of the workforce to connect with eligible voters who face language barriers.
"This is the third year in a row Florida's lawmakers have changed our voting rules, attacked community-based groups who support voters, and implemented unnecessary and confusing barriers for Floridians looking to participate in our democracy, while making no investment in voter education at all," Common Cause Florida program director Amy Keith said in a statement.
"This makes clear their real aim: to suppress our voting rights and silence the voices of eligible Florida voters who want a more inclusive future for our state," Keith added. "We need a democracy that works for everyone, and our Florida leaders should be targeting the wealthy special interests that dominate our politics, not everyday Floridians who deserve to exercise their right to vote without barriers."
S.B. 7050's passage by Florida lawmakers comes a day after a federal appeals court handed DeSantis a victory by overturning a lower judge's ruling blocking provisions of S.B. 90, a massive attack on voting rights signed by the governor in 2021. The law empowers partisan poll watchers, imposes strict voter ID requirements, criminalizes so-called "ballot harvesting," limits ballot drop boxes, and bans advocacy groups from handing out food or water to voters waiting in long lines.
\u201cBREAKING: 11th Circuit issues opinion about Florida voter suppression law #SB90. The court reverses most of the lower court's ruling, which struck down provisions of the law for racial discrimination. More to come. Read the ruling: https://t.co/mcjfJ9IN8E\u201d— Democracy Docket (@Democracy Docket) 1682618019
Progressives also condemned DeSantis' February signing of S.B. 4, a so-called "election crimes" law described by the Brennan Center for Justice as "an unnecessary and wasteful expansion of state prosecutorial power that could intimidate eligible voters with past convictions from exercising their right to vote."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular