DeSantis Signs Legislation that Bans DEI Program at Florida Colleges

(AmericanProsperity.com) – Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed a legislation that will ban public colleges in Florida from using funds on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, also known as DEI.

This decision represents the Republican leader’s latest action in his feud with higher education, which experts believe could boost his popularity and get him closer to former president Donald Trump, who remains the favorite to win the GOP nomination in the party’s primaries. While DeSantis hasn’t officially announced a presidential bid, numerous reports point out this will happen anytime soon.

The Florida Governor signed this legislation at the New College of Florida, where he just appointed conservatives to the board of trustees, who subsequently abolished the university’s DEI department. This decision gained mixed responses on social media, with some people praising the Republican leader for taking this step, and others claiming this is another action to please his base.

During a speech at this college, the Florida Governor said that these DEI efforts were a clear attempt to alienate students and faculty of liberal arts by imposing “an ideological agenda” that only promotes “discrimination” and “exclusion.” The Republican leader also said this new legislation will formally put to an end the “whole experiment with DEI” in Florida. Moreover, DeSantis pointed out that any student who is interested in studying “gender ideology” should attend academic institutions in other states of the country.

After signing the legislation, the free speech organization Freedom for Individual Rights and Express blasted the Governor for taking this step and even encouraged college professors to call them. The organization’s attorney Adam Steinbaugh said that the expansion of the so-called “Stop WOKE Act” is fully unconstitutional, and claimed that universities in this state must be a place where everyone can enjoy the free exchange of ideas. He also claimed that, with this new legislation, DeSantis is imposing censorship.