Florida Bans DEI Degrees at Public Colleges

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday signed a bill that would prohibit public colleges in the state from offering degrees in critical race theory or majors, minors, and programs that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), Axios reported.

The bill’s provisions, first proposed by DeSantis in February, state that Florida public colleges cannot use state or federal money for DEI programs. It also places restrictions on the teaching of CRT or DEI in general education courses. 

In addition, university officials must conduct regular reviews of lessons that are “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.”

DeSantis said during a press conference: “The whole experiment of DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida. We are going to treat people as individuals.”

He later said: “If you want to do things like gender ideology, go to Berkeley. But for us, with our tax dollars, we want to focus on the classical mission of what a university is supposed to be.”

Florida state Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book, a Democrat, said in a statement after the signing: “Governor DeSantis is treating freedom of speech as an enemy, and the Legislature allowed his partisan politics to get in the way of initiatives that have progressed us as a nation to allow students from diverse backgrounds and experiences be included in places where historically they have not been accepted.”