Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his administration recently put woke universities in the state on notice, sending out a memo in which he demanded information on how much schools in the state are spending on diversity programs.
That memo, shared to Twitter on Wednesday by DeSantis’ Press Secretary, Bryan Griffin, was addressed to Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and Florida State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues. Sent on December 28, the memo told those officials to gather data on how much the higher education system is spending on diversity initiatives. The timing is important because the Florida legislature is beginning to consider budget proposals, so the implication is that the legislature will cut funding to those schools that are blowing money on diversity programs.
Griffin, sharing a picture of the memo to Twitter, captioned it by saying “MEMO: All state university & college systems in Florida have been required to report expenditures and resources utilized for campus activities related to diversity, equity, and inclusion and critical race theory. Stay tuned.”
As the Executive Office of the Governor prepares policy and budget proposals ahead of the 2023 Legislative Session, it is important that we have a full understanding of the operational expenses of state institutions. Governor Ron DeSantis has prioritized a cost-effective higher education system that delivers high quality service to Floridians to best prepare them for employment. Additionally, state law requires dutiful attention to curriculum content at our higher education systems as specificed in sections 1000.05 and 1007.25 of the Florida Statutes.
To that effect, this letter is a request for information from the Department of Education and the State University System regarding the expenditure of state resources on programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and cricitical race theory within our state colleges and universities.
Each Florida College System and State University System institution must complete the attached document to provide a comprehensive list of all staff, programs, and campus activities related to diversity, equity , and inclusion, and critical race theory. As part of this request, each institution must detail the below costs associated with the administration of each program or activity:
- Brief description of the program or activity;
- Positions, including full and partial FTE;
- Total funding spent to support the initiative; and
- Of all the total spent to support the initiative, the amount that is state funded
The letter then goes on to demand the responses by January 13th, giving the schools limited time to try and cover things up or hide certain ways that they are spending the money.
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People on Twitter cheered Team DeSantis’ move, saying things like “University’s are completed polluted with this leftwing Dogma. CRT and 3rd wave anti-racism is akin to a religion at this point. It has no place in modern academia” , “Ya wanna kill the snake ya gotta cut off the head. Universities need reigned in.“, and “State schools use tax payer money, and should be subject to government/tax payer oversight.”
Predictably, the libertarians came out of the woodwork too, attacking DeSantis by saying things like “So much for small government conservatives. Big Brother has questions for you, professor.”