In the name of free speech, and viewpoint diversity, the government wants to survey the beliefs of individual faculty and students and "fix" the problem if they don't provide the right answers.
This bill appears to be an update of legislation proposed in 2019, which I discussed then. Same arguments apply (thread)
The problem with framing "viewpoint diversity" as a public value is that invites policymakers pursue it. Here, policymakers are explicit in saying that if (as we already know) students and faculty are mostly liberal, that is a problem that must be fixed.
The people who sit on FL educational governing institutions are political appointees. And the proponents of this "viewpoint diversity" bill are clear that they want to give these political actors more power to police and shape campus speech at the expense of faculty & students
What else is in this bill? It removes discretion from campuses on how they manage speech. Instead, they become responsible for accommodating every Proud Boys event, regardless of the consequences.
The new FL bill would give students the right to record faculty without their consent for "educational purposes" or for lawsuits against the university.
This is exactly what they do in China. Hard to think go anything more chilling to campus speech.
This FL legislation was a fringe idea a couple of years ago but now is likely to be passed, reflecting a broader pattern. Those who have framed free speech/intellectual diversity as a pressing public problem to be fixed, but know such legislation goes too far, need to speak up.
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