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Jan 9 • 11 tweets • 6 min read
As #DeSantisDestroysFlorida is trending (again), it behooves us to chronicle the many ways higher education in the state is under attack.

1: In 2021 @UF barred 3 professors from serving as expert witnesses in a voting rights case against the state ...
aaup.org/news/universit…
@UF The case targeted legislation strongly supported by DeSantis that inhibited access to the ballot. After the university's accreditor announced an investigation, UF reversed their decision & allowed the professors to testify.
npr.org/2021/11/05/105…
When the attempt to use the power & pressure of the state to silence scholars w/ expertise failed, a new plan was hatched: change accreditors.
“These accreditation agencies have an inordinate amount of power to shape these universities,” DeSantis said.
🧐
insidehighered.com/news/2022/12/1…
Next up: In an attempt to avoid transparency & to deny faculty & other members of the campus community a voice, DeSantis signed a bill to hide the identities of presidential search candidates for public colleges & universities.

aaup.org/news/aaup-pres…
UF's secret presidential search culminated in the naming of Republican Senator Ben Sasse as the sole finalist – an announcement that prompted unprecedented student protests.

alligator.org/article/2022/1…
Continuing his crusade to destroy #highereducation in FL, DeSantis signed SB7044, a bill that paves the way to removing professors if their research is deemed controversial (see #criticalracetheory #academicfreedom)

AAUP president @imulvey's statement: aaup.org/news/relentles…
And who could forget the “Intellectual Freedom & Viewpoint Diversity” survey pushed by DeSantis intended to chill free inquiry, expression, & open dissent that was rightfully ignored by most faculty & students...

Image
Last September, lawyers for the state of Florida, defending DeSantis' #StopWOKEAct asserted that faculty members’ curricula & in-class instruction at public universities should be considered “government speech” & therefore must be approved by the government.

Um...
In one of his latest dystopian moves, DeSantis targeted DEI initiatives in Florida, a dog whistle to his base that he is cracking down on antiracist progress & "woke ideology."

Which leads us to the latest affront on Florida's higher education system: the appointment far right propagandist Christopher Rufo, inventor of the panic over #criticalracetheory, to the Board of Trustees at @NewCollegeofFL.

mediamatters.org/critical-race-…
Make no mistake, DeSantis is waging war against #highereducation in Florida. The stakes for the future of of Florida's college students could not be higher.

#academicfreedom

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More from @AAUP

American Association of University Professors Profile picture
Oct 19, 2022
BREAKING: The AAUP has authorized an investigation into the extraordinary summary dismissal of 33 faculty members at @emporiastate, most of them long-serving professors with tenure.
🧵
1/
 aaup.org/media-release/…
These termination decisions were apparently made w/out any meaningful faculty participation & w/out affording faculty members academic due process – both severe violations of widely accepted principles of #academicfreedom & tenure.
2/
As the AAUP wrote to the chair of the Kansas board of regents & the president of @emporiastate on 9/29, “It is difficult not to construe what has happened at ESU as a direct assault on tenure & #academicfreedom..."
aaup.org/sites/default/…
3/
Read 9 tweets
American Association of University Professors Profile picture
Aug 27, 2022
President Biden’s long awaited announcement of a plan to alleviate the student debt of roughly 20 million Americans has ignited a national debate about the fundamental role of higher education in our society.

The AAUP would like to weigh in...

🧵
1/
From the AAUP’s perspective, higher education exists to support the common good. An education should be accessible & affordable as a human right to anyone willing to seek it.
Biden’s action on student debt relief is a vital first forward…
2/
toward reaffirming the purpose & promise of higher education in our democracy. This transformative plan will go a long way toward narrowing the racial wealth gap exacerbated by the student debt crisis
3/
Read 11 tweets
American Association of University Professors Profile picture
Oct 27, 2021
In response to the announcement of AAUP’s investigation into @BORUSG’s removal of due process protections, the acting chancellor responded that “it will not be necessary for an investigation into the removal of due process as it clearly has not been removed.” 🤔
🧵
To clarify: the due process being referred to is the procedure the AAUP requires to dismiss a tenured faculty member. It consists essentially in an adjudicative hearing of record before an elected faculty body in which the burden of demonstrating… /2
…adequate cause for dismissal rests with admin. This academic due process is essential for tenure as the AAUP defines it: an indefinite appointment that can be terminated only for cause as demonstrated in such a hearing. /3
Read 8 tweets
American Association of University Professors Profile picture
Oct 26, 2021
🧵: The executive director of the AAUP has authorized an investigation of the @BORUSG regarding their adoption of a post-tenure review policy that makes it possible to release a tenured faculty member without a dismissal hearing. /1
Prior to the @BORUSG’s vote, AAUP president Irene Mulvey characterized the board’s potential action as “an attack on tenure and #academicfreedom” & warned that, if the board acted to decouple tenure protections from post-tenure review, the AAUP would investigate. /2
The purpose of tenure is to protect #academicfreedom indispensable for the quality of teaching/research in higher ed. In order to ensure that dismissals are not based on considerations that violate this, most colleges/universities require admins to demonstrate adequate cause…
/3
Read 5 tweets
American Association of University Professors Profile picture
Oct 12, 2021
1. 🧵 Tomorrow, the @BORUSG is expected to vote to end tenure for Georgia's public universities. The AAUP has warned that this move will destroy protections for academic freedom, which is indispensable for the quality of teaching and research in higher education.
2. if the board votes to approve the changes, tenure & the academic freedom it is designed to protect will be severely compromised at the 25 tenure-granting institutions in the system. Given the severity & scope of this attack on tenure and academic freedom, AAUP will respond…
by taking action similar to the 1974 investigation & censure of the governing board of the Virginia Community College System for abolishing tenure. In service of the common good, tenure allows faculty members to pursue research & innovation & to draw evidence-based conclusions…
Read 7 tweets
American Association of University Professors Profile picture
Aug 4, 2021
We are living in a time where the teaching of true and accurate history is considered controversial. 25 states have put forth legislation to limit how and whether race and racism are taught in schools. If you’re concerned about this, please read along. #criticalracetheory
(2) The AAUP’s 1940 statement on Principles of Academic Freedom & Tenure makes clear “teachers are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject.”

#criticalracetheory
(3) The recent attempts to abolish or curtail teaching about the role of race in US history and the ongoing repercussions of racism & slavery represent clear violations of both #academicfreedom, the cornerstone of American higher education, and…
Read 5 tweets

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