Thread by @AAUP

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On the day FL governor DeSantis is to announce his bid for president, the AAUP has released a preliminary report on the impact of his unparalleled ideologically driven assault on higher education in the state.
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https://twitter.com/insidehighered/status/1661352620101971969

In January, after a number of alarming events in Florida, the AAUP established a special committee to review the apparent pattern of politically, racially, & ideologically motivated attacks on public higher education in the state.

aaup.org/news/special-c…

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After interviewing dozens of faculty members at multiple public colleges & universities in the state, our preliminary report concludes that #academicfreedom, tenure, & shared governance in FL’s public higher ed system are indeed under attack.

aaup.org/news/florida-h…

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If sustained, this onslaught threatens the very survival of meaningful higher education in the state, with dire implications for the entire country. 

The report includes four main findings:

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1. DeSantis & the state legislature are using their swift, aggressive, & ongoing “hostile takeover” of @NewCollegeofFL as a test case for future encroachments on public colleges & universities across the country.

#SaveNewCollege

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2. Academic administrators throughout FL’s public university & college systems, from the highest to the lowest levels not only have failed to contest these attacks but have too frequently been complicit in and, in some cases, explicitly supported them.

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3. The FL legislature has passed a series of bills that, taken collectively, constitute a systematic effort to dictate & enforce conformity with a narrow & reactionary political & ideological agenda throughout the state’s higher education system.

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These efforts grievously undermine basic principles of #academicfreedom, tenure, & shared governance. Key to this agenda has been efforts to destroy programs that serve minorities & to banish from classrooms ideas & info about race, gender, & sexual identity that contradict…

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…the prejudices of politicians like DeSantis.

4. Although several pieces of legislation proposed by DeSantis have been stalled by legal challenges, the resulting self-censorship & fear are damaging the quality of public higher education in the state.

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The AAUP is continuing its investigation, interviewing faculty members & others, as events in Florida continue to unfold. 

This preliminary report will be followed by a more comprehensive final report, expected by Fall.

To Read: aaup.org/file/Prelimina…

#DefendHigherEd

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