DeSantis decries ‘uniformity of thought’ as underlying agenda for DEI
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis held a roundtable discussion to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, in higher education.
“I think it’s [DEI] been used in the administrative apparatus of universities to try to impose not diversity of thought, but to try to impose uniformity of thought. And instead of inclusion, the people that dissent from this orthodoxy are actually excluded and marginalized,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis pointed to the current conservative legislature considering eliminating DEI and critical race theory agendas at public universities.
“That clearly has no place in American institutions,” he said.
Chancellor Ray Rodrigues noted that even a large amount of faculty at universities oppose DEI agendas.
“Florida is on the vanguard of ending this nonsense in saying that in Florida, we support free speech,” he said. “We’re not gonna be a party to these games.”
Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz Jr., Columnist Carrie Sheffield, Professor at Boise State University Scott Yener, Former state Rep. Ray Rodrigues, Chair of New College Board of Trustees Debra Jenks, Vice Chair of Florida International University Board of Trustees Roger Tovar, writer for City Journal Christopher Rutho, and two college students spoke during the roundtable.
Florida State law student and graduate of University of North Florida Daryl Boyer shared his “modern day college experience” during the roundtable discussion.
Boyer said his peers at UNF “assumed” he was a Democrat because he is a “person of color.”
He said that once his peers found out he was a Republican, they “publicly destroyed” his character by creating a fake social media account that publicly displayed his voter registration and encouraging other students to “go and burn down” his home.
“Today, DEI, the diversity of equity inclusion is nothing more than viewing everything through the lens of race and LGBTQ,” Boyer said.
“Our classrooms should be a collaborative working environment that includes all perspectives, not just the woke liberal ideologies,” he continued.
DeSantis asked Diaz what the term “Latinx” means and why it’s being used.
Diaz said it’s “absurd and ridiculous.”
“The fact that this is just another attempt to corral a group of people and use identity politics to try to pitch that. Fortunately, it hasn’t worked, the Hispanic community has pushed back hard,” Diaz said.
Diaz said that coming from a Cuban family and background, when people attempt use the label for the Hispanic community, it “goes back to the days of being familiar with what happened in Cuba and the tactics of Fidel Castro.”
DeSantis said diversity statement requirements in colleges and universities are a “filtering mechanism.”
In February, a bill was filed in the Florida House that would make sweeping changes to limit the influence of critical race theory and DEI programs at public universities.
The bill bans certain majors, prohibits the funding programs that support CRT, and forbids universities from using DEI statements, and CRT filters as part of the hiring process.
DeSantis has previously said they will work on making sure that universities are teaching in the “classical sense” and not “imposing ideological worldview on the students.”
He announced a series of proposals at the end of January that would eliminate all DEI and CRT “bureaucracies” at public universities.
