New DeSantis ad drops: ‘We must continue to hold the line’

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Gov. Ron DeSantis launched an ad Thursday on social media highlighting parts of his recent speech at Hillsdale College in southern Michigan.

“We reject the idea that self-government can be subcontracted out to bureaucratic elite. We insist on the restoration of the timeless constitutional principles that have made this country unique so that government of, by, and for the people shall not perish from this earth,” DeSantis said.

“My message of freedom from Florida: it requires us to hold the line and it requires us to never ever back down,” DeSantis continued.

Hillsdale College is a small, Christian, classical liberal arts college that operates independently of government funding.

“Learning, character, faith, and freedom define Hillsdale. Thank you to President Arnn and all the staff and students who hosted me,” DeSantis tweeted.

“The battle against the woke agenda is critical to the future of our nation. We must continue to hold the line and never, ever back down.”

During his speech, DeSantis said they are “going to be like a little Hillsdale down in Florida.”

The governor appointed new leadership at New College of Florida in January to overhaul the institution’s “equity” ideology for a merit-based approach.

DeSantis said they are leaning in on higher education and removing diversity, equity, and inclusion bureaucracies from colleges.

“They came in, got rid of the president, hired a conservative president eliminated DEI and CRT. President fired the Provost, and it’s now been a new mission of being a classical liberal arts college,” DeSantis said.

He said they put Dr. Matthew Spalding on the Board of Trustees, who is a professor at Hillsdale College.

“The very aim of liberal arts education is to liberate the mind from current fads and popular ideologies by inviting students to address these questions in pursuit of the truth about what it means to be fully human,” Spalding previously said in a statement to Florida’s Voice.

DeSantis said in a few weeks he will be signing legislation to “eliminate so called DEI programs” from public universities.

The bill would prohibit expenditures that promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities that support diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as CRT.

It also forbids universities from using diversity, equity, inclusion statements, and CRT filters as part of the hiring process.

Additionally, the proposed legislation would prohibit majors and minors in subjects including CRT, Gender Studies, and Intersectionality. 

“They say it’s ‘diversity, equity, inclusion,’ but in reality, those are euphemisms. It’s really ideology imposed through the administrative apparatus of the university…” DeSantis explained.

“I think DEI is division, exclusion and indoctrination, and that has no place in our public institutions,” DeSantis said.