DESANTIS AIMS TO CANCEL DEI PROGRAMS AT PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES

Jason Parsley

Rosa Parks was Black. There is no dispute on that. But at least one publisher is afraid the Ron DeSantis administration may reject its materials; so they went to great lengths to avoid mentioning her race.

According to the New York Times, the publisher, Studies Weekly, focuses on science and social studies with short lessons in weekly pamphlets. Its social studies materials are used in Florida elementary schools.

The NYT compared several versions of the publisher’s lessons.

Here are the versions from their story:

In the current lesson on Rosa Parks, segregation is clearly explained: “The law said African Americans had to give up their seats on the bus if a white person wanted to sit down.”

But in the initial version created for the textbook review, race is mentioned indirectly.

“She was told to move to a different seat because of the color of her skin,” the lesson said.

It’s mandatory in Florida to teach Black history, but the legislature also passed a law last year called the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, which prohibits instruction that would compel students to feel responsibility, guilt or anguish for what other members of their race did in the past, a ban on critical race theory among other restrictions.

The two mandates appear to be at odds with each other.

The NYT wrote that the Florida Department of Education suggested that Studies Weekly had overreached.

Any publisher that “avoids the topic of race when teaching the Civil Rights movement, slavery, segregation, etc. would not be adhering to Florida law,” the department said in a statement.

But the publisher told the NYT it was trying to follow Florida’s standards, including the Stop W.O.K.E. Act.

“All publishers are expected to design a curriculum that aligns with” those requirements, John McCurdy, the company’s chief executive, said in an email to the NYT.

Diversity. Equity. Inclusion. That’s what’s up for grabs in the latest piece of legislation in Florida targeting education.

The measure would prevent state colleges and universities from spending any state or federal funds on programs or campus activities that advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, promote or espouse “political or social activism” or give preferential treatment to people based on factors such as race or sex.

Maxx Fenning, president of LGBTQadvocacy group PRISM and SFGN’s Person of the Year for 2022, criticized the bill.

“Whether you agree with these ideas or not, they are a component of understanding the wide array of views and opinions on issues that affect our daily lives,” Fenning told Orlando Weekly.

DeSantis doesn’t see it that way.

“These bills effectively eliminate DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] and other types of discriminatory programs and activities,” DeSantis said at a news conference. “But it also prohibits soliciting pledges of DEI or CRT [critical race theory] or any political viewpoint that’s a condition of hiring, promotion or admissions,”

According to Orlando Weekly, Florida’s 12 universities collectively reported spending more than $34.5 million on programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion. The schools also reported 279 paid positions tied to the initiatives.

HB 999 has already passed the House. It still must pass in the Senate.

The American Historical Association slammed the bill, writing in a statement to CBS, “We express horror [not our usual 'concern'] at the assumptions that lie at the heart of this bill and its blatant and frontal attack on principles of academic freedom and shared governance central to higher education in the United States. This is not only about Florida. It is about the heart and soul of public higher education in the United States and about the role of history, historians, and historical thinking in the lives of the next generation of Americans.”

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Ron DeSantis