DeSantis Cracks Down on Colleges Repackaging DEI Despite Florida Ban
Some college administrators have “repurposed DEI under a different banner” and “think they can get away with it” despite anti-diversity, equity and inclusion laws Florida passed in May 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday.
“We’re making sure, yes, we don’t have DEI, but you can’t just rename it and do it,” DeSantis told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “We actually had a professor at University of South Florida that was shown the door because they violated Florida law.”
DeSantis took swift action in March after the medical advocacy group Do No Harm posted audio of former USF administrator Dr. Haywood Brown talking about circumventing state DEI laws. Brown resigned after his comments were made public.
“We no longer have a person who’s dedicated to [DEI], we have a council that’s dedicated to it,” Brown said. “Isn’t that slippery? As long as it works, that’s what we do.”
Brown served as USF Health’s senior associate vice president for academic and faculty affairs and vice dean of faculty affairs for the Morsani College of Medicine. Before that, Brown acted as the vice president for diversity, inclusion, and equity at USF until the office’s closure in 2023.
“With the details of Mr. Brown’s actions and public commitments to violating state law and academic standards surfacing to our attention, our office has immediately ensured his relationship with our university system has ended,” DeSantis Communications Director Bryan Griffin told Fox News Digital following the incident.
DeSantis Applauds Trump Targeting Ivy League Schools
DeSantis also backed the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdowns on Ivy League schools, calling it “absolutely right.”
The Trump administration announced Monday that it is reviewing nearly $9 billion in federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon called out the school’s “failure to protect students on campus from antisemitic discrimination,” as reported by The Daily Signal.
Harvard president Alan Graber warned in an email to the Harvard community that potential funding cuts “will halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.”
However, DeSantis said he believes the country will be positively affected if Trump can hold colleges such as Harvard and Columbia University accountable.
“Why are we underwriting indoctrination centers that these universities have become?” he told Fox News. “They have deviated from the core mission of a university which is classical education and preparing students to be citizens of the Republic.”
