According to a new survey of college faculty members, about half of the Florida respondents said they planned to find jobs in other states before the end of the year. Roughly a quarter said they had already interviewed for positions in other states since the beginning of 2021.
About 85% said they would not recommended teaching in Florida to others, and 95% said they view the political situation in higher education was “bad” or “very bad.” They added that their decision was motivated by Florida “LGBTQ+” policies, campus diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, tenure, academic freedom, and low salaries. “Although the legislation is vague, it seems likely that much of what I teach will become illegal in the near future,” said one faculty member. “I constantly feel like I am one denunciation away from a derailed life and career.”
The survey was conducted by college faculty unions. They asked 4,250 faculty members in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas, of which 640 were in Florida.
These are the aftereffects of a series of culture war initiatives spearheaded by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). In January 2023, he announced he was defunding and dismantling DEI initiatives across the state’s colleges that were set up by an administrator hired by former Republican Gov. Rick Scott.
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DeSantis was very proud of the decision, and explained his thought process behind it in an announcement. “In Florida, we will build off of our higher education reforms by aligning core curriculum to the values of liberty and the Western tradition, eliminating politicized bureaucracies like DEI, increasing the amount of research dollars for programs that will feed key industries with talented Florida students, and empowering presidents and boards of trustees to recruit and hire new faculty, including by dedicating record resources for faculty salaries,” the 2024 presidential hopeful said.
Similarly, in April 2022 DeSantis signed a bill that made it harder for professors to earn tenure as a way to make it easier to fire faculty members known for pushing extreme political beliefs, either in the classroom or at the administrative level. Predictably, many faculty members and left-of-center activists in Florida were unhappy about these decisions, and organized protests and school “walkouts.”
A collection of different college Walkouts today all across FL campuses to protest against everything the Desantis administration is doing against the CENSORSHIP of Education from getting rid of DEI programs, and trying to erase LGBTQIA+ and POC. This is just the beginning! pic.twitter.com/fwcjVI4n12
— 🍒Jeremy Rodriguez🍒 (@jeremy_rodrigue) February 24, 2023
When asked about the possibility of his aggressive conservative reforms leading to so-called “brain drain” in the state, DeSantis responded: “Well, you know, if you’re a professor in like, you know, Marxist studies, that’s not a loss for Florida if you’re going on, and trust me, I’m totally good with that.”
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