If Sustained, Meaningful Higher Education In the State May Not Survive
Tallahassee, FL: On Wednesday, December 6, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) will hold a press conference at the Florida Capitol on the release of its report: Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System. More than a year in the making, the report undertakes an in-depth review of a pattern of politically, racially, and ideologically motivated attacks on public higher education in Florida, which have largely occurred during the term of Governor Ron DeSantis. Chief among the report’s findings are that academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance in Florida’s public colleges and universities currently face a politically and ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history, which, if sustained, threatens the very survival of meaningful higher education in the state, with dire implications for the entire country.
- WHEN: Wednesday, December 6, 10AM
- WHERE: Florida State Capitol (4th Floor, Outside House Chambers)
- WHO: American Association of University Professors president Irene Mulvey, AAUP Special Committee on Florida Chair Henry Reichman, FSU United Faculty of Florida vice-president Matthew Lata, United Faculty of Florida Organizing Director Adela Ghademi, State Representative Anna V. Eskamani
The report (which will be released Wednesday) explicitly considers how Florida’s political and legislative attacks violate long standing principles and standards of higher education institutions. The report incorporates the perspectives of more than 65 interviewees, faculty, students, alumni, trustees, and retired university leaders, including former presidents.
Among the report’s key conclusions are that the unprecedented takeover of New College of Florida and the imposition of an aggressively ideological and politically motivated agenda, marked by improper denials of tenure and a faculty member’s dismissal without due process, stands as one of the most egregious and extensive violations of AAUP principles and standards at a single institution in recent memory; that the state government’s assault on diversity, equity and inclusion and on so-called “woke” disciplines reflects not only a blatant disregard for academic standards of governance and academic freedom but is part of a racist assault on the rights of racial and sexual minorities.
The report calls on all who are concerned about the future of education nationwide to fight tooth and nail against the war on higher education in Florida. The AAUP and United Faculty of Florida will hold a joint press conference to announce the release of the report at the Florida Capitol at 10AM on Wednesday, December 6. For more information or to interview AAUP president Irene Mulvey or authors of the report, contact Kelly Benjamin at kbenjamin@aaup.org.
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About the American Association of University Professors (AAUP): The mission of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is to advance academic freedom and shared governance; to define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education; to promote the economic security of faculty, academic professionals, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and all those engaged in teaching and research in higher education; to help the higher education community organize to make our goals a reality; and to ensure higher education’s contribution to the common good. Founded in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country’s colleges and universities.