Dozens of students and others attended a meeting of the board that governs the state university system on Thursday in Orlando, hoping to speak against proposals that would ban funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, as well as “political or social activism.”
The crowd at the meeting of the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system, spilled out of the chambers into a hallway and overflow room at the University of Central Florida.
Many were there to speak on proposed rule changes prompted by a new state law prohibiting universities from funding diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
But the panel set a 15-minute time limit for public comment, which Chair Brian Lamb said was customary. About a dozen people spoke before the allotted time expired. After the board cut off the public comment period, people waiting outside the meeting room started chanting, “Let us speak!”
The board granted initial approval to the proposal, which is expected to come back for a final vote at the board’s next meeting in January.
DeSantis described diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as “an attempt to impose orthodoxy on the university,” during a signing ceremony for the bill earlier this year.
“This has basically been used as a veneer to impose an ideological agenda, and that is wrong,” he said.
The law was part of a broader push by Gov. Ron DeSantis to overhaul higher education in Florida. The most sweeping changes have taken place at New College of Florida, the state’s small liberal arts college, where DeSantis replaced trustees with conservative activists, who appointed former House Speaker Richard Corcoran as president and have sought to transform the campus into a conservative stronghold.
The changes have drawn criticism from faculty, students and others in the university system, who say that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are needed to ensure campuses are welcoming and accessible to people from a wide range of backgrounds. Many also see DeSantis’ efforts to revamp higher education as an intrusion into the administration of university campuses.
Those who were able to speak during the meeting included UCF student Logan Rubenstein, who said he feared the new rule would bar groups such as College Democrats and College Republicans, chill speech on campuses and discourage applications from out-of-state students.
“It would be detrimental to a healthy democracy,” he said.
Grace Castelin, who also attends UCF, urged board members to address challenges facing the state’s students, including paying for tuition and keeping up with increasing housing costs instead of “imaginary problems.”
Today’s students value equity and inclusion, she said, and state leaders should honor that.
“Please do not underestimate the impact of your decisions today because they will lead Florida to gradual irreversible changes into a new era of suppression, intimidation and censorship,” said Castelin, who said she was speaking on behalf of UCF’s NAACP chapter.
While board members quickly approved the initial reading of the rule with little discussion, the board’s student representative asked his colleagues to consider whether the change would prohibit college leaders from using their platforms to speak on important social issues.
Jack Hitchcock, the student body president at FSU, pointed to a recent column by Corcoran that ran in the Wall Street Journal, where he offered free tuition at New College to students at Harvard University after reports of anti-Semitism on the Ivy League campus.
“Is this something that would block that type of speech from university administrators? And if it would, I think that is worth a second look because I think this type of speech is necessary,” Hitchcock said.
Board member Alan Levine reminded him that the group was taking up the rule changes in response to a state law. Board members should listen to concerns and take them into consideration before the next meeting, he added.
“This is just the starting point in this process,” he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
