Quote:
Originally Posted by finnbow
No shit. He gives autocratic wingnut dipshits a bad name. To wit:
Public universities in Florida will be required to survey both faculty and students on their political beliefs and viewpoints, with the institutions at risk of losing their funding if the responses are not satisfactory to the state's Republican-led legislature.
https://www.salon.com/2021/06/23/des...ws-with-state/ |
Well, that's what that bastion of balanced journalism "Salon" says about it, in a piece that has more to do with an editorial than a hard news piece. The Salon story was sourced, and then embellished upon, from a Tampa Bay paper. Did you happen to have a look at the source story?
What is specified is that the state university system’s Board of Governors and the State Board of Education will be required to select or create an “objective, nonpartisan, and statistically valid survey,” presumably through the boards’ public procurement or rule-making process.
In addition to the survey, the measure DeSantis signed into law will bar university and college officials from limiting speech that “may be uncomfortable, disagreeable or offensive,” and will allow students to record lectures without consent for educational purposes or to support a civil or criminal case against a higher education institution.
First, I'll state that I'm not thrilled with the idea of a survey being used for this purpose. However, I'm also not thrilled with the level of indoctrination - and chilling of free speech - that goes on in public schools and universities. Even back in the early '80's when I was attending Michigan State, it was going on back then (oh man did they ever hate Reagan). Hell, I work for a large corporation and it's going on here.
Free speech is being replaced by people who lack tolerance and respect for the beliefs of others. I have no problem with folks whose beliefs on certain topics are different than mine. I do have a problem with folks demonizing, villainizing and dehumanizing people whose beliefs are different than their own.
So, DeSantis and company have decided to take on public universities for their role in contributing to the chilling of free speech and the lack of diversity of thought that comes with it. Those institutions have earned this scrutiny, and if they refuse to clean up their act, the state gov't has every right and responsibility to force the issue.
So, the Florida legislature has passed this law. Fine, the state has every right to police its own education system that they fund. If it ends up hurting the State's colleges and universities, and/or if students and their families decide they don't like it and vote with their pocketbooks by attending school elsewhere, so be it.