Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida - A Discussion on the Recent AAUP Report

In their self-proclaimed “war on woke,” Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis and his supporters employed increasingly inflammatory rhetoric, “pushing back against the tactics of liberal elites." The Florida House and Senate passed legislation and the DeSantis administration took executive actions that further aimed to censor the teaching and learning of certain historical topics; potentially criminalize some discussions of race, gender, and sexuality; stigmatize, marginalize, and exclude transgender people; curb labor rights; restrict immigration; and stringently limit access to abortion. The threat to higher education and, more specifically, to foundational principles of shared governance and academic freedom, intensified in early January 2023.

In light of these development, reflecting a national movement largely led by conservative Republicans, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) initiated a formal report by a special committee: Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System.

Join us for a discussion on events in Florida and elsewhere related to academic freedom and institutional autonomy of universities and colleges in the US with the AAUP special committee co-chair Henry Reichman and one of the lead authors moderated by CSHE researcher John Aubrey Douglass.

This talk is co-sponsored by the Center for Studies in Higher Education, the UC Berkeley Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, the Berkeley Institute of International Studies, and the Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies.