Florida professors sue over DEI restrictions

Photo Courtesy Visit Florida

A group of six professors who teach at several public universities in Florida sued in a joint lawsuit targeting SB266, a bill passed in 2023 aiming, “to curtail Public University funding for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs.” This bill was passed by a supermajority vote by the Republicans in the Florida State House and Senate. 

This bill was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. He believes that, “This Bill says the whole experiment with DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida. We are eliminating the DEI programs.”  DeSantis said at the signing of SB 266 in 2023.

The Lawsuit specifically names the Florida Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees at Florida State University, The University of Florida, and Florida International University.

In the lawsuit, the professors allege that their “expressive activity has[s] been fundamentally restrained and chilled in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.” 

In an ACLU press release, Jerry Edwards, an attorney for the ACLU of Florida, stated, “S.B. 266 represents an alarming overreach of government control, threatening the very foundation of free expression in Florida’s public universities. 

“Through this lawsuit, we are fighting to protect the rights of educators and students to engage in open, uninhibited dialogue without the looming threat of state interference,” Edwards said to ACLU.

SB 266 specifically prohibits Public Universities from participating in certain expenditures to receive State funding. According to the bills document, among these prohibited expenditures are “programs or campus activities” that “Advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism[.]”

The lawsuit further argues that the language of the Bill’s vagueness has had an impact on the freedom of expression in the classroom. The lawsuit claims that by, “…continuing its effort to police the marketplace of ideas, the Florida Legislature again passed vague, viewpoint-discriminatory legislation that broadly restricts academic freedom.”

The suit further argues that the laws passed by the Florida legislature, “…impos[e] the State’s favored viewpoints on public higher education, punishing educators and students for expressing differing and disfavored viewpoints.”

SB 266 also included changes to general education requirements stating that general education courses, “may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics.” 

SB 266 further targets general education courses, “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”

Dr. Sharon Austin is a professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. Her research focuses on, African-American’s behavior and political activism. 

Dr. Austin, who is a part of the lawsuit, told the ACLU in a press release that, “This lawsuit is about preserving the right to learn and teach without political interference.”