DeSantis agenda continues to rattle FL profs
DeSantis has signed bills this year protecting free speech on campus and banning CRT in schools.
A recent opinion piece called DeSantis' free speech law 'absurd.'
John Scolaro, a professor of humanities at Valencia College, recently wrote an article criticizing House Bill 233 in Florida, claiming the new free speech law for the state’s public universities is “absurd.”
As Campus Reform previously reported, HB 233 protects “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” in the state’s university system.
Likewise, DeSantis’ opposition to Critical Race Theory has drawn criticism from academia.
In the Orlando Sentinnel article, Scolaro took issue with the surveys mandated by HB 233, which DeSantis championed as measures to safeguard diversity of expression on campus.
“Students already have the right to free speech on campus,” Scolaro said. “All viewpoints can be expressed freely and openly.”
Students’ right to free speech, though, is not universally accepted among professors.
Campus Reform recently reported that University of Oklahoma professor Julie Ward questioned the right to speech in college, responding to Foundation for Individual Rights in Education’s report on a controversial workshop training at the school.
“Speech inside the classroom is different than freedom of speech,” Ward said to the university newspaper.
[RELATED: OU prof responds to FIRE: Speech in classroom is ‘different than freedom of speech’]
DeSantis signed HB 233 on June 22.
Campus Reform has reached out to professor Scolaro for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
