1/17/2024
Dear Florida’s University System Board of Governors, Commissioner Diaz, and Governor DeSantis,
To say that we, Florida’s social science students and academics, feel dismayed, disappointed, and indignant because of your decision to eliminate sociology as a general education course, reject funding for on-campus DEI programs, and forbid advocacy work on campus would be akin to calling Hurricane Andrew a thunderstorm. This has been a troubling year for all of Florida's education, from PK-12 to higher education. When you say, “Florida is where ‘woke’ goes to die,” do you actually mean science, knowledge, and facts? Florida is quickly becoming a place where inquiry, strong objectivity, freedom of expression, and academic freedom will also be snuffed out.
Take heed that the Florida government’s inquisition and assault on a right to education has been noticed outside of the state–and its effects will likely soon be felt when fewer students than usual choose to attend Florida schools, and more students than usual decide to transfer out of state. It is likely that both out-of-state and would-be in-state students would rather attend schools where their right to a complete education is respected. It is likely that current students will let prospective students know how their education has been restricted. Because by restricting education and academic freedoms, you are restricting the opportunities available to students and, thus, actively working to make Florida schools less competitive, less safe, and less enjoyable to attend. The Florida Board of Governors’ decisions have already hurt university staff recruitment and retention across the state. Staff and faculty are resigning, and job openings are going unfilled. You think we haven’t noticed how many professors have left?
The Florida Government has banned many books from schools, including dictionaries and encyclopedias, for simply including factual information about the realities of the world. You have banned important critical topics and entire disciplines that play a crucial role in achieving not only a more equitable future but progress in the U.S. in general. How can you claim that students are being indoctrinated while simultaneously limiting information and banning critical thinking?
Florida is meant to be a democracy, not an authoritarian government. Many of the students at our university are the children of immigrants, students whose families fled authoritarian regimes. Now they talk about how they never expected to have to put up with the same kind of censorship and restriction of freedoms that they fled from. We expected you to fight for our educational freedom and freedom of expression as residents of Florida, not to continuously restrict them. We expected you to stand with students, faculty, and staff at universities across the state to train our next generation of citizens to be the best they can be.
As humans, we expected empathy, compassion, and support for our most marginalized Florida residents and students–Black Americans, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, and children of immigrants. Lest we forget that many universities sit on stolen land; that Florida was built by people of color and immigrants. As sociology students, we can’t help but find it interesting that critical theory bans are happening at a time when the U.S. Census revealed that Florida’s under-70 population is now majority-minority. We can’t help but notice that receiving a better–less restrictive–education correlates with voting a certain way that wouldn’t benefit some of the people in power in Florida. It is also interesting that you’re working so hard to distract us from paying attention to other issues affecting Florida like climate change, and housing affordability and accessibility, which you have done little about.
Sociology is simply the next discipline on the education chopping block. One of the United States’ most famous Republican presidents, President Ronald Reagan, was a sociology major. Sociology majors have gone on to become lawyers, business people, politicians, doctors, and educators; they perform better at their jobs because sociology trained them to think critically about the people, institutions, and systems in their societies. Sociology has trained us to think critically about these things, and we see right through your actions. As Jeff Raikes wrote in an article for Forbes, we “should call this out for what it is: politicians grabbing power and making our public schools collateral damage in the process.”
Salem University states that sociology, “helps students to not only better understand the world around them, but sociology helps students to better understand they own lives.” Dr. Keys from North Central College states, "It [sociology] will stock your toolkit with critical thinking and research skills and challenge you to grapple with fascinating and complex social issues.” North Central also indicates that sociology “provides critical insight and perspective to the solution of social problems.” According to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, “C. Wright Mills called “the sociological imagination” — is extremely valuable academic preparation for living effective and rewarding personal and professional lives in a changing and complex society.”
We study sociology to become better humans and create a more just and equitable world. You should know that though eliminating sociology as a general education course will momentarily hinder us on our journey, it will not impede us from our work to create that future. We are not the first ones to do this work, and we are certainly not the last ones to do this work. As Dr. An Wang said, “Progress is not a straight line; the future is not a mere projection of trends in the present. Rather, it is revolutionary.” Topics covered in sociology have made us more knowledgeable about the functioning of society. So trust us when we say that even if you ban sociology classes, work and theories from sociology are read and studied across disciplines, and those who need it will find a way to learn it and do this work.
We would also like to state, without prevarication, that ending funding for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs essentially lets students know that you think that students, faculty, and staff who are not wealthy white men are less than and deserve to be treated as less than. This decision can be labeled with many of the -isms we are no longer allowed to say. Banning Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs greatly hinders the university’s ability to create and maintain a compassionate, welcoming, supportive, and even safe environment for most of our students, faculty, and staff. Thankfully, this action is so transparent that we do think it will influence how minoritized people, especially young people who this decision affects, vote in Florida in the future.
Finally, restricting our ability to advocate for issues that matter to us on our campuses limits our freedom of assembly–a right given to us through the US Constitution.
To reiterate, you do not represent Florida colleges and universities' students, faculty, and staff. You do not honor our best interests; your efforts contradict what a college and university should be. Knowledge should be free-flowing and accessible. Through these bans, you are removing safe spaces for discussion, and actively excluding people from the discussion. Collectively, the issues that you voted against during your January 17, 2024, College Board of Governors meeting are the antithesis of the academic environment we have strived to create, and will continue to strive for on our campuses. Despite this, know that you can’t ban critical thought, no matter how hard you try. Banning formal knowledge is unethical, and certainly makes learning more difficult. But, as Audre Lorde argued, people will always think and theorize about their lives, their experiences–with or without a formal education. Knowledge transcends banned publications and classes. Before books, before universities, we still retained and passed down knowledge in community and will continue to do so today.
We urge the University Board of Governors to take a different approach and reject the proposal to eliminate sociology as a general education course, maintain funding for DEI initiatives, and allow students to voice their opinions on campus.
Sincerely,
Students, faculty, and staff from across Florida and the United States