Florida public colleges barred from using state and federal funds for DEI programs under new rule
A new Florida rule that is a byproduct of legislation headed by Gov. Ron DeSantis will bar state and federal funds be used for diversity, equity and inclusion programs at 28 public colleges.
Florida’s Board of Education announced a new rule Wednesday that bars public colleges from using state and federal funds for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, activities and policies.
The rule, which applies to the 28 schools within the Florida College System, “will ensure that taxpayer funds can no longer be used to promote DEI on Florida’s 28 state college campuses,” the board wrote in a statement.
The schools include Seminole State College of Florida, Valencia College, Florida State College at Jacksonville and others that serve sizable populations of Black and Latino students.
State Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said in a statement that higher education must reject being “corrupted by destructive ideologies. These actions today ensure that we will not spend taxpayers’ money supporting DEI and radical indoctrination that promotes division in our society.”
Civil rights advocate and attorney Ben Crump immediately denounced the move. “We continue to go down a misguided path of censorship in Florida!” he wrote on X.
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