Political Climate And Educational Policies May Lower Enrollment At Florida Colleges

Florida Governor Ron Desantis’ recent policies and legislation on higher education and other areas are likely to drive students away from Florida’s colleges and universities. According to a new poll by Intelligent one in eight high school seniors in Florida say they will not attend a public college in the State. The key finding include the following:

A survey done by Arts and Sciences, found that one in four students ruled out attending a college in a state because of the political climate in the state; this was true of both liberal and conservative students. Conservative students tended to rule out attending college in California and New York while liberal students tended to mark Florida, Texas, Alabama and Louisiana off their lists. For liberal students, the main issues are abortion and reproductive rights, lack of concern about racial equity, LBGTQ+ laws, and ease of getting guns while for conservative students the reasons were more general.

Last year, Florida enacted the Stop W.O.K.E. Act (Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees) which prevents schools from teaching anything that could make anyone feel “guilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress because of their race, gender, sex, or national origin.” The Act also prohibits colleges from hiring woke CRT consultants.

Beyond the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, the Governor has appointed a majority of new trustees to New College, the State’s Honors College, who quickly moved to fire its president, disband its DEI office, and are working to make the College in the image of Hillsdale College, a private Christian College in Michigan. This “takeover” of a college has sent shock waves through many and is viewed as foreboding of what might happen to other colleges in Florida as evidenced by HB 999 and SB 266 which the Florida House and Senate are debating. These bills would ban state colleges and universities from having any programs in their curriculum which are based on or use pedagogy which supports “Critical Theory,” including, but not limited to, Critical Race Theory, Critical Race Studies, Critical Ethnic Studies, Radical Feminist Theory, Radical Gender Theory, Queer Theory, Critical Social Justice, or Intersectionality.” None of these topics can be included in the core curriculum of any of the colleges or universities.

The movement to control what can be taught at colleges and universities in Florida and other states is restricting freedom of speech and challenging the teaching of critical thinking which is a cornerstone of a college education. Discerning students are choosing to go to schools in states where all points of view are welcome both conservative and liberal.