BY KELLY BENJAMIN
Students from at least nine universities across Florida walked out of class yesterday in protest of Governor Ron DeSantis’s relentless barrage of attacks on the state’s higher education system. The walkouts, organized by the Dream Defenders and Stand for Freedom, came in response to DeSantis’s crackdown on all things “woke” in state education, including banning the College Board’s Advanced Placement African American studies curriculum; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs; and any curriculum dealing with critical race theory or “divisive concepts” such as intersectionality. More than two hundred students attended the walkout rally at the University of South Florida Tampa campus.
“DeSantis has displayed a pattern of behavior in which he hijacks school systems, marginalizes and dehumanizes the LGBTQ community, and portrays an abject disregard of the rights of students,” the Stand for Freedom movement pledge states. “This is our education that is being tarnished and our schools being discredited.”
“This is our fight for freedom.” See below the AAUP’s tweet featuring photos of USF students and a video recorded at the walkout of biology professor Christina Richards, a United Faculty of Florida member, discussing the potential impact on faculty of DeSantis’s attacks on DEI programs and academic freedom. You can also read Jennifer Ruth’s blog post published yesterday about the walkout.
Breaking: students at universities across Florida have walked out in protest of Ron DeSantis’s crack down on #AcademicFreedom in public education.
Students @USouthFlorida are staging History Teach-Ins. pic.twitter.com/blumvoL1L1
— American Association of University Professors (@AAUP) February 23, 2023
Kelly Benjamin is the AAUP’s media and communications specialist.
Photos and video by Kelly Benjamin.
