Professors from across the country have long been lured to Florida’s public colleges and universities, with the educators attracted to the research opportunities, student bodies, and the warm weather.
But for a swath of liberal-leaning professors, many of them holding highly coveted tenured positions, they’ve felt increasingly out of place in the Sunshine State. And some of them are pointing to the conservative administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as the reason for their departures, according to The New York Times.
DeSantis, who was elected to the governorship in 2018 and was easily reelected last fall, has over the course of his tenure worked to put a conservative imprint on a state where moderation was once a driving force in state politics. In recent years, DeSantis has railed against the current process by which tenure is awarded, and with a largely compliant GOP-controlled legislature, he’s imposed conservative education reforms across the state.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Professors from across the country have long been lured to Florida’s public colleges and universities, with the educators attracted to the research opportunities, student bodies, and the warm weather.
In recent years, DeSantis has railed against the current process by which tenure is awarded, and with a largely compliant GOP-controlled legislature, he’s imposed conservative education reforms across the state.
Neil H. Buchanan, an economist and legal scholar who specializes in tax policy, was recruited to the University of Florida College of Law in 2019 in a tenured position, a huge get for the school.
In a recent Justia article, Buchanan wrote that Florida Republicans “have shown in every way possible that they want to get rid of people like me,” criticizing their “increasingly open hostility to professors and to higher education.”
Sarah Lynne, the chair-elect of the University of Florida’s faculty senate, told The Times that while some professors have left the state, politics is generally not the defining reason.
University of Florida law professor Danaya C. Wright told The Times that several job candidates have pulled back their interest in moving to the state.
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