The Board of Governors has posted a draft of a regulation that would cripple teaching, research, and community engagement.
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First of all, what the regulation bars is expenditure "to promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities" listed in this regulation. Presumably, this includes anything job-related that faculty might do, in particular, anything in teaching, research, or service.
The regulation requires that teachers and professionals obey a law entitled Discrimination against students and employees…, and if you scroll down to (4)(a), there is a list of eight items that (under this law) constitute "discrimination" if espoused, promoted, advanced, inculcated, or compelled. These items range from
Admittedly, the very next paragraph says that that list … may not be construed to prohibit discussion of the concepts listed therein as part of a larger course of training or instruction, provided such training or instruction is given in an objective manner without endorsement of the concepts. Administrators and supervisors implementing this regulation must distinguish between discussing and espousing, promoting, etc. What this means for a teacher playing Devil's Advocate is unclear.
The new regulation also bars "…promot[ing] or engag[ing] in political or social activism," which the regulation then helpfully defines as "…any activity organized with a purpose of effecting or preventing change to a government policy, action, or function, or any activity intended to achieve a desired result related to social issues…" (There are two exceptions: lobbying for the university and calling for people to obey the law.) The social issues referenced are those "… that polarize or divide society among political, ideological, moral, or religious beliefs."
Again, what the regulation is barring is expenditure of state and federal funding, so it is not clear what effect this regulation has on faculty writing opinion pieces in newspapers, or giving expert testimony, or picketing in front of the governor's mansion on their own time. However, this does appear to bar going to a conference (travel expenses covered by the university) and calling for endangered species classification for manatees, or for additional state support for natural science education in elementary schools.
On the one hand, Florida Statute 1000.05(5) says that educational institutions … shall develop and implement methods and strategies to increase the participation of students of a particular race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or marital status in programs and courses in which students of that particular race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or marital status have been traditionally underrepresented….
On the other hand, Florida Statute 1004.06 bars expenditure for …any programs or campus activities that…Advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion…, which the regulation includes as any program that classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation and promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals on the basis of such classification.
It may not be clear where the law is going with this, but in practice, what happens may depend on what gets funded.
Before the proposed regulation was posted, a draft was sent to the universities for comment, and it reached the press. Fox 8 and the Federalist focused on defunding DEI initiatives while the Tampa Bay Times was also interested on restricting discussion of social issues. (The Times also ran an editorial complaining that the vagueness of the law will discourage speech because it is hard to tell what speech would violate the law.
Then at the Board of Governors meeting, faculty and students opposed the regulation, but the Board voted in favor overwhelmingly anyway, and it has been posted for public comment. After the comment period, which ends on November 23, the Board will vote on it again. If approved, each university has to figure out how to implement it. That probably means several months (at least) of proposals, board meetings, and media commentary.
The Board of Governors oversees eleven universities and New College, and if enacted, this regulation will apply to all twelve universities. We are now in the public comment period: members of the public may comment on the regulation: you can go to the Proposed Regulations page, scroll down to Chapter 9 on Property and Finance, and there will be a box on BOG 9.016 called Prohibited Expenditure. The right side of the box says that comments are due on Thursday, November 23, and beneath that, there is a link to submit a comment.
Sometime after November 23, the Board will review the comments and staff reports and decide what to do, possibly at the next Board of Governors meeting on January 24 - 25 at Florida State University.
As part of the process, UFF will be composing comments to submit, and we encourage everyone to do likewise. A large number of comments will indicate that the public is watching and therefore the Board should take the situation seriously. When (or if) the regulation appears on the agenda of a meeting, the UFF will seek to comment at the meeting. Comments may or may not be effective in attenuating or even derailing this regulation, but they may also be important in generating a paper trail that could prove useful later.
If the regulation is enacted, there may be more trouble ahead, for the regulation concludes with the mandate, "A university shall designate a university official or officials who are responsible for compliance, oversight and adherence with the prohibited expenditure provisions of this regulation." What this means may be up to each university board of trustees, which provides another opportunity for impacting the regulation-making process.
Litigation - either a grievance or a lawsuit - often requires that someone has been harmed. While many faculty and professionals have been intimidated, offended, or even subjected to abuse by members of the public stirred up by anti-education punditry, the regulation in itself has not "harmed" anyone. Yet. So, litigation is down the road. Hopefully, weariness over other litigation and pressing concerns that the state government has been neglecting will move the boards to abandon this effort. But if not, our lawyers are waiting.
If you have been the victim of a violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, you have thirty days from the time you knew or should have known of the violation to file a grievance. If you are, and at the time of the violation were, a dues-paying member of the United Faculty of Florida, you have the right to union representation. To contact the UFF USF Grievance Committee, go to the Grievances Page.
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