A federal judge has decided that the administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis is legally authorized to audit Florida’s public colleges and universities for spending on DEI programs.
In addition to conducting surveys, the government wants schools to “give a detailed inventory of all staff, programs and campus activities relating to diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) and critical racism theory,” which includes the amount of state support they get.
All of this is a result of Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act,” which is originally known as the “Individual Freedom Act” and mainly bans the teaching of critical race theory in Florida’s colleges and universities. DeSantis was a supporter of the 2022 education bill, which prohibits some racial debate and analysis in both the business sector and academics.
As a result of a lawsuit filed by a professor and student at the University of Florida, U.S. Chief District Judge Mark Walker issued an injunction in November to restrict some provisions of the law from being applied on college and university campuses.
Plaintiffs in a different legal case requested Walker to order the state to follow the ruling and stop the surveys. On January 11, they submitted a motion to stop the audit of college initiatives and activities. The state submitted a document the same day challenging the surveys’ ban. Walker rejected the plaintiff’s request that day.
Walker declared that the DEI surveys did not break the injunction, but he added that he “would not hesitate to demand compliance” with the order he had previously issued.
