Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida--A Discussion on the Recent AAUP Report

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Webinar | February 26, 2024| 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. PDT | Online | Livestream

In their self-proclaimed “war on woke,” Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis and his supporters employed increasingly inflammatory rhetoric, “pushing back against the tactics of liberal elites." The Florida House and Senate passed legislation and the DeSantis administration took executive actions that further aimed to censor the teaching and learning of certain historical topics; potentially criminalize some discussions of race, gender, and sexuality; stigmatize, marginalize, and exclude transgender people; curb labor rights; restrict immigration; and stringently limit access to abortion. The threat to higher education and, more specifically, to foundational principles of shared governance and academic freedom, intensified in early January 2023. In light of these developments, and reflecting a national movement largely led by conservative Republicans, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) initiated a formal report by a special committee: Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System.

Join us for a discussion on events in Florida and elsewhere related to academic freedom and institutional autonomy of universities and colleges in the US with the AAUP special committee co-chair Henry Reichman and moderated by CSHE researcher John Aubrey Douglass.

Henry Reichman is Professor Emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay. He is the author of Understanding Academic Freedom (Johns Hopkins University Press) and numerous essays on academic freedom. He chaired the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure from 2012 to 2021 and co-chaired with Afshan Jafar (Connecticut College) the special committee report on Florida.

Speaker

Henry Reichman, Professor Emeritus of history at California State University, East Bay.

Moderator

John Aubrey Douglass, Senior Research Fellow, CSHE

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