The complete remaking of a state college or university is truly horrifying. I know that it has happened that other schools have been transformed to fit a political or social system, but the chaos DeSantis is trying to create can only be compared to acts taken by Hitler himself.
The complete remaking of a state college or university is truly horrifying. I know that it has happened that other schools have been transformed to fit a political or social system, but the chaos DeSantis is trying to create can only be compared to acts taken by Hitler himself.
This has been coming for much longer than DeSantis, the Koch’s (when there were two) have had this agenda for decades, more quietly though. Though Charles Koch reportedly hates chump, he should give the man his due. He made hate a national goal for cretins who have not an iota of humanity. Exactly like Germany in the 30’s
I think what is most remarkable is the speed with which DeSantis is changing the school. A true bully, a true predator attacks swiftly, before anyone has a chance to defend themselves. When they get called out, they cower back, only to search a new target. He puts immigrants on a bus and gets outrage, so he turns his focus on education. He swipes at Disney to the cheers of his fans, then secretly changes the deal to save face w Disney.
I can only hope the throw down between Trump (the mob boss) and DeSantis (the brute) could finally tear the GOP and its voters apart.
No, he put migrants on a plane. Because there was pushback “his” legislature changed the law giving him the right to transport migrants from anywhere, to anywhere, thus sidestepping a lawsuit. He won’t touch Cubans in Florida, it would cause too much outrage within his old Cuban community voters.
See - he can only bully those who can’t immediately push back. He is sure his actions are red meat for his followers and have no negative electoral consequences.
Exactly, because bullies are really cowards at heart, so they only pick on those who can't defend themselves. I shudder to think what this bully could do to the country if he ever becomes President!
I sure hope they wake up before it is too late. What I have seen with their current convention is very scary! Of course we see those that are really in the minority!
I would argue it’s both and additionally, being about the money is actually a culture in and of itself. But religion, racism, moral values, brains wired for authoritarianism, are all part of it. Human brains are complex.
Everything gets complicated around human interactions, but racism and an the aggressive, narcissistic (supremacist) forms of religion and "moral values" are rooted in a love of domineering power. Trump and Elon prove that money is a way of dispensing that, as can despotic forms of politics and goons with guns.
Fear is probably the strongest emotion and authoritarians exploit that fear by providing a defense against, the basis of that fear, all those others. Just take note of who they are oppose to, 'those others' are always seen as some sort of threat.
Only if culture refers to accumulating power in one man, using it to control government, schools, and businesses, and systematically destroying anyone if doing so might increase that power.
My question; do these narcissistic ‘States Rights’ people get to supersede the Federal Law in this country . It seems there is way too much power given to De santis. How does this work?
Of course we also have the Supreme Court following the political
Wishes of their largest donators.
And the Republican Fascists sucking up to Putin and Turkish President Erdogan .
Well he was invited to be a keynote speaker at a Fascist Republican Convention , last year .
The comparison to Hitler and Nazis is right on. The people watched as violence and hate and specific groups lost their rights and their lives. Hand ringing and ignoring the violence and loss of rights and property didn’t help. And it won’t now. DeSantis is not working alone. Today’s repubs are showing their stripes and they are dangerous.
Jen, it’s sad how politics and values can divide families and communities. Perspective is critical. People can witness the same incident and report different very events.
This has its genesis right around the time of Reagan. Right-wing religionists have had a longterm goal of collapsing our republic. The faux Christian evangelicals have had as their goal to turn our constitutional democracy into a theocracy driven by oligarchs.
On another note: Who'd trust the Kochs, Russians who came here to seal their fortunes?
Alex Wagner's interview of New College students on MSNBC last night is heartbreaking and horrifying, at the same time it gives me hope listening to this better generation.
MaryPat, While I, too, was inspired by the New College student interviews, I, simultaneously, was unsettled as I contemplated views young people, down the road, conceivably could hold were DeSantis’s dystopia ever to be realized beyond Florida. Accordingly, in my view, we must press Democrats, in 23-24, to campaign on far more than the implementation of their 21-22 accomplishments. But that’s a conversation for another day.
George, While I agree, I also would note, setting aside the failure to pass any federal voter protection safeguards, that part of planning their 23-24 campaign strategy should entail Democrats carefully assessing what was and what was not accomplished in 21-22.
For example, I recall supporters in early 22 applauding the Progressive House caucus, who, as pledged, refused to vote on the bipartisan physical infrastructure bill until 50 Senators publicly committed their support to the Build Back Better social and climate action plan. These progressive lawmakers rightly understood that were they to delink these bills they would risk leaving out young people, black and brown people, indigenous people, immigrants, women, and single moms, let alone disregard the severity of environmental threats.
Ultimately Biden pressed progressives to decouple the bills, promising that were they to support the bipartisan physical infrastructure bill, he would deliver the social and environmental piece. The Progressive caucus reluctantly agreed, and Biden, predictable, in my view, failed to get Manchin and Sinema to sign on to the human infrastructure piece, that later was re-packaged as the vastly edited down Inflation Reduction Act, which the Senate did pass with zero Republican support.
As a final point, I would note, when 60% of working families largely report they are living precariously from paycheck to paycheck, wherein family income, in many cases, is only sustained by more people working longer hours while still weighted down by mortgage debt, credit debt, and the like, we ought not forget that the bipartisan physical infrastructure bill was negotiated by an all-white conservative group of legislatures and was devised largely to help one set of people while leaving out so many others who were the centerpiece of the human infrastructure reconciliation bill.
I note this point, because, when Biden, in particular, announces on the campaign trail that we have more to do, I suggest he be more specific if he expects to connect with his audience.
I also agree with you, but how do you expect Biden to deal with a rebellious progressive left who like the crazies at the other end are willing to sabotage any bill that does not meet their objectives. The Democratic party must defund these showboats. What Biden has accomplished is rermarkable considering the marrow margin in both Houses.
George, While you and I and many on this platform would credit Biden’s accomplishments given the narrow margins in both chambers, I understand far too many Democrats don’t sense the impact of his policies on their day-to-day lives.
As for the progressive wing of the Party, I didn’t view their actions as sabotage. They understood that moderates in both parties were invested in passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill and rightly feared, despite guarantees to the contrary, that were the physical infrastructure piece to be decoupled from the Build Back Better social and climate action plan and passed as a stand-alone bill the human infrastructure piece would not advance, which is precisely what happened. In other words, progressives, by relinquishing their leverage, allowed moderates to pass their bill and then break their word regarding passage of the other piece.
@Citizen60, Considering the students interviewed love this small state liberal arts college where the faculty-student ratio is quite small, none that I can recall expressed plans to leave. Instead they’re prepared to fight. Besides, DeSantis plans to exert the same controls over all Florida state colleges and universities. In fact, my understanding is that the plan, K-post-secondary, is to create a two-tiered system— one for private education and another for the 90% who attend public schools and colleges.
@Citizen60 and @Barbara Jo Krieger, in real time DeSantis has been working to get highly ideological individuals into school boards and then either firing Superintendents or creating a fear-based environment. Meanwhile, Corcoran who was installed at New College was a disaster as a Commissioner of Florida's Department of Education.
Mary Pat, thank you for sharing this Alex Wagner expose on yet another blatant attempt at a White Nationalist, White Supremacist State/nation. And keep listening and watching, friends, as Wagner reports on Leonard Leo and his role on stacking The Supreme Court with repubs who will carry on a white supremacy agenda. And how he made his money. We might know that, but when it’s national news, is the nation watching and listening and thinking?
Yes! We cannot asume that because we have learned about an issue that we have heard about more than once before, that most of the world has that same experience. I am all in favor of original ways of expressing the information--seems immature when everyone uses the exact same descriptive phrase as if following a script.
Yes, and even generations before. These isms are age old, historical. One difference is the Internet and the technology that controls us and spreads data and information. And how can the people know the Truth. Then and now. Written, spoken, wired words. Values and ethic, moral choices are not always clear and final words.
I too was grateful for Wagner's reporting last night. She's doing good work on MSNBC (much preferable to Maddow whom she has replaced). But as a retired university professor I found myself disturbed about how we are not hearing from any faculty at New College or from Florida generally. Their aegis over curricular matters has been shattered, as has the principle of academic freedom. Are they terrified about job loss and even other repercussions? The Nazis went after the intellectuals early on and we're watching history repeat itself. I know that those in the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) plan to report on this; but they'll just issue long written reports that no one reads. This calls for actions by all of us, yet is feels much too late.
Faculty who speak up will not only be silenced and fired, but dragged through the mud, perhaps physically as well as professionally. DeHitler and his Wehrmacht troops are pure evil. I actually felt concern for Wagner''s safety on the campus of New College. It's up to all of us to defend democracy in whatever way we can. (Bet it was faculty who encouraged certain students to speak for the cameras).
SG, I’ve copied this from FL House Rep Anna Eskamani’s newsletter. She is is fearless, has no problem calling out our current admin and is “ boots on the ground” with her activism. She also takes NO corporate donations.Incidentally, one of her degrees is Women and Gender Studies.
Take Action: Bill of the Week
HB999: Conservative Takeover of Higher Education
HB999 was filed late on Thursday and is the Governor's priority higher education bill. To put it bluntly, this is a very bad bill that includes a breathtaking control of viewpoint and content throughout all academic activity in the entire Florida system. All colleges and universities are forbidden to spend any money to fund pedagogy, programming, or activities that “espouse diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
No core class can present American history contrary to a founding narrative “based on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.” All state colleges and universities must remove Women’s & Gender Studies from the list of available majors and minors. No major or minor can exist if it is deemed to be “derivative” from the “belief system” of “Critical Race Theory."
All faculty hiring will be done by the university board or president—who *may not delegate* any aspect of any hiring decision or any hiring authority to any group of faculty however constituted. They are “not required to consider recommendations or opinions of faculty.” The bill also attempts to go after tenure, by creating a "post-tenure review" process led by political appointees.
This bill has not been assigned committee hearings yet, so for now I encourage you to contact your State Representative here and ask that they oppose HB999. you can also contact all members Postsecondary Education & Workforce Subcommittee. I also serve on this committee, and you can expect me to fight back along the way.
Thanks for sharing that Linda. Would appreciate connecting with you off the comment board. Not sure how to make that happen without posting contact info here. Do you know?
How can the state support a Christian school? I must have missed something? Are they privatizing it? Isn’t a state funding a Christian education in conflict with our constitution? Apparently, I’m confused.
Thank you for this. I did not catch it. The Supreme Court is stacked with Roman Catholic justices. I am convinced the majority of those do NOT hold to objective law, but selective law based on their religion. This is yet one more pillar of our constitutional democracy beginning to crumble. Think Roe v. Wade.
@Christy - the voucher systems that some states try to put in place - and that some have put in place allow public school dollars to pulled out of the public eye. Once the monies go into a private school (religious or otherwise) there is no more oversight. Federal guidelines related to education or guidelines about fiduciary responsibility either outright don't apply, or they can be manipulated so little or no financial reporting is required. A lot of pockets get lined.
Marycat There is nothing ‘casual or inaccurate’ about my references to Hitler. I was growing up during WW II (for my family, started in September, 1939). I had family fighting the Nazis and later knew a number people who had lived through Nazi occupation. Subsequently, from age 58 to 80 I was a history professor teaching, among other individuals, about Hitler, Stalin, and Mao.
@Keith Wheelock Keith - is there a short list you'd recommend for folks interested in having the high level views to see the parallels and/or would you be interested in having a conversation or two in order to put together a laundry list of overlaps?
I think the comparison is to DeSantis’s actions “taking over” an academic institution s) and book censorship or banning are like the early actions of the Nazi Party in 1930 Germany. They are almost identical.
Not really. He's a state governor, and not a national leader. And he has introduced this latest attempt of censorship in America, not Germany. We have a Constitution that makes his actions illegal.
There is nothing that can be compared to Nazi Germany. What DeSantis is doing is not new here in America, which has a long history of censorship and right wing attempts to silence dissent.
Adolph Hitler did not start out as a national leader, which I assume everyone knew. He simply ended up as one. He was locally elected--sorta as the German equivalent of a Congressman.
It doesn't matter that DeSatan is only a state governor. He is succeeding in turning Florida into a Nazi haven run by him and his despicable Nazi friends. YOU are the one who is making light of this but shouldn't be. He is 10 scrillion percent a Hitler clone and you, like the rest of us who are NOT fascists, should be utterly horrified and outraged beyond description.
SCROTUS Rethugs are proving to side with fascism, so it doesn't matter that what DeSatan is doing is "illegal."
As you state, SCOTUS will back anything deSantis does--or go even further as they did on the Dobbs decision.
Horrified? I am. But Floridians voted this man into office--this is who they wanted to govern their State--by a huge margin. Up to Floridians to get rid of him.
Up to the rest of us to prevent him winning the Republican presidential primary--which we can do only by supporting Trump. Hobson's choice. On the whole, deSantis is more dangerous because he might win the Presidential election.
The complete remaking of a state college or university is truly horrifying. I know that it has happened that other schools have been transformed to fit a political or social system, but the chaos DeSantis is trying to create can only be compared to acts taken by Hitler himself.
This has been coming for much longer than DeSantis, the Koch’s (when there were two) have had this agenda for decades, more quietly though. Though Charles Koch reportedly hates chump, he should give the man his due. He made hate a national goal for cretins who have not an iota of humanity. Exactly like Germany in the 30’s
I think what is most remarkable is the speed with which DeSantis is changing the school. A true bully, a true predator attacks swiftly, before anyone has a chance to defend themselves. When they get called out, they cower back, only to search a new target. He puts immigrants on a bus and gets outrage, so he turns his focus on education. He swipes at Disney to the cheers of his fans, then secretly changes the deal to save face w Disney.
I can only hope the throw down between Trump (the mob boss) and DeSantis (the brute) could finally tear the GOP and its voters apart.
No, he put migrants on a plane. Because there was pushback “his” legislature changed the law giving him the right to transport migrants from anywhere, to anywhere, thus sidestepping a lawsuit. He won’t touch Cubans in Florida, it would cause too much outrage within his old Cuban community voters.
See - he can only bully those who can’t immediately push back. He is sure his actions are red meat for his followers and have no negative electoral consequences.
Exactly, because bullies are really cowards at heart, so they only pick on those who can't defend themselves. I shudder to think what this bully could do to the country if he ever becomes President!
What will he do to the USA if he is elected president anytime within the next few years?
Your Mission is Stop Him Now. All of Us.
I feel like I’m waiting for Godot to see if the Republicans tear themselves apart and people who support them by voting finally “woke“ up.
I sure hope they wake up before it is too late. What I have seen with their current convention is very scary! Of course we see those that are really in the minority!
“Follow the money.”
It it NOT the money. It is a cultural war at this point.
It’s always the money
The Citizens United ruling by the SCOTUS, made all this bribery for power legal.
So true!
You will notice that the more corrupt the government, the more easily money is exchanged for political power, and vice versa.
Directing tax dollars = always about the money.
I would argue it’s both and additionally, being about the money is actually a culture in and of itself. But religion, racism, moral values, brains wired for authoritarianism, are all part of it. Human brains are complex.
One thing that seems for sure, it is all based on a survivor way of thinking. Hoarding. Fear based.
I have met too many people who appear intelligent, hoard possessions, money, etc WAY beyond what they need. It is an illness as far as I can tell.
Everything gets complicated around human interactions, but racism and an the aggressive, narcissistic (supremacist) forms of religion and "moral values" are rooted in a love of domineering power. Trump and Elon prove that money is a way of dispensing that, as can despotic forms of politics and goons with guns.
Fear is probably the strongest emotion and authoritarians exploit that fear by providing a defense against, the basis of that fear, all those others. Just take note of who they are oppose to, 'those others' are always seen as some sort of threat.
Money and other forms of power.
Only if culture refers to accumulating power in one man, using it to control government, schools, and businesses, and systematically destroying anyone if doing so might increase that power.
The culture war serves the money people. It keeps our focus away from following the money.
You and him fight, so’s I can rob the both of you while you’re occupied.
Ah
And someone needs to follow the money behind Jan 6 and SCOTUS
When in doubt! But who has more $$$$$$ than Disney in that swamp!
My question; do these narcissistic ‘States Rights’ people get to supersede the Federal Law in this country . It seems there is way too much power given to De santis. How does this work?
Of course we also have the Supreme Court following the political
Wishes of their largest donators.
And the Republican Fascists sucking up to Putin and Turkish President Erdogan .
Well he was invited to be a keynote speaker at a Fascist Republican Convention , last year .
The comparison to Hitler and Nazis is right on. The people watched as violence and hate and specific groups lost their rights and their lives. Hand ringing and ignoring the violence and loss of rights and property didn’t help. And it won’t now. DeSantis is not working alone. Today’s repubs are showing their stripes and they are dangerous.
Agree that D is not working alone.
My father listened to Hitler as a boy on the radio. In 2015 he said that he sounded exactly like Hitler.
And then he voted for him. Twice.
I am so sorry, Jen. I don't know if you've seen the documentary "The Brainwashing of my Dad" (I think I saw it on Netflix)? It sure explains a lot.
https://www.thebrainwashingofmydad.com/
and Ally I think you know that doc was made before Trump. It' going to take many years (if we can) to undo the Fox brainwashing.
I do. We went through this with my father in law.
Wow, that boggles the mind! How disappointed in him you must be…a sad tale indeed.
So very sad. I am sorry for you.
Jen, my secondborn son said and did exactly the same. Damn near broke my heart.
So sorry
Did he like Hitler?
Thought he was horrible.
But Rupert et al convinced him trump was great.
I haven’t seen him in years.
Propaganda is sinister
So is fear of the "other".
Jen, it’s sad how politics and values can divide families and communities. Perspective is critical. People can witness the same incident and report different very events.
And Very different events!
Yes - and see also the Powell Memo. This is a long, long , campaign.
This has its genesis right around the time of Reagan. Right-wing religionists have had a longterm goal of collapsing our republic. The faux Christian evangelicals have had as their goal to turn our constitutional democracy into a theocracy driven by oligarchs.
On another note: Who'd trust the Kochs, Russians who came here to seal their fortunes?
Or Orban, who managed to deport to entire universities from Hungary.
Yes, and Orban welcomed into the repub party while the world watched. And watches.
Alex Wagner's interview of New College students on MSNBC last night is heartbreaking and horrifying, at the same time it gives me hope listening to this better generation.
https://www.msnbc.com/alex-wagner-tonight/watch/reality-of-rich-academic-culture-at-new-college-defies-desantis-belittling-smears-164382789960
MaryPat, While I, too, was inspired by the New College student interviews, I, simultaneously, was unsettled as I contemplated views young people, down the road, conceivably could hold were DeSantis’s dystopia ever to be realized beyond Florida. Accordingly, in my view, we must press Democrats, in 23-24, to campaign on far more than the implementation of their 21-22 accomplishments. But that’s a conversation for another day.
Right on! We can not allow radicals to go unchallenged.
George, While I agree, I also would note, setting aside the failure to pass any federal voter protection safeguards, that part of planning their 23-24 campaign strategy should entail Democrats carefully assessing what was and what was not accomplished in 21-22.
For example, I recall supporters in early 22 applauding the Progressive House caucus, who, as pledged, refused to vote on the bipartisan physical infrastructure bill until 50 Senators publicly committed their support to the Build Back Better social and climate action plan. These progressive lawmakers rightly understood that were they to delink these bills they would risk leaving out young people, black and brown people, indigenous people, immigrants, women, and single moms, let alone disregard the severity of environmental threats.
Ultimately Biden pressed progressives to decouple the bills, promising that were they to support the bipartisan physical infrastructure bill, he would deliver the social and environmental piece. The Progressive caucus reluctantly agreed, and Biden, predictable, in my view, failed to get Manchin and Sinema to sign on to the human infrastructure piece, that later was re-packaged as the vastly edited down Inflation Reduction Act, which the Senate did pass with zero Republican support.
As a final point, I would note, when 60% of working families largely report they are living precariously from paycheck to paycheck, wherein family income, in many cases, is only sustained by more people working longer hours while still weighted down by mortgage debt, credit debt, and the like, we ought not forget that the bipartisan physical infrastructure bill was negotiated by an all-white conservative group of legislatures and was devised largely to help one set of people while leaving out so many others who were the centerpiece of the human infrastructure reconciliation bill.
I note this point, because, when Biden, in particular, announces on the campaign trail that we have more to do, I suggest he be more specific if he expects to connect with his audience.
Barbara Jo,
I also agree with you, but how do you expect Biden to deal with a rebellious progressive left who like the crazies at the other end are willing to sabotage any bill that does not meet their objectives. The Democratic party must defund these showboats. What Biden has accomplished is rermarkable considering the marrow margin in both Houses.
George, While you and I and many on this platform would credit Biden’s accomplishments given the narrow margins in both chambers, I understand far too many Democrats don’t sense the impact of his policies on their day-to-day lives.
As for the progressive wing of the Party, I didn’t view their actions as sabotage. They understood that moderates in both parties were invested in passing the bipartisan infrastructure bill and rightly feared, despite guarantees to the contrary, that were the physical infrastructure piece to be decoupled from the Build Back Better social and climate action plan and passed as a stand-alone bill the human infrastructure piece would not advance, which is precisely what happened. In other words, progressives, by relinquishing their leverage, allowed moderates to pass their bill and then break their word regarding passage of the other piece.
Didn’t see the interviews. Are the students leaving and enrolling elsewhere? That’s the best solution
@Citizen60, Considering the students interviewed love this small state liberal arts college where the faculty-student ratio is quite small, none that I can recall expressed plans to leave. Instead they’re prepared to fight. Besides, DeSantis plans to exert the same controls over all Florida state colleges and universities. In fact, my understanding is that the plan, K-post-secondary, is to create a two-tiered system— one for private education and another for the 90% who attend public schools and colleges.
@Citizen60 and @Barbara Jo Krieger, in real time DeSantis has been working to get highly ideological individuals into school boards and then either firing Superintendents or creating a fear-based environment. Meanwhile, Corcoran who was installed at New College was a disaster as a Commissioner of Florida's Department of Education.
Mary Pat, thank you for sharing this Alex Wagner expose on yet another blatant attempt at a White Nationalist, White Supremacist State/nation. And keep listening and watching, friends, as Wagner reports on Leonard Leo and his role on stacking The Supreme Court with repubs who will carry on a white supremacy agenda. And how he made his money. We might know that, but when it’s national news, is the nation watching and listening and thinking?
Sheldon Whitehouse has been reporting on this topic for seven years. Wagner comes to it late, but better late than never.
It bears repeating, and repeating, and repeating..
Yes! We cannot asume that because we have learned about an issue that we have heard about more than once before, that most of the world has that same experience. I am all in favor of original ways of expressing the information--seems immature when everyone uses the exact same descriptive phrase as if following a script.
Yes, and even generations before. These isms are age old, historical. One difference is the Internet and the technology that controls us and spreads data and information. And how can the people know the Truth. Then and now. Written, spoken, wired words. Values and ethic, moral choices are not always clear and final words.
I too was grateful for Wagner's reporting last night. She's doing good work on MSNBC (much preferable to Maddow whom she has replaced). But as a retired university professor I found myself disturbed about how we are not hearing from any faculty at New College or from Florida generally. Their aegis over curricular matters has been shattered, as has the principle of academic freedom. Are they terrified about job loss and even other repercussions? The Nazis went after the intellectuals early on and we're watching history repeat itself. I know that those in the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) plan to report on this; but they'll just issue long written reports that no one reads. This calls for actions by all of us, yet is feels much too late.
Faculty who speak up will not only be silenced and fired, but dragged through the mud, perhaps physically as well as professionally. DeHitler and his Wehrmacht troops are pure evil. I actually felt concern for Wagner''s safety on the campus of New College. It's up to all of us to defend democracy in whatever way we can. (Bet it was faculty who encouraged certain students to speak for the cameras).
Absolutely! I agree. And that's what worries me.
SG, I’ve copied this from FL House Rep Anna Eskamani’s newsletter. She is is fearless, has no problem calling out our current admin and is “ boots on the ground” with her activism. She also takes NO corporate donations.Incidentally, one of her degrees is Women and Gender Studies.
Take Action: Bill of the Week
HB999: Conservative Takeover of Higher Education
HB999 was filed late on Thursday and is the Governor's priority higher education bill. To put it bluntly, this is a very bad bill that includes a breathtaking control of viewpoint and content throughout all academic activity in the entire Florida system. All colleges and universities are forbidden to spend any money to fund pedagogy, programming, or activities that “espouse diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
No core class can present American history contrary to a founding narrative “based on universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.” All state colleges and universities must remove Women’s & Gender Studies from the list of available majors and minors. No major or minor can exist if it is deemed to be “derivative” from the “belief system” of “Critical Race Theory."
All faculty hiring will be done by the university board or president—who *may not delegate* any aspect of any hiring decision or any hiring authority to any group of faculty however constituted. They are “not required to consider recommendations or opinions of faculty.” The bill also attempts to go after tenure, by creating a "post-tenure review" process led by political appointees.
This bill has not been assigned committee hearings yet, so for now I encourage you to contact your State Representative here and ask that they oppose HB999. you can also contact all members Postsecondary Education & Workforce Subcommittee. I also serve on this committee, and you can expect me to fight back along the way.
Shared with headline:
"SIMPLY TERRIFYING. And DeSantis is running for President so Florida is only the beginning."
Will also share with Heather's Herd advocacy group (for tomorrow's zoom meeting).
@MaryPat Can you tell me more about the Heather's Herd advocacy group?
I will take this email down once you let me know you have it. Thanks!
Thanks Juliana! I just saw that you are a New College alum. You will have much to offer Heather's Herd. Thank You.
OMG!! I am forwarding this to every Floridian I know, and posting on FB. DeHitler is beginning the cleansings.
Here is the statement from NCUFF, the faculty union:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:94106c13-4539-39f1-82d2-d3d63d7cad76
Thanks for sharing that Linda. Would appreciate connecting with you off the comment board. Not sure how to make that happen without posting contact info here. Do you know?
Thank You.
Mao also went after the intellectual class. It's a good way to silence any opposition.
George Orwell, in 1984, warned us of folks like DeSantis, Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. YOU BETTER BELIEVE!
NeoAuthoritarianism
How can the state support a Christian school? I must have missed something? Are they privatizing it? Isn’t a state funding a Christian education in conflict with our constitution? Apparently, I’m confused.
Thank you for this. I did not catch it. The Supreme Court is stacked with Roman Catholic justices. I am convinced the majority of those do NOT hold to objective law, but selective law based on their religion. This is yet one more pillar of our constitutional democracy beginning to crumble. Think Roe v. Wade.
So am l
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-oks-use-public-money-religious-education-rcna21627
Religious institutions have been tax exempt for years, and generally that can be interpreted as receiving government financial assistance.
@Christy - the voucher systems that some states try to put in place - and that some have put in place allow public school dollars to pulled out of the public eye. Once the monies go into a private school (religious or otherwise) there is no more oversight. Federal guidelines related to education or guidelines about fiduciary responsibility either outright don't apply, or they can be manipulated so little or no financial reporting is required. A lot of pockets get lined.
More info in general about the pushes to privatize here: https://dianeravitch.net/2023/03/04/stephen-j-kless-what-explains-the-movenent-to-privatize-education/
And more info here about the challenges of voucher systems:
https://dianeravitch.net/2023/03/02/josh-cowen-there-is-no-upside-to-couchers/
I deleted an article I posted after checking the author’s credentials and finding he has had disciplinary action taken by the Texas Bar.
This is a state run college though from what I understand
Or, the Taliban.
My sentiments exactly! DeSantis’ Yputh came to mind.
Not so. The US has a strong history of censorship. Let's refrain from making casual and inaccurate references to Hitler.
Marycat There is nothing ‘casual or inaccurate’ about my references to Hitler. I was growing up during WW II (for my family, started in September, 1939). I had family fighting the Nazis and later knew a number people who had lived through Nazi occupation. Subsequently, from age 58 to 80 I was a history professor teaching, among other individuals, about Hitler, Stalin, and Mao.
@Keith Wheelock Keith - is there a short list you'd recommend for folks interested in having the high level views to see the parallels and/or would you be interested in having a conversation or two in order to put together a laundry list of overlaps?
Juliana I'd be delighted! E-mail at kwheelock1@comcast.net with your phone #, then let's go.
Keith
I think the comparison is to DeSantis’s actions “taking over” an academic institution s) and book censorship or banning are like the early actions of the Nazi Party in 1930 Germany. They are almost identical.
Not really. He's a state governor, and not a national leader. And he has introduced this latest attempt of censorship in America, not Germany. We have a Constitution that makes his actions illegal.
There is nothing that can be compared to Nazi Germany. What DeSantis is doing is not new here in America, which has a long history of censorship and right wing attempts to silence dissent.
Adolph Hitler did not start out as a national leader, which I assume everyone knew. He simply ended up as one. He was locally elected--sorta as the German equivalent of a Congressman.
It doesn't matter that DeSatan is only a state governor. He is succeeding in turning Florida into a Nazi haven run by him and his despicable Nazi friends. YOU are the one who is making light of this but shouldn't be. He is 10 scrillion percent a Hitler clone and you, like the rest of us who are NOT fascists, should be utterly horrified and outraged beyond description.
SCROTUS Rethugs are proving to side with fascism, so it doesn't matter that what DeSatan is doing is "illegal."
As you state, SCOTUS will back anything deSantis does--or go even further as they did on the Dobbs decision.
Horrified? I am. But Floridians voted this man into office--this is who they wanted to govern their State--by a huge margin. Up to Floridians to get rid of him.
Up to the rest of us to prevent him winning the Republican presidential primary--which we can do only by supporting Trump. Hobson's choice. On the whole, deSantis is more dangerous because he might win the Presidential election.