The cancellation of multiple courses highlights a concerning trend of censorship in higher education, sparking debates about academic freedom.
This statement was originally published on pen.org on 7 October 2024.
Florida International University’s (FIU) Board of Trustees recently voted to cut 22 courses from their core curriculum, despite concerns and outrage from faculty. The courses targeted focus predominantly on race and ethnicity, LGBTQ+ studies, anthropology, and sociology, in a continuation of the so-called “war on woke” and “Ed Scare” that has plagued college campuses for years.
This recent move by FIU to cancel core courses is the latest sign of the escalation of the wave of censorship that is undermining higher education in Florida. Noting the impact of Florida’s censorial law SB 266, PEN America warned last year that the gutting of general education courses was the state’s likely next step.
The risk to public education has only increased with bills like SB 266, which prohibits public colleges and universities from funding programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and forbids general education courses that “teach identity politics, violates s. 1000.05 (HB7 or the Stop WOKE Act, which is currently enjoined in higher education), or is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.” To make matters worse, the Florida Board of Governors’ (BOG) voted last year to cut Principles of Sociology from all general education offerings for openly ideological reasons. This new cancellation of courses based on their content represents yet another predictable consequence of these censorial bills and policies.
“The erosion of academic freedom in Florida from state overreach continues with this latest news from FIU,” said Katie Blankenship, director of PEN America’s Florida office.“ The cancellation of core courses, the closure of interfaith, women’s and LGBTQ+ student centers, and the attempts to prevent the teaching of certain concepts disfavored by the DeSantis administration are putting the vibrant, intellectual cultures our higher education institutions are meant to cultivate in jeopardy. This sort of state overreach could spell disaster for student and faculty retention, and the academic standing of Florida institutions. Without the ability to offer general education credit for these courses, enrollments will decline in affected programs, some faculty may lose their jobs, enrollments will decline, and some programs may be closed altogether, which means few options and opportunities for Florida students.”
Blankenship said: “This is a harmful and discriminatory continuation of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ‘culture war’ playing out on our college campuses, where students’ educational opportunities and faculty scholarship and expertise are being sacrificed for political power plays. If we truly want Florida to be a beacon for free speech and academic freedom, it starts with maintaining a robust catalog of core and upper level courses and trusting expert faculty to do their jobs – not cutting off these courses and limiting students’ access to information and ideas, all in the name of ideological control.”
