June 10, 2023

BUT THEY GET HYSTERICAL ABOUT ONE DROP:

Right-Wing Culture Warriors Want to Kill Academic Freedom to Save the People (JONATHAN Marks, JUN 6, 2023, The UnPopulist)

But how dominant is the left in Florida's state universities? One metric would be the number of students majoring in subjects like women's studies or black studies, most associated with left wing activism. At the University of Florida, in the 2021-22 academic year, out of 10,884 bachelor's degrees awarded, 56 were in those two fields. That works out to one half of one percent-- just even with plant science.

In the Spring 2023 semester, at Florida State University, 16 of 31,675 bachelor's degree seekers sought a women's studies or black studies degree. That's less than half of a tenth of one percent, just equaling the percentage of brass performance majors. They are outnumbered 43 to 1 by exercise science majors. Unless those exercise science students are there to make sure that the long march through the institutions doesn't cause lower back pain, left-wing dominance of Florida universities may be less than advertised.

But perhaps Florida's state universities have been throwing gobs of money at DEI, as one would expect if the left were in the driver's seat? Thanks to Governor DeSantis, who demanded an accounting of such spending, we know that the University of Florida spends over $5 million per year on DEI programming. That sounds like a lot--until you consider that its annual spending is nearly $4 billion all told. In percentage terms, then, DEI adds up to 0.14 % of the university's total spending. Likewise, Florida State University spends $2.4 million--or about 0.12 % of its budget--on DEI. Perhaps Billy Napier, U-Florida's football coach, who earns $7.1 million, and his Florida State counterpart, Mike Norvell, who earns $8 million, are drilling their guys in gender ideology. But if not, the story that Florida's universities are under the thumb of left-wing ideologues may be an exaggeration. Granted, the impact of the campus left goes beyond direct spending on DEI initiatives, but it is telling that the report DeSantis himself initiated turned up so little.

Posted by at June 10, 2023 11:25 AM

  

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