Professors from across the country have long been lured to Florida’s public colleges and universities, with the educators attracted to the research opportunities, student bodies, and the warm weather.
But for a swath of liberal-leaning professors, many of them holding highly coveted tenured positions, they’ve felt increasingly out of place in the Sunshine State. And some of them are pointing to the conservative administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as the reason for their departures, according to The New York Times.
DeSantis, who was elected to the governorship in 2018 and was easily reelected last fall, has over the course of his tenure worked to put a conservative imprint on a state where moderation was once a driving force in state politics. In recent years, DeSantis has railed against the current process by which tenure is awarded, and with a largely compliant GOP-controlled legislature, he’s imposed conservative education reforms across the state.
The Red State Brain Drain continues. Professors leaving Florida. OB/GYN doctors leaving Texas.
Why would you want to work in a place that criminalizes your job?
right? crazy how many professors you see arrested on cnn every day.
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You write it like it’s already happening. It’s not. Stop the fake outrage.
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Yeah, communism happened in the past too. There are no professors being prosecuted and flogged in the streets of Florida. get over it.
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I get why they’re doing it,
But what exactly do they think is going to happen when those highly coveted positions get filled by people complacent or supportive of DeSantis’ agenda?I mean, to the professors themselves? Nothing. To the university system? Arguably, what the people of Florida want and deserve
It’s nice to say one would stay on principle and try and change things /fight back, but in reality, it’s a huge emotional and professional drain, especially on families. I’ve personally drawn a line at applying for positions in Florida
That said, I’ve got a number of friends who work as professors in Florida and they haven’t given any indication this affects them, or they’re even remotely interested in leaving. Professors have high mobility and move often, especially if they have a competing (better) offer. The turnover rate only increased by 2% in the last year, according to the article…
Arguably, what the people of Florida want and deserve
Try considering the polling places per capita of blue versus red counties and several other kinds of voter suppression before you go victim blaming millions of people.
The university system in Florida will get worse? Why should professors feel obligated to try to save Florida’s higher ed system?
I’m sure republicans love that since it is their goal to replace them.
They won’t. They don’t want universities, because that implies more education.
What I suspect will probably happen is the universities will shrink or close, and/or lose their accreditation, further increasing their brain drain.
What I don’t understand is why no politician who’s against this has proposed an education act under the guise of national security.
What republicans are doing with education is very dangerous. Stupid voters are easy to manipulate, which seems to be the goal, but they have to do more than vote for the other 364 days a year. Having a poorly educated population means you have less engineers designing infrastructure, less trades people building that infrastructure, less doctors to treat injured and ill people, and less skilled professionals overall. The US is largely in the economic and geopolitical position that is in due to the manufacturing and research capacity we had after WW2. For decades, the US was where people went if they wanted to be at the bleeding edge of design/research, because we had very good higher education and the skilled manufacturing to bring those designs to life. Attacking education only hastens the decline of that legacy. A few decades like this means the US will no longer be able to make the advanced military equipment used to project power across the world, or US companies not being able to find people who can maintain, improve, and innovate on products without hiring foreign contractors. If Desantis’ attacks become a national thing, they’ll be putting the US on a fast track to rapid decline and economic collapse.
You’re right…but the core assumption is the Rs care about our place on the world stage. They don’t.
Part of the overall plan for the Rs is isolationism. They want to close the boarders and pull out of our trade agreements. Hell, I think Trump wants us out of NATO.
If we are alone over here on our big ass island, the people will be dumber, desperate, and much easier to brainwash.
The big picture is dystopian order for the US.
The article keeps saying “conservative” when the correct descriptors would be “fascist”, “bigoted” and “anti-education”.
the
conservativefascist administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantisworked to put a[n]
conservativeanti-education imprint on [the] statewith a largely compliant GOP-controlled legislature, he’s imposed
conservativebigoted education reforms across the state.The conservative platform is all of those things, so it’s completely fair to call it that. The entire party is rotten to the core because they are simply ok with being the party of all of those things.
I think it is also fair to call them regressives since they are more interested in returning us to an earlier configuration of society than simply maintaining the status quo.
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I’m not defending “normal conservatives” and other delusional participants in hate from being associated with this kind of barbarism. My gripe is with threefold:
1: Don’t just repeat the same word when synonyms and even better suited words exist. It’s lazy writing and annoying to read
2: More importantly, the rise of fascism and related far right demagoguery is a worldwide emergency, not least an American one.
When venerated right wing and/or centrist outlets such as Business Insider, CNN and New York Times keep calling fascism conservatism, they not only ignore the crisis and thus the need to adress it, they severely hinder anyone calling it out from being taken seriously, much less doinh anything to fight it.
It’s not a bug, it’s a feature according to Republicans.
