(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Gov. DeSantis lambastes ‘ideology’ in FL’s university system and threatens tenure for profs [1] ['Danielle J. Brown', 'More From Author', '- January'] Date: 2023-01-31 In a list of higher education proposals Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis said that “unproductive” tenured professors are the “most significant deadweight costs” at Florida universities. That’s why the governor wants those professors to face evaluations, at risk of their jobs, at any point of their tenure. That’s not a traditional approach in the world of higher education, raising questions about undermining the role of tenure in Florida and limiting academic freedoms in classrooms and on campuses. DeSantis made the remarks at a press conference at State College of Florida in Bradenton, including removing ‘ideology’ from college campuses, prohibiting state funds from going towards critical race theory programs and diversity initiatives, and having university presidents be more involved in faculty hiring. The announcement on tenure evaluations builds off of legislation from the 2021 session that requires tenured professors to undergo an evaluation every five years. “Yes, we have the five-year review of all the tenured faculty, which is, which is good…and the board of trustees have to determine whether they stay or go. But you may need to do review more aggressively than just five,” DeSantis said at the Tuesday press conference. “So we’re going to give the boards of trustees and the presidents of the universities the power to call a post-tenure review at any time. And so maybe you’re in year three, but there’s a need to do it, so we want to do that,” he added. DeSantis continued: “And I’ve talked with folks around the country who’ve been involved in higher ed reform, and the most significant deadweight cost at universities is typically unproductive tenured faculty. And so why would we want to saddle you as taxpayers with that cost if we don’t have to do that?” Quickly, Democrats responded to the proposals. State Rep. Anna Eskamani of Orlando described the press conference as “unhinged,” and once again attacking higher education in Florida. The press conference Tuesday came after a statement from community college presidents in Florida saying that they support DeSantis’ views against critical race theory and other related academic topics that have been controversial under DeSantis’ administration. At this time, the four-year university system’s presidents have not issued a similar statement. More to come… [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/01/31/gov-desantis-lambastes-ideology-in-fls-university-system-and-threatens-tenure-for-profs/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/