We need to punish DeSantis, FL for anti-DEI crusade

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 7, the "Individual Freedom" act, into law on April 22, 2022, in Hialeah Gardens. Credit: governor's office

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Malfeasance.

This word at this moment – from an ocean of words – best describes the DeSantis-inspired chaos that claimed the flagship University of Florida (UF) on March 1.

That is the day UF officials announced that the institution was outlawing all diversity, equity and inclusive programs, initiatives, and staff across the Gainesville campus. Officials closed the office of the Chief Diversity Officer, terminated outside agreements with DEI vendors and eliminated DEI staff and administrative employees. A memo from the Florida Board of Governors ordered all money spent on anything related to DEI programs to be verboten.

University of Florida. Credit: UF website.

Under the direction of UF Human Resources, university employees whose positions were eliminated will receive UF’s standard twelve weeks of pay. In addition, “the Office of the Chief Financial Officer will reallocate the approximately $5 million in funds — previously reported to Tallahassee for DEI expenses, including salaries and expenditures — into a faculty recruitment fund to be administered by the Office of the Provost.”

This move is the latest salvo by Gov. Ron DeSantis in a pointless but injurious and destructive culture war being waged against Black people, liberals, the LGBTQ community, Latinos, and other marginalized groups.

DeSantis was quick to take a victory lap on Friday March 1 with a post on Twitter/X where he crowed, “Florida is where DEI comes to die,” adding, “DEI is toxic and has no place in our public universities. I’m glad that Florida was the first state to eliminate DEI and I hope more states follow suit.”

Menacing freedoms

DeSantis and his sidekicks are busy trying to upend Florida’s cultural, educational, and other systems and impose a white supremacist, Christian nationalist imprimatur on the state. Their primary task is creation of a tyrannical, racist, dystopian nightmare, clothed in “freedom” but actually centered on cultural grievances, racial resentment, and control over deciding who qualifies as an American.

Sadly, it didn’t take long for the “virus” to start spreading. Other public universities, cowed by the prospect of being sanctioned and punished by DeSantis, are following suit on DEI, including at the University of South Florida.

Henry A. Giroux — the McMaster University Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest in the English and Cultural Studies Department in Canada— outlined in specific detail in an August 1, 2023, Truthout opinion piece the clear and present danger of DeSantis’ “war” on academic freedom, free expression, the First Amendment and his war against LGBTQ people.

Giroux said in the opinion piece that Floridians “live in a time of menacing freedoms and the rise of fascist politics,” adding that freedom in the current historical moment has turned ugly.

The presence of what Giroux, a Canadian academic, calls “ugly freedoms” is not new. It is history repeating itself with a politics that is as cruel as it is dangerous and widespread.

“The appeal to unjust freedoms continues in the present era to legitimate and promote censorship and widespread persecution, as well as to enshrine white privilege, systemic racism and bigotry,” he said. “And while the long struggle for democracy is inseparable from the struggle over the meaning of freedom, its record as a rationale for domination has often been suppressed, overlooked and ignored among educators, liberals, conservatives and the mainstream media.”

Giroux adds that a number of historians and theorists have discussed recently “how notions of freedom have been, and continue to be, rooted in a racist ideology that privileges white power, are central to white racial identity, and normalize a broader culture of vilification and inequality — particularly when it is used and abused by a number of far-right politicians often aligned with white supremacy.”

He argues that those who oppose racists, bigots and white nationalists should never cede ground on the issue of freedom and the inalienable rights all Americans should enjoy.

Hard-hitting statement

Reaction to UF officials’ action from state Democratic leaders, labor unions at the university and a range of activists was swift and biting.

Emmitt Smith attends SiriusXM At Super Bowl LVII on February 09, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)

NFL superstar Emmitt Smith, a UF alum, issued a hard-hitting statement.

“I’m utterly disgusted by UF’s decision and the precedent that it sets. Without the DEI department, the job falls to the Office of the Provost, who already has their hands full, to raise money for the university and continue to advance the academic studies in athletic programs,” Smith said. “We cannot continue to believe and trust that a team of leaders all made up of the same background will make the right decision when it comes to equality and diversity. History has already proven that is not the case.”

Smith, after 15 seasons in professional football, currently holds the NFL record in career rushing yards with 18,355.

The fact that Smith helped put UF on the college football map — along with an overwhelming number of Black athletes — offers the African American community writ large a bold, pragmatic, and targeted way to fight back against DeSantis and all the other government officials parading as race-neutral leaders, a good friend of mine, Leo Alexander, said during a recent conversation.

Longtime sports analyst Mark Lassiter has come to the same conclusion: Because of Florida’s relentless efforts to reverse the hard-earned progress of Black people, athletes should grab control of their destinies and take their talents and considerable money-making potential to Historically Black Colleges and Universities outside of Florida.

Why? Because in a hyper-capitalist country where cash is king, money talks, Alexander said.

Lassiter crunched the numbers on a recent Facebook post, illustrating that college athletics is a massive cash cow. In FY 2023, the National Collegiate Athletic Association recorded almost $1.3 billion in revenue and ended the year with almost $565 million in net assets. Last year as well, the University of Florida (UF) football program made $93,206,919 in total revenue, paid out $60,894,176 in expenses, and saw a net profit of $32,312,743 for the university.

Thirty-two million dollars.

Athletics and money. Money and athletics

Lassiter’s post went further: “To the MANY, minority athletes at UFlorida, please be aware and vocal about the decision by the University who is now closing the doors on other minorities without any oversight. And to those who think it’s not your problem and stay on the side lines and say nothing, you are complicit in supporting systemic issues.”

Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. Credit: FAMU’s Facebook

Lassiter contends that diversity, equity, and inclusion are the ONLY reasons Florida athletics is able to compete in the Southeastern Conference. The ONLY reason,” he said. “In a related (fantastic) story, all 67 Black players on the 2024 Florida football roster have decided to leverage the transfer portal for playing opportunities at Florida A&M, Alabama A&M, Prairie View A&M, Bethune-Cookman, Howard, Southern and Grambling Universities.

“‘Day of Absence’ wants to be reality.”

Alexander, a Mobile, Alabama resident, businessman, activist and fierce advocate of Black economic independence, chuckled at the thought.

“The Black community already has what’s left of the African American church and the NAACP, which have lost their moral compass and civil disobedience doctrine. They have completely abandoned that because they and Black people are trying to get paid.”

Meanwhile boycotts and protests are often not as effective as they used to be, which leaves the Black community and activists with this very potent tool, Alexander explained.

“This is a racist affront and an attack on our community. The only commodity these people really fear is not having access to Black talent. We should restrict their access to what they covet: athletic prowess,” he said angrily.

The solution to the racist and exclusionary behavior by DeSantis, the Republican Party and white nationalists is to flock to HBCUs and white progressive colleges and universities which would allow money to pour in, strengthen them and also bring attention to the respective schools.

“Athletics and money. Money and athletics. This approach would have quicker results. The vision of the University of Alabama having a bunch of white boys out there — it would be slaughter,” said Alexander with a chuckle. “I would actually love to see it. I would pay good money to see Alcorn State or Tuskegee playing the new Alabama team. It would be visually appealing. I would love for Alabama and the Southeast Conference to be completely boycotted. Just boycott the SEC and let them other MFs see what happens. They’ll ‘come to Jesus’ real quick.”

Such a scenario may not happen or occur at the scale necessary to cause a monumental seismic shift, but it is a very delicious thought.

In a world controlled, leveraged and dominated by white men — administrators, coaches, and college presidents — DeSantis and the rest of the planet would learn that real clout and power rests with Black athletes.

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