If it's "woke," "trendy," or has anything to do with race and diversity, it appears Gov. Ron DeSantis wants no part of it in Florida.

From signing what was dubbed the "Stop WOKE Act" to prohibit teaching certain concepts related to race, the DeSantis administration has now asked state colleges and universities for information about what resources they are putting into activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as what some call "critical race theory."

Matthew Lata, Florida State University chapter president for United Faculty of Florida, said he thinks the governor is following a conservative trend to gain political points, regardless of the outcome or legal challenges.

"And they are jumping feet first into this without having thought of what the consequences are," Lata observed. "If you remove offices of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, if you stop all of those efforts, you will lose federal grants; and we're talking about not millions but up into the billions, statewide."

DeSantis received applause from supporters during his inaugural address critical of what he called "trendy ideology" last week. On Wednesday, a group of college professors asked a federal judge to block the governor's request for spending data on the diversity programs, which was due today.

During the holidays, DeSantis took aim at faculty unions, saying he does not want union dues deducted from teachers' paychecks. In a move designed to make it harder for labor unions to get funding, Lata countered it is shortsighted.

"This is not a group of wild-eyed radicals," Lata pointed out. "Most of our members teach in STEM, teach in fields that are supposedly supported by the governor. They appreciate what the union does for them, and we're going to survive. I'd say, 'Bring it on, and we'll see what happens.' "

There are also plans in the Legislature to set a threshold for unions to represent teachers, which would involve at least 50% of teachers approving union membership. Similar bills have failed. Lata believes they can meet the challenge if needed. He added when his union was last certified a decade ago, the vote was 90% in favor, even if not all faculty members chose to join.

With just over a month before Indiana university students return, a new law affecting college professor tenures is in full effect.

The law targets public universities, mandating diversity committees to review faculty, administration, and policies on "cultural and intellectual diversity."

Professors must undergo reviews every five years. Trustees are required to accept complaints if professors fail to meet criteria related to free inquiry, expression, and intellectual diversity, though specifics are not detailed.

Ball State University student Michaela Ayeh said the law promotes bigotry.

"This is a prime example of Board of Trustee and government overreach, restriction of academic freedom and censorship," said Ayeh. "This bill is exemplary of the racism, homophobia, sexism, classes of ableism and other bigoted ideologies that bigots harbor."

Proponents say the law gives the board the ability to determine whether faculty are eligible for tenure or promotion depending on their performance in promoting intellectual diversity every five years.

State Sen. Spencer Deery - R-West Lafayette - helped author the bill. He argued it addresses concerns of ideological bias in universities.

"Pew Research Foundation actually researched this of why do you lack trust in our institutions of higher education," said Deery. "The number one issue for Republican respondents was professors pushing political views irrelevant to the classroom."

Some scholars are concerned with how their speech will be restricted because their positions are now on the line.

Some of the pushback claims the law encourages conformity, and may discourage professors from engaging in topics that run the risk of violating what they deem is vague criteria.




get more stories like this via email

Montana has been granted $41 million to create a training and education program for new jobs in the high-tech sector.

The Headwaters Hub is part of a larger federal program designed to build the U.S. workforce in key areas, including artificial intelligence and photonics.

The U.S. Department of Commerce says Montana's rugged terrain, vast road system and largely rural setting make it the perfect place to train people in photonic remote-sensing systems, which use light to generate energy.

Headwaters Hub Executive Director Tim Van Reken said the focus will be on training people in Montana's new "innovation corridor" to learn the technology behind the systems.

"That runs from Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley, up through Butte up through Missoula and up into the Flathead through Kalispell," said Van Reken. "So, it is all of the metropolitan-micropolitan areas along that corridor, and all of the rural and tribal areas in between."

Van Reken said in addition to developing this cutting-edge technology, the Headwaters Hub could generate as many as ten-thousand jobs in Montana over a decade - and create new avenues of employment for the state's large Indigenous population.

The University of Montana, Montana State and Salish Kootenai College will be involved in the hub - but Van Reken said those won't be the only places students can learn, and most won't have to travel far to take classes.

"Montana is a big, distributed, wide-open space," said Van Reken. "We want to make sure that, as much as we can, we're having the training be close to home so that folks can get the training they need and prepare for jobs while still managing their day-to-day lives."

Nearly 200 applicants competed for funding for 31 tech hubs, which stretch across rural and urban areas in 32 states and Puerto Rico.

New Mexico teachers educating young people about climate change don't want them to feel hopeless - and they've developed an educational curriculum to match that outlook.

Fiana Shapiro, environmental education instructional coordinator for the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center, part of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, said young people recognize that climate change is going to shape their futures - where they live, their vocation and quality of life. As part of the 350 New Mexico Climate Education Committee, Shapiro has helped develop Climate Hope, a middle-school climate curriculum.

"Most students know what it is, know some basics about it - they might know how it's connected to drought and even dryness," she said, "not necessarily a whole lot beyond that - but it really does depend on the school."

The 350 project has piloted the education curriculum in a handful of Albuquerque middle-school classrooms and held a recent teacher workshop to help them prepare lesson plans.

New Mexico has been hit by major forest fires followed by flooding this summer resulting in deaths, and the destruction of at least 500 homes.

In addition to adapting to a warming world, Shapiro said young people need climate education in order to develop green skills and understand what's needed to combat climate change - starting with reduction and eventual elimination of fossil fuels and including conservation of water and the thinning of forests. In order to engage, she believes kids need to know what's happening in New Mexico and around the world, "and that there are things that are being done already, and that can be done.

"We don't want to leave them with the idea of doom and gloom and everything's going wrong and that's it," she said. "We want to leave them with the idea that there are things that can be done and there's things they can do."

She said the four-lesson curriculum includes information about climate justice - the fact that people contributing the least to climate change are often the most affected.