When Ohio banned DEI programs at universities from taking public money, Kent State merged its Diversity Equity and Inclusion offices with Human Resources and (ironically) renamed it the Division of People Culture and Belonging. Division, indeed.
DEI is about Discrimination, Exclusion, and Indoctrination. Dividing us into tribes that become itches in constant need of scratching. This balkanization keeps us distracted and at each other’s throats while the uniparty elites rob our posterity blind. Several states (Ohio, Texas, and Florida – there may be others) have enacted rules and laws that limit or restrict public funding for DEI, and not everyone is trying to be as clever as Kent State.
The University of Florida eliminated all positions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion and halted its DEI-related contracts on Friday. ..
Axios is heartbroken at the news and worries about the escalating war against “how race and gender are addressed in its educational institutions.” Snowflakes are melting. Social Justice Warriors have been triggered. How dare they dismantle a program focused on systemic racism targeting people of non-color? It’s racist, I tell you.
My question is if they have. Historically, when the asshattery of the Marxist cultural messaging machine finds itself exposed to too much daylight, the cockroaches do what they did at Kent State. Make that stuff disappear, change some names, and create a Potemkin facade of compliance. It may well be that the Florida Law has managed to root out all the linguist loopholes in advance, but the White Tower never gives up on a bad idea without a fight.
- Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation defunding DEI programs at state public colleges and allowed the state to remove programs majors and minors that teach “identity politics.”
Excellent news, indeed, but?
When UNH got busted for harboring a so-called bias-free language guide, they immediately announced how pro-free speech they were, made the guide disappear (we saved it here), and retooled their web pages. No one was fired, and budgets were not cut, leaving all the infrastructure responsible in place. It’s still there, poisoning the hearts and minds of future generations or snowflakes, but New Hampshire’s State University System has managed to put on a good face. FIRE gives them good scores for free speech each year while underneath the facade, the cultural-Marxist virus spreads.
Defunding DEI isn’t enough. You have to put some teeth in it and keep an AG’s office that will enforce those laws. What happens when DeSantis has to leave office in 2026, and Florida doesn’t find a similar replacement?
That’s Florida’s problem, I suppose, until or unless the Feds institute something similar (don’t hold your breath). I also don’t see why such offices or programs could not be resuscitated with private money. I do find it encouraging that the University of Florida didn’t have or couldn’t find anyone in the private sector willing to fund it (if they even tried).
Wouldn’t it be something if no one with deep enough pockets thought DEI infrastructure was worth the price?
