Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pledged to defund all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs at public universities during a Tuesday press conference in Bradenton, Florida.

DeSantis outlined several higher education reforms for state public universities including defunding DEI programs, which he referred to as “ideological” and “political filters,” readdressing required courses to teach western civilization and restructure tenure review. Tuesday’s announcement expanded on the administration’s recent work to prevent taxpayer dollars from funding so-called woke initiatives on college campuses. 

“People want to see true academics and they want to get rid of some of the political window-dressing that seems to accompany all this, so that’s no longer going to be in the state of Florida,” DeSantis said during the press conference.

The first set of reforms DeSantis announced steers higher education away from “indoctrination” by prohibiting universities from “using political filters like DEI statements in hiring practices” and “supporting campus activities or programs that promote divisive concepts like DEI or CRT,” according to a paper distributed at the press conference.

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