University of Florida

• 
• SOURCE: Substack
  6/1/2022
  

  DeSantis Planned Sweeping Assault on Autonomy of Public Colleges in Florida

  by Jason Garcia

  The Governor proposed a sweeping set of higher education oversight reforms that would have consolidated power over public campuses, including the hiring of professors, with boards appointed by the governor. 

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• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  4/4/2022
  

  Faculty Committee: U of Florida Fast-Tracked DeSantis Surgeon General Pick Into Faculty Post

  The university’s faculty committee cited procedural irregularities in how Florida's Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo gained a tenured position.

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• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  2/8/2022
  

  "I Swore an Oath": Professor's Plea to Testify Against the State of Florida

  The University of Florida claimed it was a conflict of interest for Michael McDonald to work as a paid consultant on a voting rights case while on the UF payroll. But he wasn't allowed to take unpaid leave to testify. 

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• SOURCE: WUFT
  2/7/2022
  

  Recent Actions by the University of Florida are Part of a Long History of Collusion Against Faculty

  The Johns Committee of the 1950s and 1960s investigated UF faculty on behalf of the Florida legislature. Their brief was to connect communism and the civil rights movement; they ended up engineering the firing of 15 professors for their sexual orientation.

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• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  1/24/2022
  

  Florida Judge (Mostly) Sides with Faculty in UF Speech Dispute

  Judge Mark E. Walker compared the university's restriction of faculty testimony as expert witnesses in cases involving voting rights and mask mandates to the recent crackdowns by Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government. 

• 
• SOURCE: Tampa Bay Times
  12/6/2021
  

  Faculty Report: UF Faculty Felt Outside Pressure to Destroy Data in COVID Research

  "Faculty at UF Health expressed concerns over funding being in jeopardy if they did not adopt the state’s stance on pandemic regulations in opinion articles, the report says."

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• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  11/30/3021
  

  ‘It Just Felt Wrong’: U. of Florida Faculty Say Political Fears Stalled an Initiative on Race

  Faculty in the College of Education contend that University of Florida administrators are holding up the establishment of a concentration for doctoral students in the study of race and ethnicity in education, due to political pressure. 

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• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  11/16/2021
  

  U. of Florida Dean Says He Was Directed to Reject Professor’s Request to Testify Against the State

  by Emma Pettit

  His remarks suggest that the decision to bar professors from testifying against the state may have come from the top of UF. 

• 
• SOURCE: Inside Higher Ed
  11/8/2021
  

  Despite Administration Reversal, Faculty Suit against U of Florida Goes Forward

  The professors claim that while the adminstration reversed itself as a matter of discretion, its "unconstituitonal" policy on conflicts of interest remains in place and threatens faculty's First Amendment rights. 

• 
• SOURCE: Associated Press
  11/5/2021
  

  UF Reverses Course; Profs can Testify in Voting Rights Suit

  Attorneys representing the professors said they were still planning to move forward with a lawsuit against the university.

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  10/31/2021
  

  Serwer: Florida Silencing Academic Critics of Disenfranchisement Echoes End of Reconstruction

  Free speech debates miss a key point: some participants don't want to protect the right to speak as much as the right of the state to use its power to end political arguments. The role of Black Floridians as citizens was once such an argument, and disenfranchisement ended it. 

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• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  11/2/2021
  

  Restrictions on Faculty Testimony at UF Included Non-Paid Testimony, COVID Protocol

  The University's prior explanation, that faculty are free to serve as witnesses to litigation against the state on a pro-bono basis on their own time, appears to be contradicted by efforts to stop a pediatrics professor from testifying pro bono in favor of school mask mandates.

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• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  11/1/2021
  

  U. of Florida’s Accreditor Will Investigate Denial of Professors’ Voting-Rights Testimony

  The University of Florida had told three faculty members that their work as consultants for the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state's restrictive new voting laws are "adverse to the university's interests"; will this affect the school's accreditation as a violation of the institution's independence?