Our union siblings at United Faculty of Florida (UFF) are asking all of us to join the fight to protect FL public higher education and academic freedom.
“DeSantis and his team have made systematic efforts to dismantle the freedoms of students and faculty to teach and learn,” says UFF President Andrew Gothard. “Since 2021, DeSantis has pushed through efforts to compel state-sponsored speech on campus, dismantle oversight, encourage corruption-breeding secrecy and invade the personal lives of all higher ed community members… On top of all of this, eradicating tenure and academic freedom in the university system is one of the governor’s most recent projects.”
Ways to join the fight for FL public education:
- Join UFF and Florida Education Association’s (FEA) 3-7 challenge: In response to Gov. DeSantis’ ongoing attacks on Florida’s public education system, the Florida Education Association (FEA) and the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) are calling for a “Public Education Day of Action” on March 7, the first day of Florida’s legislative session. Our colleagues in FL are asking each of us to make three phone calls and write seven emails urging elected officials in our states to protect academic freedom. Learn more here.
- Testimony and statements of support: FEA and UFF are asking groups to publish statements in support of public education and academic freedom. Additionally, if you are someone who is hesitant to apply for teaching work in FL given the current political context (or has chosen not to apply), please send in a written or video testimonial for use in our advocacy efforts. All solidarity statements and testimonials should be sent to advocate@floridaea.org.
- Contact the Florida Board of Governors about their revised Post-Tenure Review regulation on this website. To leave a comment, select the “Submit a Comment” option in the row for “BOG 10.003 – Post-Tenure Faculty Review.” Because of the advocacy of leaders and unionists like you, the Board stripped a number of the regulations most harmful provisions, but the following areas need further attention:
- Ensure due process by removing the provost’s ability to ignore other evaluations the faculty member has received when making final decisions about their tenure status.
- Protect progressive discipline by requiring a faculty member to go through a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) or other reasonable improvement process before termination and loss of tenure.
- Preserve the right to appeal by giving the arbitration process greater power to overturn the provost’s decision or by sending a successful arbitration appeal to a faculty committee or other non-partisan group for further evaluation and final action.
As a soon-to-be PhD, I cannot imagine ever working at any Florida institution if these moves go forward. I struggle to imagine any of my colleagues choosing to work at institutions that have gutted basic academic freedoms. You are destroying your public education system. This is an extremely foolish thing to do and will harm every single person in Florida.