by Chasidy Fisher Hobbs, United Faculty of Florida, UWF chapter President, Senator and HETAC Chair, HELU, FEA, NEA and AFT, Delegate
Over the past few years, Florida’s higher education system has undergone an aggressive, state-led restructuring. Orchestrated by Governor Ron DeSantis, his political appointees on the Board of Governors and the Florida Department of Education, and a compliant state legislature, this campaign has fundamentally altered how public universities operate. What began as a highly publicized ideological takeover of New College – Florida’s small, highly regarded liberal arts state institution – has quietly evolved into a blueprint applied across the entire state university and college systems. It is now traveling through public higher education systems in other red states.
How did DeSantis do it?
Step #1: Dismantle the labor unions
The first barrier in the state’s path was the Florida State Constitution which guarantees employees the right to bargain collectively over their terms and conditions of employment. Knowing they could not simply outlaw higher education unions outright, lawmakers instead crafted administrative rules designed to make it much more difficult for education unions to function, represent their members, or collect dues. To remain certified under the state’s new rules, unions must prove that at least 60% of eligible in-unit faculty are paying members. However, paying dues is not enough, members must also sign a three-page verification form certifying they really do want to be members. If density is below 60%, the steps required to allow faculty to vote on who they want to represent them at the bargaining table have also been rewritten to be more tedious, expensive and time-consuming.
But let’s be clear, these stringent requirements were not applied to all public sector unions. First responders and other favored employee groups were left untouched, revealing the true goal: silencing educators.
The Response to Step #1 from the Ground
Organize! Grounded in the shared principle that students deserve an unbiased, high-quality education, education unions across Florida mounted a historic defense of their constitutional rights.
Rather than causing a collapse, these hurdles galvanized the academic community, and Florida has experienced a surge in higher ed union membership. As the last line of defense against state-sponsored ideological overreach, these unions have proven that solidarity remains an imposing barrier for those trying to march us toward an embarrassing and dangerous ideological education system in the US.
Rather than causing a collapse, these hurdles galvanized the academic community, and Florida has experienced a surge in higher ed union membership. As the last line of defense against state-sponsored ideological overreach, these unions have proven that solidarity remains an imposing barrier for those trying to march us toward an embarrassing and dangerous ideological education system in the US.
– Chasidy Fisher Hobbs
Step #2: Seize institutional leadership
Rather than selecting trustees who know their local campuses, love the institutions, or bring rich experience, state leadership began awarding governing seats as political favors. Appointees were brought in – not to serve the universities, but with an explicit mandate to advance a political agenda that replaces educator expertise with partisan oversight.
Through these stacked Boards of Trustees, the administration pushed through million-dollar presidential contracts for political allies, many of whom lacked any background in higher education. Longstanding, rigorous national search processes were overhauled or bypassed to guarantee swift political appointments, effectively stripping local campuses of self-governance.
The response to Step #2 from the ground
To counter this, faculty and supporters first turned their attention to the confirmation process. In Florida, trustees must testify before two state Senate committees prior to full confirmation. Because committee members are rarely local to the institutions involved and manage vast portfolios, they often lack critical context about individual nominees.
Faculty helped to launch community-driven campaigns to inform senate committee members about candidates’ qualifications and track records. While stopping presidential appointments outright has proved difficult due to boards packed with ideologues, public scrutiny has forced these figures into the spotlight, mitigating potential damage and demanding accountability.
Educating the surrounding community members that depend on a strong institution about harmful actions by institutional leadership and asking them to attend trustee meetings, contact media, and advocate for unbiased classrooms has been a powerful tool to fight back Desantisism (modern day McCarthyism) in Florida. This process may be especially important and useful for non-unionized institutions and faculty in fear of retribution.
Step #3: Enact Ideological Control Over Curriculum and Research
Through legislation like Senate Bill 266 and the Stop W.O.K.E. Act, the state launched an aggressive assault on what it branded a “left-leaning agenda.”
First, the legislature banned public universities from using state funds on initiatives, offices, or campus programs tied to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). Lawmakers purposefully drafted vague statutory text, while the Board of Governors and Department of Education issued equally ambiguous regulations and then refused to provide written guidance on compliance or enforcement. Predictably, this created a chilling environment of self-censorship. Fearing financial penalties or state hostility, university administrations over-complied. DEI-related staff were terminated, identity-focused centers were shuttered, events tied to Black History Month, women’s leadership, or LGBTQ+ awareness were canceled out of fear, privately funded scholarships geared toward immigrant students were canceled.
State leadership also brought these restrictions into the classroom. Programs like Women’s Studies and African American Studies were gutted. Under these dangerous new policies, a pre-med freshman could be barred from taking a course exploring how health outcomes vary across racial or gender demographics and instead be required to study The Odyssey to fulfill core requirements. In a state that constantly champions ROI (return on investment) and workforce readiness, erasing the study of diverse populations in an interconnected global economy is both contradictory and dangerous. Intolerance thrives on ignorance, and systematically removing diverse perspectives from foundational curricula actively feeds that ignorance. Florida and higher ed leaders are working hard to contribute to the level of intolerance in the US.
Finally, this environment fundamentally undermines academic research. Rather than designing courses around current evidence or pursuing grants that address pressing social challenges, faculty are pressured to tailor their scholarship to political agendas. Academic freedom exists specifically to prevent politicians or dogmatic interests from dictating truth and fact. While faculty in 2026 are not forced to sign explicit loyalty oaths, many face intense pressure to self-censor to avoid crossing entrenched ideological lines, or face barriers to tenure, or even their employment.
The response to step #3 from the ground
With executive agencies and university boards locked down by political allies, the primary line of defense shifted to public advocacy and the judiciary. Though legal battles move slowly, they have yielded some recent decisive victories.
A major milestone arrived when the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down the higher education provisions of Florida’s 2022 Stop W.O.K.E. Act as a clear violation of the First Amendment. The court offered a telling critique of the state’s actions:
Florida’s salary-for-speech rule is a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the State’s own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry—classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth.
Similar rulings against state-enforced classroom censorship in places like New Hampshire and Oklahoma demonstrate that the legal foundation for these overreaches is cracking. The courts are justly ruling that politicians and administrators cannot stifle free speech simply because they do not like it, and they cannot insist that experts follow a political agenda when deciding what to teach in their classrooms.
Looking Ahead: Step Four?
Recognizing that regional accrediting bodies enforce standards of academic freedom and peer review that block political overreach, Desantis and his cronies have created their own higher ed accreditor, the “Commission for Public Higher Education” (CPHE). Florida rallied several neighboring states to sign onto this effort to bypass established national standards.
However, even this ambitious workaround is showing signs of strain. At a recent Florida Board of Governors meeting called to approve CPHE’s incorporation and bylaws, representatives from the other participating states did not attend, nor did the CPHE chief executive. Not only that, but other accreditors, like SACSCOC, are bowing to political pressures and removing long-standing requirements previously considered essential by both sides of the aisle, but are now considered “woke” ideology. This step in the takeover process is perhaps the most egregious attempt to control education through ideological preference, and it requires an all-hands-on-deck response, and not simply in the Southeast where it has begun.
Whether due to legal hurdles or public backlash, the narrative of an inevitable political overhaul is unraveling. Florida’s higher ed workers and their unions have shown that when communities organize around academic integrity and the right to an unbiased education for all, even the most calculated political strategy can be challenged and then overcome. See you in the union halls!