{"id":579334,"date":"2021-07-01T20:50:13","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T00:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=579334"},"modified":"2021-07-01T20:50:29","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T00:50:29","slug":"floridas-education-bill-is-an-attempt-to-ensure-intellectual-freedom-on-college-campuses-could-one-provision-make-the-whole-thing-backfire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/floridas-education-bill-is-an-attempt-to-ensure-intellectual-freedom-on-college-campuses-could-one-provision-make-the-whole-thing-backfire\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida\u2019s Education Bill Is An Attempt To Ensure Intellectual Freedom On College Campuses. Could One Provision Make The Whole Thing Backfire?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">42<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffloridas-education-bill-is-an-attempt-to-ensure-intellectual-freedom-on-college-campuses-could-one-provision-make-the-whole-thing-backfire%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=579334&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><ul>\n<li><strong>Florida\u2019s recent education bill was met with instant praise and criticism, with supporters alleging that it was necessary in defending First Amendment rights and opponents insisting that it was potentially dangerous.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Many of the comments on both sides, however, exaggerated or diminished its central tenant. According to its text, it requires \u201ceach Florida College System institution to conduct an annual assessment of the intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at that institution.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>One provision regards students\u2019 right to record in academic classrooms. While it was included in the overall bill in an effort to increase transparency within such settings, some worry that it may backfire and undermine the bill\u2019s intentions.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cIn a world in which you want people to be able to \u2026 think through problems freely, they\u2019re going to sometimes say things that they might not want \u2026 on the world wide web for seven billion people to read,\u201d Joe Cohn, the legislative and policy director at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. \u201cIf you are concerned that there are some voices on college campuses that are chilled by a climate of political cohesion, then this is not going to help.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Florida\u2019s recent education bill was met with instant praise and criticism, with supporters alleging that it was necessary in defending First Amendment rights and opponents insisting that it was potentially dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are at great risk, as a nation and as a state on the lack of intellectual diversity that is on our university campuses,\u201d said Florida House Speaker Chris Sprowls during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ib08N5XCPu0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press conference<\/a> on June 22. \u201cWe have decided that one ideological standard will win the day, but the thing is we\u2019re losing because we\u2019re not having real conversations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuch a survey creates opportunities for political manipulation and could have a chilling effect on intellectual and academic freedom,\u201d a spokesperson for the Florida Education Association <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/2021\/06\/24\/florida-intellectual-freedom-law-mandates-viewpoint-surveys\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">told The Washington Post<\/a>. \u201cStudents already have the right to free speech on campus. All viewpoints can be expressed freely and openly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many of the comments on both sides, however, exaggerated or diminished its central tenant. According to its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flsenate.gov\/Session\/Bill\/2021\/233\/BillText\/er\/PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">text<\/a>, it requires \u201ceach Florida College System institution to conduct an annual assessment of the intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at that institution.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Further, it describes \u201cintellectual freedom\u201d and \u201cviewpoint diversity\u201d as \u201cthe exposure of students, faculty, and staff to, and the encouragement of their exploration of, a variety of ideological and political perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to what is outlined in multiple reports, the bill does not mandate students or faculty to disclose their political beliefs to the state, but instead asks them whether they feel able to express them publicly, regardless of what they may be.<\/p>\n<p>The bill also discusses universities\u2019 funding, and Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis even suggested during the press conference that the results of the survey could affect whether the state ultimately continues to provide money for them.<\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/volokh\/2021\/06\/24\/does-a-new-florida-law-require-state-universities-to-monitor-faculty-and-student-beliefs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reason opinion piece<\/a> examining the new bill, Case Western University Law Professor Jonathan Adler argues that it is \u201cperfectly appropriate\u201d for the state to do so, saying that universities are in fact state institutions and that the funding is not conditioned on what political beliefs are dominant on college campuses, but whether people on them feel that they have the ability to express them freely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIndeed, such oversight is a good thing, provided it is just that \u2013 oversight, and not control,\u201d Adler writes, calling it a \u201cresponsible measure\u201d compared to other Republican efforts to <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/06\/22\/anti-critical-race-theory-bills-summary-states-florida-idaho\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ban Critical Race Theory<\/a> and universities\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/06\/30\/unc-1619-project-nikole-hannah-jones-tenure\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">denying tenure<\/a> to faculty with whom they may disagree. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/06\/22\/desantis-bill-students-learn-evil-communism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: DeSantis Signs Bill Requiring High Schools To Teach The \u2018Evils Of Communism\u2019)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7228351\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"33\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7228351\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7228351\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1224401397-scaled-1.jpg\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1224401397-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1224401397-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1224401397-620x413-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1224401397-768x512-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1224401397-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1224401397-2048x1365-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7228351\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Florida\u2019s new bill will affect public colleges like the University of South Florida. (Octavio Jones\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Could One Under-The-Radar Provision Backfire?<\/h4>\n<p>One of the bill\u2019s provisions that has escaped much of the media\u2019s attention regards students\u2019 right to record in academic classrooms. While it was included in the overall bill in an effort to increase transparency within academic settings, some worry that it may backfire and undermine the bill\u2019s intentions.<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Joe Cohn, the legislative and policy director for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the provisions could lead to more people getting attacked, and facing real-world consequences, for saying things in classrooms that some find controversial or offensive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a world in which anything lives on the internet forever and you want people to be able to in classrooms think through difficult ideas and \u2026 think through problems freely, they\u2019re going to sometimes say things that they might not want published in The New York Times or on the world wide web for seven billion people to read,\u201d Cohn said. \u201cIf you are concerned that there are some voices on college campuses that are chilled by a climate of political cohesion, then this is not going to help.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cohn added that instead of students and faculty feeling more protected and emboldened to speak freely, the provision would lead to greater fears that they would be reprimanded by their university or by the public for doing so, an assertion with which Adler also agreed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWho is going to be willing to express difficult and strongly disfavored views if it\u2019s not just going to be in front of the 20 other people in their seminar, but for the entire world to see and judge?\u201d Cohn asked. \u201cIf you\u2019re asking a smaller seminar about any politically charged topic, and there\u2019s a growing list of which topics are politically charged, then you run a risk of chilling a tremendous amount of speech, and the same speech which the survey is designed to measure.\u201d&nbsp; <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/03\/31\/parents-leaked-video-teacher-infuriated-student-wont-point-out-racial-differences-two-women-loudon-county-race-theory\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Leaked Video Shows Teacher Infuriated That Student Won\u2019t Point Out \u2018Racial Differences\u2019 Between Two Women)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7228356\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"37\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7228356\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7228356\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-863194694-scaled-1.jpg\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-863194694-scaled-1.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/cdn01.dailycaller.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-863194694-180x120.jpg 180w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-863194694-620x413-1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-863194694-768x512-1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-863194694-1536x1024-1.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-863194694-2048x1365-1.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7228356\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students at the University of Florida protested white nationalist Richard Spencer in 2017, when the school allowed him to come speak. The event reignited the debate over what speech, if any, should not be allowed on college campuses. (Joe Raedle\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Diversity Of Thought, Or More Cancelation?<\/h4>\n<p>While Cohn declined to use the term \u201ccancel culture,\u201d noting how it has become overused and corrupted across the political spectrum, he told the DCNF that he worried about the bill\u2019s recording provisions being abused at others\u2019 expense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think [the provision] will be used to intimidate people into silence and to try to destroy careers and maybe prevent them from taking off in the first place,\u201d Cohn said. \u201cAnd now you\u2019ve encouraged people to do more of that \u2018gotcha\u2019 by getting the campus administration involved, because that\u2019s what gives you the green light to record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He went on to describe an almost incentive-like system due to the widespread recording protections the bill adopts, despite Florida\u2019s Republican legislature likely aiming to do the opposite.<\/p>\n<p>And while Cohn said that the effects of the change would not be seen overnight, he warned that leaked audio, and faculty members inability to do anything about it, would lead to more outrage, doxing, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/12\/26\/us\/mimi-groves-jimmy-galligan-racial-slurs.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">life-altering consequences<\/a> and fears of speaking or <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/06\/10\/ucla-professor-george-floyd-protest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">acting independently<\/a> as a result.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFlorida has laid the groundwork for a tremendously chilling environment,\u201d Cohn said. \u201cI think over time [students and faculty will face consequences for stating controversial opinions] more and more and more, the way more of our politics is turning into \u2018gotcha politics\u2019 writ large.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think they made a good faith but bad calculation about how this will help a cause that they care about,\u201d he added. \u201cIf you\u2019re concerned that there aren\u2019t sufficient conservative voices in academia, encouraging [the recording of charged topics] is only going to make that problem worse.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Florida\u2019s recent education bill was met with instant praise and criticism, with supporters alleging that it was necessary in defending First Amendment rights and opponents insisting that it was &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2313888,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1224401397-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Florida\u2019s Education Bill Is An Attempt To Ensure Intellectual Freedom On College Campuses. Could One Provision Make The Whole Thing Backfire?","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-579334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/GettyImages-1224401397-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"Florida\u2019s Education Bill Is An Attempt To Ensure Intellectual Freedom On College Campuses. 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