Trump Is Cracking Down on Universities. Florida Had a Head Start.

by UB Center for Urban Studies · 03/13/2025

The state’s laws have dismantled campus DEI initiatives, banned political or social activism and redefined core curricula

Three years ago, as a University of Florida freshman, Bia Castanho kept her head down and her mouth shut when classroom conversations veered toward politics. Virtually every time students with her conservative orientation entered a debate it ended badly for them, she said.

Her time on campus has paralleled a concerted effort by Republican lawmakers to dismantle what they consider entrenched liberal orthodoxy within Florida’s institutions of higher learning. In a class this past fall about the economics of farming, she felt emboldened enough to take a stand: Donald Trump was right, illegal immigration was wrong and farmworkers without proper documentation should not be allowed to work, she said.

Douglas Belkin March 12, 2025

Read the full story here The Wall Street Journal