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

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