A preliminary release of results from Florida’s survey of critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity, and inclusion, (CRT) programs in state-run colleges and universities has revealed millions of dollars of taxpayer funds being funneled to these programs.
The preliminary results came in response to a letter sent by Governor Ron DeSantis’ office to Florida Department of Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues requesting that each Florida College System and State University System institution unveil staff, programs, and campus activities related to DEI and CRT.
This survey of programs has revealed that those in high-ranking DEI positions are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds annually. The Chief Diversity Officer and related support staff at the University of Florida are paid over $750,000 per year. The University of Central Florida Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and their assistant are paid a combined $445,000 per year.
Additionally, the survey revealed numerous centers and offices in Florida's institutions of higher education costing millions of dollars in taxpayer funds. This includes the Center for Environment Equity and Justice at Florida A&M University, which costs $1.8 million per year, the Diversity and Inclusion Office at the University of South Florida, which costs over $1.1 million per year, and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Florida International University, which costs over $1 million per year.
The schools apparently underreported programs on their campuses, with the University of Florida omitting their Youth Gender program from their survey response.
According to the University of Florida’s Division of Endocrinology, "UF Health’s Youth Gender Program is for transgender and gender-nonconforming, or TGNC, youth and their families."
"We educate our patients and their families about gender identity development and gender nonconformity and offer services for social and medical transitioning," the program states, adding that they abide by World Professional Association For Transgender Health standards of care. That organization, WPATH, also advocates for "eunuch" as a gender identity, and has stated that there should be no age limits on medical sex changes.
Other taxpayer-funded programs produced by state-run schools include Florida State University’s "Social Justice Ally" workbook, as well as the University of South Florida’s "Antiracist Resources" list.
"Social Justice Ally" is a workbook for the Center for Leadership and Social Change, and teaches about topics that include "LGBTTQQIAP+," "Adultism," "Sizeism," "Christian Hegemony," as well as "Microaggressions" and other topics.
"Antiracist Resources" gives numerous books, articles, podcasts, and people to read and listen to on the topic of racism and the "black experience," including the book "White Fragility" as well as Ibram X Kendi’s "How to be an Antiracist," and the article "75 Things White People Can Do For Racial Justice."
The resource list also gives a number of organizations that white people should donate to, including the infamous Minnesota Freedom Fund, the George Floyd Memorial Fund, and Justice for Breonna Taylor.
Speaking earlier this week, DeSantis blasted the dominant view of the purpose of higher education, saying higher education under this view is to "impose ideological conformity to try to provoke political activism."
"Now, if you see the former approach is dominant throughout the country, particularly with respect to academia, you see it manifested in a lot of different ways, but more recently, you see it manifested in things like DEI bureaucracies," said DeSantis.
"And this is basically a component of the administration within universities that are imposing a political agenda sometimes things like critical race theory. These bureaucracies are hostile to academic freedom, and really they constitute a drain on resources and end up contributing, certainly around the country, to higher costs as these bureaucracies metastasize."
Speaking on the survey, which was undertaken just after his inauguration, DeSantis said, "it's a lot of money, and it's not the best use of your money."
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