Professors’ Group Speaks Out about Changes at Florida College

2024 · VOA Learning English

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Transcript

1. College professors and their students often say they should be permitted to pursue knowledge without too many restrictions from the government.

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2. One organization that supports the idea of academic freedom is the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

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3. The AAUP is a non-profit group based in Washington D.C. that aims to support academic freedom and tenure

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4. The group is concerned that national and state political leaders are interfering too much with colleges and universities.

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5. Universities. It pointed to hearings at the U.S.

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6. Congress in December that brought the presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania to Washington.

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7. They each were asked if they would punish speech calling for genocide against the Jewish people.

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8. In the days and weeks after the hearing, the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard stepped down from their jobs.

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9. Some said the answers they gave to Congress played a part.

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10. At first, Harvard president Claudine Gay received support from a number of Harvard professors.

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11. But she decided to leave her job after being accused of plagiarism in her academic writing.

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12. After Gay left her position, the AAUP spoke out about the way influential people worked to push her out.

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13. Irene Mulvey is the head of AAUP. She said the way Gay was pushed out of her job “(did) not bode well for academic freedom.”

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14. It said actions at the New College of Florida, a small school in Florida’s State University System, did not meet “widely accepted standards of academic government.”

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15. The group said Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, had changed the college’s top leadership group to restrict academic freedom.

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16. AAUP described some of the changes that began in early 2023 in a report released last December.

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17. The report is called “Political Interference and Academic Freedom in Florida’s Public Higher Education System.”

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18. After studying the report, AAUP’s top leaders, known as the governing council, voted to speak out against, or sanction what it called “an unprecedented

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19. politically motivated takeover” of the school. The group has only sanctioned 12 other universities in its history.

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20. The December report said DeSantis targeted New College of Florida because he believed it was too “woke.”

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21. The report says conservatives now define the word as: “politically liberal or progressive…especially in a way that is considered unreasonable or extreme.”

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22. The governor appointed a group of six new people to the college’s board of trustees. The board is a college or university’s top leadership group.

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23. That group pushed out New College of Florida’s president and worked to restrict the kinds of study programs the school could offer.

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24. The new trustees also worked to change the way professors applied for tenure, which guarantees those who have it a job for life.

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25. Many of the new trustees had written papers and made comments criticizing critical race theory (CRT).

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26. The theory centers on the idea that racism is systemic in the country’s institutions and that most social interactions can be explained by race.

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27. The board members also spoke against DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion, a movement aiming to change how society is made up.

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28. Pernell teaches law at Florida A&M University. That term was first used to describe the French Revolution, which took place more than 225 years ago.

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29. New College is a state school, which means Florida provides part of its budget and it is governed under state laws.

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30. That means it welcomed students and professors who had unusual interests and wanted to follow study programs outside of normal ones.

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31. Many students who felt uncomfortable at more traditional colleges went to New College of Florida and said they felt happy and safe.

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32. LBGTQ students say they chose the school because it was open to those who did not follow traditional sexual or gender ideas.

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33. Elizabeth Leininger is a science professor. In a 2023 story, she called New College “one of the most unique places that exists in American higher education.”

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34. The AAUP talked with professors at other Florida universities who said they were concerned about the changes at New College of Florida.

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35. They said professors are worried about their own ability to seek academic freedom. Some are looking for jobs in other states.

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36. Carolyne Ali-Khan is an education professor at the University of North Florida.

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37. “These governmental attacks from the State of Florida have made us unsafe,” she told the AAUP.

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38. Kenneth Nunn is a former law professor at the University of Florida.

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39. He said good job candidates who are Black are no longer considering Florida schools, “because they see attacks on CRT as attacks on what they do.”

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40. In its report, the AAUP said it offered the chancellor, or top leader, of the Florida College System a chance to present Florida’s side of the story.

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41. The chancellor, Kathy Hebda, said no because, she said, the AAUP would not “fairly and fully consider any testimony.”

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42. When the sanction came out, a representative from New College of Florida noted that the AAUP’s decision has no ability to force changes or prevent a

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43. university from operating. In a statement to the Tampa Bay Times New College spokesman Nathan March called the report an attempt to get attention.

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44. The AAUP did say it is not too late to prevent what happened at New College of Florida from happening in other places. “The time for intervention has not passed—yet.

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45. We call on all professional organizations, unions, faculty, students, staff, administrators, and communities across the country to fight such “reforms”,” it

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46. wrote. The group called academic freedom an important part of democratic societies.

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47. I’m Anna Matteo. And I'm Dan Friedell.

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