Thank God for Ron DeSantis - Florida Colleges Will be REQUIRED to PROTECT Viewpoint Diversity (party, education)

[charolastra00]

Is viewpoint diversity allowed at bible colleges or schools like BYU with archaic "honor codes" or does it only matter if it's a liberal arts college?

[Taratova]

DeSantis is a doer. He guards our freedoms and he acts on it to protect Americans rights of free speech.

[villageidiot1]

So according to this Florida law:

The State Board of Education shall select or create an objective, nonpartisan, and statistically valid survey to be used by each institution which considers the extent to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented and members of the college community, including students, faculty, and staff, feel free to express their beliefs and viewpoints on campus and in the classroom. The Board of Governors shall annually compile and publish the assessments by September 1 of each year, beginning on September 1, 2022.

I'm not sure what this survey accomplishes except collect information that will list various groups who feel their freedom of speech has been infringed on Florida college campuses. Some college professors will probably report that they have been reprimanded for talking about certain subjects in class where students have complained. Various student minorities will certainly complain about their rights to publicize or promote their groups ideas. As a college undergraduate majoring in accounting and finance, I don't ever remember an issue with expressing my beliefs and viewpoints in a class. I think this is true for the majority of majors such as math, the sciences, engineering, nursing, etc.

I went back to school part-time and got a political science degree and teaching certificate. Times had changed since the 1970s and I had to deal with some different diversity issues in regard to preparing to teach. We had a few discussions in class about this and it prepared me for what I would deal with in schools. Again, there was no issue in expressing my my beliefs and viewpoints. Since I was older than the other students, I was able to express the viewpoint of an older person.

The point is that this is only a survey and speech is protected in this country by the First Amendment. If this survey finds cases where people's First Amendment rights are being violated, then it is a good idea. I doubt there will be many of these cases. If so, the ACLU will likely be willing to take on the case. I think the end result will be negligible. Various minority groups will complain. The state attorney general might investigate and likely find no rights have been violated.

[shadowne]

Originally Posted by Winterbeard

I did visit one once, and despite them being adults, they were treated like kids. Separated by sex, tight curfews etc. Quite frankly, I didn't know how it was supposed to prepare people for the real world.

What college was this? It obviously wasn't a state college or university which is the topic of this conversation.

[Winterbeard]

Originally Posted by shadowne

What college was this? It obviously wasn't a state college or university which is the topic of this conversation.

Florida Southern College - don't know about enough about the US college system to know much about it, but would have thought it fell under the umbrella of "Florida colleges".

Sorry if it doesn't apply.

[Winterfall8324]

Originally Posted by BlakeJones

Comply or die! amirite?

But that's not actually the problem, the problem is being punished for your 'viewpoint'. In a majority of colleges in the United States TODAY, if you for example insist and make it known consistently that your 'view' is that there are only men and women and no other genders, you WILL be reprimanded and ultimately thrown out of school

Students should learn discipline rather than to foolishly rebel for some imagined 'self-expression'.

University requires a student body than knows how to keep their opinions to themselves.

[ChrisC]

Originally Posted by Leo58

Just curious - How long has it been since you graduated from college?

Quite sometime. But I teach at a university. I've watched things go to hell over the past twenty years or so.

Originally Posted by Winterfall8324

University requires a student body than knows how to keep their opinions to themselves.

Not true. A professor that requires or encourages lemming-like behavior in the classroom is not a professor but an indoctrinator.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by BlakeJones

But that's not actually the problem, the problem is being punished for your 'viewpoint'. In a majority of colleges in the United States TODAY, if you for example insist and make it known consistently that your 'view' is that there are only men and women and no other genders, you WILL be reprimanded and ultimately thrown out of school

Got any credible stats to back that up?

Originally Posted by BlakeJones

The only thing he has to do, and it's really simple, is to codify the rights of students and faculty to express views without reprisal.

Doesn't the First Amendment already do that, considering that state-operated universities are an extension of the "government", which cannot restrict speech?

It's not about forcing or requiring one view or the other,

The hell it isn't.

Originally Posted by Winterbeard

The opinions and biases of the faculty are inescapable, but we have to trust in our young people that they can form their own biases/opinions/views of the world. I certainly don't share my old lecturer's opinions on the history of the luddite rebellion (for instance), and I would suspect most students don't just blindly follow the points of view of their teacher/professor.

I would hope not as well. I never had a problem debating with my professors, even religion professors at a Catholic university (Bro. Leo, if you're listening from the great beyond, Vatican II is a real thing!). Students who say they are "afraid" of disagreeing with their instructors sound cowardly to me. If enough of them do voice their disagreement, wouldn't that make them at least a plurality? Strength in numbers and all that ...

Originally Posted by WanderingWolf

America is about freedom of ideas, expressions, and thoughts.

Which anyone can get at almost any college in the country - maybe not at places like Liberty University, though.

Originally Posted by moneill

If you are raising individuals who you fear are subject to the feelings of a Professor and aren't able to weed out and source information on their own -- that person probably shouldn't be at a university.

Good point. A college education will teach you how to think, not what to think. There is a huge difference, although a lot of folks on this thread can't figure it out.

Originally Posted by kmom2

The accusations that get thrown around can seriously damage a person: racist, transphobic, misogynist, white supremacist.

Here's an easy remedy: Don't be a racist, transphobic, misogynist, or white supremacist.

Originally Posted by Kristinas_Cap

It has been awhile since I was in college, but I always wrote my term papers with a far left slant which certainly helped my grades. I realized this my first semester at college I was in a political science class and the professor was being so vile and mean to someone with a conservative viewpoint. I quickly learned that if I wanted to be viewed positively I would have to write accordingly.

How easily your values are compromised. That's on you.

Originally Posted by charolastra00

Is viewpoint diversity allowed at bible colleges or schools like BYU with archaic "honor codes" or does it only matter if it's a liberal arts college?

No double standard there, right?! I think some folks believe that "liberal arts" equals "politically liberal". Another case of "I don't think that word means what you think it means".

[kmom2]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Here's an easy remedy: Don't be a racist, transphobic, misogynist, or white supremacist.

So any person who calls someone one of these epithets is automatically correct, in your eyes? Interesting. That is exactly the problem.

At a town meeting last year, anyone who didn't want to take funds away from the police force was labeled a racist and white supremacist. This is the type of intimidation I'm talking about. A person becomes silent for fear of being called a horrible name and targeted by activists. No amount of disavowing police misconduct or racism helped. It was a forced binary: defund the police, or you are a racist and white supremacist.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by kmom2

So any person who calls someone one of these epithets is automatically correct, in your eyes?

I didn't say that. Put words into someone else's mouth.