It seems that the main proponents of “diversity, “tolerance” and “intellectual freedom” on Florida’s college campuses are adamantly opposed to explaining what drives their beliefs – which by and large are routinely and reliably anti-conservative.
Foes of a 2021 state law that requires colleges and universities to survey students and faculty at state colleges and universities on “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” on campus petitioned a federal judge to block the initiative – which was expected to start as early as next week.
“Attorneys for students, faculty members, and groups challenging the law filed an emergency motion Saturday seeking a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction,” The News Service of Florida reported Monday.
The News Service added that the plaintiffs’ lawyers claimed the law “threatens irreparable harm” to their clients’ First Amendment rights.
“Defendants are required to report survey ‘results’ in September, which Florida’s leaders have made plain they intend to use to punish or suppress disfavored viewpoints,” the plaintiffs said in court records.
“At the very least, the junk science that defendants peddle with these surveys threatens to further fuel a false narrative that has put academic freedom and plaintiffs’ free speech and associational rights under direct and severe attack. To accomplish those harms, defendants need only campus-wide statistics.”
Their motion was filed with Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee, which gives them a good chance of succeeding.
Walker, appointed to the bench by former President Barack Obama, is a notorious liberal who rarely rules in favor of Republicans or conservatives.
Yet as the law was being debated last year, a House staff report explained why GOP lawmakers overwhelmingly supported it.
The report cited a 2020 analysis by the First Amendment group Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE.
FIRE found that only three of the 11 state universities it evaluated “had policies that did not inhibit free expression,” the House report says.
That was so even though in April 2019, the chancellor of Florida’s State University System, all 12 state university presidents, and the chair of the Florida College System’s Council of Presidents “signed resolutions affirming their commitment to providing for free expression on campus,” the report noted.
In the House report, lawmakers also cited a national survey that, in part, found:
- 22 percent of students said they feel “very uncomfortable” publicly disagreeing with a professor about a controversial topic;
- 29 percent of them thought their college’s administration “did not make it clear that free speech was protected on campus”;
- 60 percent of students reported that they could not express their opinions on a subject because of how other students, a professor, or the campus administration would react;
- 60 percent also recalled at least one time while they were in college when they declined to share their view for fear of how others would respond.
The House report further noted that “students who identified as Conservative were more likely to report a prior self-censorship incident.” Overall, 72 percent of conservative students admitted to self-censoring, compared to 55 percent for liberal students.
According to the News Service, the lawsuit challenging the statute is scheduled for September.
Last fall, in arguing for the case to be dismissed, lawyers for the state argued, “Without knowing the content of any survey, how it will be administered, or how the results may be utilized in the future, plaintiffs foretell future injuries resulting from a hypothetical chain of contingencies that find no footing in the language of the statute they are challenging.”
“Of course, this is not how the constitutionality of a statute is determined.”
Visit Tampafp.com for Politics, Tampa Area Local News, Sports, and National Headlines. Support journalism by clicking here to our GiveSendGo or sign up for our free newsletter by clicking here.
Android Users, Click Here To Download The Free Press App And Never Miss A Story. Follow Us On Facebook Here Or Twitter Here.