The University of Florida is eliminating the position of chief diversity officer, cutting program staff positions and halting all contracts related to the subject under a new law passed last year and pushed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
The university in Gainesville, Florida, said in a memo released Friday that staff whose jobs were eliminated will receive 12 weeks of pay and are encouraged to apply for other positions by April 19. diversity office for 15 faculty members, officials said.
Three senior UF officials said in the memo that despite the elimination of the diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, program, the school will continue with what they called “our commitment to universal human dignity.”
“As we educate students by carefully engaging with a wide range of ideas and beliefs, we will continue to foster a community of trust and respect for every member of the Gator Nation,” the memo says, referring to the school’s reptilian mascot .
In addition, $5 million that had been earmarked for the DEI program will be redirected to a faculty recruitment fund. The University of Florida has more than 55,000 students, according to its website.
The legislation passed and signed by DeSantis in 2023 — as he prepared for his failed presidential bid — was one of several measures aimed at ending what he called “woke” policies in education, including critical race theory and DEI.
Rules on DEI previously adopted by state education officials say state colleges and universities are prohibited “from using state or federal funds to administer programs that categorize individuals on the basis of race or sex for purposes of differential or preferential treatment.” DEI supporters say such offices help ensure equality and representation for people of different races, genders and disabilities.
In a statement on social media site X, DeSantis said: “DEI is toxic and has no place on our public universities. I am pleased that Florida was the first state to eliminate DEI and I hope more states will follow suit.”
However, Democrats view the effort as an excessive attempt to address a non-existent problem.
“I am stunned but not surprised by the elimination of DEI staff at the University of Florida, my alma mater,” Democratic state Rep. Yvonne Hayes Hinson said in an email. “The culture wars in the Republican-dominated Florida House of Representatives will continue. until Floridians have had enough and develop the will and determination to overturn the majority in the Florida House.”
After Florida and Texas, more Republican-led legislatures across the country have introduced about 50 similar anti-DEI bills this year, a recent Associated Press analysis found.
The new law will ultimately impact all public colleges and universities in Florida that have DEI programs. New College of Florida in Sarasota, where DeSantis appointed a group of conservative trustees, voted last year to abolish the DEI office.