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The University of Florida considers another DEI devotee for its president.
Gov. Ron DeSantis says Florida is “where woke goes to die,” but the University of Florida may be where woke goes to lead.
Last year the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees public universities statewide, rejected Santa Ono, the University of Florida trustees’ choice for president, over his support for DEI and other woke policies while University of Michigan president. A search committee has recommended another finalist devoted to DEI: Stuart Bell, a former University of Alabama president. Mr. DeSantis endorsed Mr. Bell as a “great selection,” but his prospects are far from certain.
Mr. Bell implemented DEI throughout his decadelong tenure at Alabama. These policies included an ambitious program that promoted race-based recruitment of students and faculty and the hiring of a DEI guru, G. Christine Taylor, as vice president and associate provost for DEI and of some 30 other DEI personnel, including college deans. In 2019 Alabama boasted that 36% of undergraduate courses were “diversity-related.” Mr. Bell said in a promotional video that Alabama had “over 70 student organizations which have diversity and inclusion as a focus.”
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Wall Street Journal (paywall)
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Judith Miller is a contributing editor of City Journal and adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Follow her on Twitter here. Paul du Quenoy is President of the Palm Beach Freedom Institute.