Discussion:
Florida Republicans pass school bills on pronouns, diversity
(too old to reply)
Bam Child Butchers Too!
2023-05-06 04:53:34 UTC
Permalink
Ban fags altogether or just start throwing them in the swamps for the
gators to eat.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. —
Related video above: New Florida bill would restrict use of preferred
gender pronouns in schools

Florida Republicans on Wednesday approved bills to ban diversity programs
in colleges and prevent students and teachers from being required to use
pronouns that don’t correspond to someone’s sex, building on top
priorities of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The two proposals were given final passage by the Republican
supermajorities in the House and Senate. DeSantis is expected to sign the
bills into law.

DeSantis, who is expected to announce a presidential campaign in the
coming weeks, has driven a hardline conservative agenda as he seeks to
bolster support of Republican primary voters ahead of his White House run.

The state’s Legislative session, scheduled to end this week, has been
dominated by divisive cultural issues, with Republican allies of DeSantis
approving his priority bills on sexual orientation, gender identity, race
and education that are expected to aid the governor in his presidential
bid.

The Senate on Wednesday voted to expand the law critics call “Don’t Say
Gay,” a major calling card of DeSantis, with a sweeping bill that prevents
school staffers or students from being required to refer to people by
pronouns that don’t correspond to the person’s sex.

It also bans classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual
orientation up to the 8th grade, legally reinforcing a DeSantis
administration move to prohibit such lessons in all grades. Additionally,
the bill strengthens the system in which people can lodge challenges
against school books, another DeSantis initiative that has led to the
removal of material he and his supporters argue are inappropriate for
children.

“Think about what we’re doing, honestly. Think about how this will affect
families that don’t look like yours,” said Sen. Tracie Davis, a Democrat.
“They’re still families. They’re Florida families. But we’re treating them
like they’re outsiders and we’re telling them we don’t want them here.”

Republicans said the bill is intended to shield children from sexualized
content and reinforce that teachers should conform to existing state
curriculums.

“You see society coming at our children in a culture war that has an
agenda to make them confused,” Republican Sen. Erin Grall said. “We are
depriving children of the ability to figure out who they are when we push
an agenda, a sexualized agenda, down onto children.”

Separately, Republicans in the House gave final passage to a DeSantis
priority bill that bans colleges from using state or federal funding for
diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Such initiatives, sometimes referred to as DEI, have come under increasing
criticism from Republicans who argue the programs are racially divisive.

DeSantis to expand ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law to all grades in FloridaFlorida
Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration is moving to forbid lessons on sexual
orientation and gender identity in all grades, expanding the controversial
“Don’t Say Gay” law.0 seconds of 29 secondsVolume 90%

Republican lawmakers in at least a dozen states have proposed more than 30
bills this year targeting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in
higher education, an Associated Press analysis found using the bill-
tracking software Plural.

“They want rote belief in the same thing. They say they want inclusion,
but they don’t unless you believe what they believe,” said Rep. Randy
Fine, a Republican. “These programs are being used all over the country.
Imagine how great our universities will be when we are the only ones who
are not.”

The House also approved a proposal to ban people from entering bathrooms
that do not correspond to their sex, a bill aimed at transgender bathroom
use.

DeSantis is expected to formally announce his presidential candidacy after
the end of the legislative session. He has spent significant time in
recent months traveling to battleground states and elsewhere to promote
his conservative agenda and trumpet his policies on race, gender and
education.

In the statehouse, Democrats, who have no power to stop the Republican
legislation, have increasingly begun to vent over the rightward shift in
policy emanating from the GOP.

“The message that resonates from this chamber over the last few years is
one of hate and exclusion and punishment,” said Democratic Sen. Jason
Pizzo. “There is very little grace and very little compassion.”

<https://www.wesh.com/article/pronouns-bill-florida/43803095>
Axel Troost
2023-05-23 03:26:30 UTC
Permalink
Nobody has the right to free speech if it conflicts with my rules.
Over 100 Harvard professors have added their names to the school’s new
Council on Academic Freedom in an attempt to defend free speech in one of
America’s most famous schools.

"We are in a crisis time right now," Janet Halley, a Harvard Law School
professor and feminist legal theory scholar, told The New York Post.

"Many, many people are being threatened with — and actually put through —
disciplinary processes for their exercise of free speech and academic
freedom," Halley said.

Halley is one of 103 members of the Council on Academic Freedom as of
April 27.

HARVARD ESTABLISHES FACULTY-LED 'COUNCIL ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM' FOCUSED ON
FREE SPEECH

Harvard banners
Over 100 Harvard professors have added their names to the school’s new
Council on Academic Freedom in an attempt to defend free speech in one of
America’s most famous schools. (Michael Fein/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The initiative has been led by professors Stephen Pinker and Bertha
Madras, who announced the council in an op-ed for the Boston Globe. The
organization, both professors wrote, was intended to "inform new faculty
about Harvard’s commitments to free speech and the resources available to
them when it is threatened," the Harvard professors wrote.

The newly established Council on Academic Freedom plans to promote and
uphold the principles of "free inquiry, intellectual diversity, and civil
discourse" at the university, according to the two Harvard professors on
the council.

Professors Pinker and Madras wrote that as members of the council, which
was established in March, they plan to "sponsor workshops, lectures, and
courses on the topic of academic freedom."

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY RANKS DEAD LAST IN THE NATION FOR COLLEGE FREE SPEECH:
STUDY

Harvard University
Harvard professors Pinker and Madras also emphasized that they would
defend other academics who are canceled by "activists" for speaking their
minds on campus. (Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

Pinker and Madras also emphasized that they would defend other academics
who are canceled by "activists" for speaking their minds on campus.

"We will encourage the adoption and enforcement of policies that protect
academic freedom. When an individual is threatened or slandered for a
scholarly opinion, which can be emotionally devastating, we will lend our
personal and professional support."

"When activists are shouting into an administrator’s ear, we will speak
calmly but vigorously into the other one, which will require them to take
the reasoned rather than the easy way out," they continued.

STANFORD DEI DEAN SLAMS INVITED FEDERAL JUDGE TO HIS FACE AT CAMPUS EVENT,
ASKS IF FREE SPEECH IS ‘WORTH IT’

A seal hangs over a building at Harvard University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts November 16, 2012. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi (UNITED STATES -
Tags: EDUCATION) - RTR3AIAS
A seal hangs over a building at Harvard University in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, Nov. 16, 2012. (Reuters/Jessica Rinaldi )

The original idea for the council originated in 2022, according to the
council’s website.

Harvard University did not immediately respond to a request for comment
from Fox News Digital.

missbeatrice
27 April, 2023

So now these Ivy League colleges are doing an about face? Why, because
CEO’s like myself all the way up to Supreme Court justices have come out
and said they won’t hire graduates of these schools? I applaud these
professors for finally standing up for free speech but it’s too little,
too late. I would need to see DRASTIC changes before I will hire from any
Ivy League school.

campbe33
29 April, 2023

I heard this quote the other day, "College should be the most dangerous
place intellectually, where free thinking is supported and all ideas
should be challenged and debated with civility. Then students will have
really learned something." Some of the colleges squashing free speech used
to be the bedrock of free thinking, critical intellectual thought and
debate, but they've turned into 'one mind, one thought' institutions of
indoctrination.

vintagesenior
27 April, 2023

They will not be trustworthy until every professor with tenure is long
gone!

<https://www.foxnews.com/media/over-100-harvard-professors-staff-stand-up-
free-speech-new-council-we-are-in-a-crisis-time>

Loading...