What its like to be a faculty member in Florida, elsewhere, and maybe your local university soon. Racists try to entrap you into saying something that the Governor has deemed is grounds for dismissal, or make false claims. Free speech on campus is clearly declining. - ThreadSky

donmoyn.bsky.social • 9 days ago

What its like to be a faculty member in Florida, elsewhere, and maybe your local university soon. Racists try to entrap you into saying something that the Governor has deemed is grounds for dismissal, or make false claims.
Free speech on campus is clearly declining.

Comments

karenmoser.bsky.social•9 days ago

And are there any consequences for these (fake or real) students who make false accusations?

oxcub311.bsky.social•9 days ago

This is straight out of the O’Keefe and Project Veritas playbook. Gotcha moments taken out of context.

charlie2daisy.bsky.social•9 days ago

I’m a college Professor (not in Florida) and I worry constantly. One mad student calling the dept of education and my university’s funding could be threatened.

kle138.bsky.social•9 days ago

And we should all be clear this isn’t even a Trump problem, that will necessarily end with Trump. We’ve got Republicans and reactionary centrists trying to police our speech, in a transparent attempt to promote their own racist, patriarchal, backward-looking worldview.

mrxexon.bsky.social•9 days ago

I lived in Florida over 40 years ago when it was still a fun place.

This state will never see a dime out of me anymore. Ruled by the greedy...

odetteroulette.bsky.social•8 days ago

I'm aware every single day cld be the last day of teaching, but I haven't stopped teaching critical thinking and that's the deal.

jholston.bsky.social•9 days ago

Faculty that can should flee hate states .

jajnyc11.bsky.social•9 days ago

This is so troubling and scary.

deblavoy.bsky.social•8 days ago

They always go after education

wayofthelotus.bsky.social•9 days ago

Professors should start filming their lectures for exactly this reason.

peytonfarquhar.bsky.social•8 days ago

They tend to work for the local "_____ Public Policy Foundation" cookie cutter chapter.

They orchestrate social media attacks on faculty, based on keywords in course titles.

ericrichards.bsky.social•9 days ago

Florida is just one giant human rights violation. Why people choose to live in that garbage is beyond me.

spencerfleury.bsky.social•9 days ago

Well, for one thing, a lot of people can’t afford to move. It’s expensive, and it’s often hard to find a job in another state. For another, a lot of people rely heavily on their personal networks of friends and family, and those networks take a long time to rebuild elsewhere.

Hope that helps.

anidealhusbando.bsky.social•9 days ago

Listen, bub. I was born and raised in Florida and I’ll have you know you’re 100% correct, it’s terrible

lucky5556.bsky.social•9 days ago

This is terrifying

briscocountyjr.bsky.social•9 days ago

Trump is always ranting about "witch hunts" but this kind of activity more closely fits the definition. Make an unsubstantiated accusation against someone and get them fired (instead of hanged or burnt at the stake, or pressed to death).

matthewboedy.bsky.social•9 days ago

Florida will again be in the 2025 Faculty in the South Survey. 2024 Results:

https://www.aaupgeorgia.org/policy-resources/faculty-in-the-south-survey

gordonvincent.bsky.social•9 days ago

The Jimmy Stewart film we are in was called The Mortal Storm.

jerdem.bsky.social•9 days ago

Then why is Dr. Ono leaving for UF? Guaranteed success after Sasse?

apurbachakraborty.bsky.social•9 days ago

Because he's terrible

hotel-putingrad.bsky.social•9 days ago

Three million reasons

thebookprof.bsky.social•9 days ago

He wants to retire where it’s warm

freethinker65.bsky.social•9 days ago

Teach elsewhere. Let the State rot.

juanitaiguana1.bsky.social•9 days ago

My son-in-law teaches Art at the University in Orlando. I haven't heard anything, but I am sure they have been instructed on what not to say.

thebookprof.bsky.social•9 days ago

DeSantis just posted on X that the Univ of W Florida needs to return an $800,000 STEM teacher training grant because somewhere in their perspectus the term “cultural responsiveness” was mentioned. I guess his staff has nothing to do but comb thru hundreds of pages of documents to look for “wokeness”

justicewarrior4all.bsky.social•9 days ago

Thanks to the Zionist

paranoidfactoid2.bsky.social•9 days ago

BUT WHAT ABOUT FREE SPEECH?

jankrav.bsky.social•9 days ago

@electproject.bsky.social - what say you? 🧡💙

gerardharbison.bsky.social•9 days ago

TPUSA used to sit in my Chemistry lectures, listening for anything that could be interpreted as 'controversial'. Eventually they settled for the story of Fritz Haber, who invented chemical warfare to help Germany in WWI, yet was fired by the Nazis. Haber converted to Episcopalian, but a Jew's a Jew.

vermivorax.bsky.social•8 days ago

Did they actually try to get you in trouble for it?

gerardharbison.bsky.social•8 days ago

They wrote in my evaluations I was ‘always getting political’. I mean, criticizing Nazis and chemical warfare? Brainwashing!

karums-caramel.bsky.social•9 days ago

📌

cirquedufromage.bsky.social•9 days ago

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.

zugernat.bsky.social•9 days ago

If people don’t stand together and so no, things will only get worse.

kittywampuss.bsky.social•9 days ago

This is coming to Ohio already this fall. I teach in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies. My instinct is to stand tall, but I don’t want to be stupid about it. I can’t retire yet.

The U of F prof who wrote the NYT essay was hit by a fabricated accusation. A second one would’ve sunk her. ☠️

tanninman.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yet another reason to never, ever return to Florida or buy products manufactured there. Good riddance

the-mda.bsky.social•9 days ago

And they’re about to hire U of Michigan’s president, Santa Ono. Wonder if he knows what he’s getting into.

nancyspantsbelt.bsky.social•9 days ago

Vile dictatorship of dolts.👹👹👹

donmoyn.bsky.social•9 days ago

Next to this excellent piece you see links to a) an interview with Chris Rufo, and b) a NYT editorial board defense of higher education...which repeats Rufo/DeSantis/Trump attacks on higher ed. There has been fuck all consideration by the Times about their role in undermining speech.

antifascistht.bsky.social•9 days ago

dougwar40k.bsky.social•9 days ago

The editors of the New York Times decidedly do not understand what team they are on, nor what will happen to them if the opposing team wins.

angold.bsky.social•9 days ago

This is so short-sighted by all of the red state universities. There is no vast well of aspiring Rufos out there. Most kids want to be taught by competent professors, not "intellectual diversity" hires.

jenebbeler.bsky.social•9 days ago

Also, there isn’t some large pool of qualified “diversity hires” who have been losing out on jobs because all the liberals refuse to hire them.

Also, if our upper admin is all STEM ppl, doesn’t “viewpoint diversity” also include hiring humanities ppl into some of those jobs? (I kid…)

crimedog.bsky.social•9 days ago

It’s almost as if they are nothing more than a major corporation whose executives and board members want tax cuts.

p0rtiab00.bsky.social•9 days ago

The people who run the Times are corrupt, soulless toads.

marshallb19st.bsky.social•9 days ago

Love how this conflates engaging in debate (e.g. expressing disagreement with a right wing belief and explaining why) with "silencing debate".

[Actually, usually engaging in debate with right wing beliefs involves providing evidence that said belief is simply not based on facts.]

flor9.bsky.social•9 days ago

Boycott NYT, WaPo, Político NOW. Don’t subscribe, cancel your subscription, don’t read gift articles.

Give your money, time and attention to independent media—
@motherjones.com
@vanityfair.com
@teenvogue.com
@npr.org
@reuters.com
@theatlantic.com
@newyorker.com
@theguardian.com

piskyinpresbyland.bsky.social•9 days ago

Don't give money to the transphobic gobshites at the Guardian.

ianbobmorris.bsky.social•9 days ago

In a lot of cases "silence debate" means let someone say stuff without being able to criticize stuff, you could question what covid non pharmaceutical interventions were effective but saying people should get infected to make someone's life more convenient for them gets pushback

kbsutt.bsky.social•8 days ago

Except the principal reason why the NYT is so bad on this is super proud of his WaPo oped…

trashmale.bsky.social•9 days ago

We've long since passed "fuck all consideration." They seem openly in the "we make this choice every single day" box.

donmoyn.bsky.social•9 days ago

The conditions around campus speech are far worse now than I have ever seen in the US. The idea that Trump/DeSantis are merely overcorrecting from a previous era is just flat out wrong.

jgears4.bsky.social•9 days ago

And this is the school Santa Ono is leaving U of M for to be president for? Interesting.

matunos.bsky.social•9 days ago

I guess that's why they had to offer him $3MM

donmoyn.bsky.social•9 days ago

Yeah, honestly if this is what he sees as ideal conditions for learning, UM is well-rid of him.

bweiny.bsky.social•9 days ago

The "turnabout is fair play" argument is horseshit because the alleged wokeness wasn't the product of govt decree. You can dislike it, but it was the zeitgeist of the people that composed the campus. Govt dictates are the opposite. Not the same thing at all.

otho32.bsky.social•9 days ago

Conservative students have the freedom to express themselves. They seem to conflate freedom of expression with a welcoming acceptance of their perspectives, however. Just as they are free to express themselves, we are equally free to reject their viewpoints if we so choose.

rotovalue.com•9 days ago

Not just conservative students! The NYT ran an editorial 3 years ago saying you had a right to express your opinion "without fear of being shamed or shunned". How that applies when my opinion is you should be shamed is a conundrum!

https://www.popehat.com/p/our-fundamental-right-to-shame-and

gearcinco.bsky.social•9 days ago

I think a lot of the issues lie with the umbrella of “alternate facts.” They are usually supported by nothing but being contrarian to scientific or proven facts, the echoed.

otho32.bsky.social•9 days ago

And expect, if not demand, approval of their flawed logic and unsubstantiated conclusions.

gearcinco.bsky.social•9 days ago

🎯

vaelis.bsky.social•9 days ago

Exactly, all the “free speech” debate is actually about the ability to reject speech and nobody has ever admitted it. It so clearly has always been about making it impossible for any minority to reject society saying we are subhuman and must be removed from power & society and reconverted to slaves.

mmorgenschoen.bsky.social•9 days ago

they have an actual fucking law to "prohibit teaching men they must feel guilt for the actions of other men"?

sarahdactyl.bsky.social•9 days ago

The false equivalence the NYTs and other 'thinkers' keep repeating between banning speech that is neutral for ideological reasons and putting limits on speech that is dehumanizing of protected characteristics may literally cause the end of the republic.

donmoyn.bsky.social•9 days ago

Some people in the replies wondering why Santa Ono, President of the University of Michigan, took a job at U Florida. At this point, no real reason to give him the benefit of the doubt: he was happy to take a pay raise to run an institution with weaker speech protections.
https://bsky.app/profile/silkyweineck.bsky.social/post/3lomlh7qv3c2i

pxleyes.bsky.social•8 days ago

Yet FL republicans are dragging him as a leftist. He's getting it from both sides.

saffermaster.bsky.social•9 days ago

America and is a seriously fucked up country

mlmartens.bsky.social•8 days ago

He prefers a place where faculty and students can't criticize him.

cmhoskins.bsky.social•9 days ago

OMG! Has this insanity been happening all along or is this a huge shift in the community? I'm ignorant of it all but incredibly curious. Seems like a whole bunch of insanity happening in universities right now and it's hard to keep up. What is going on???? Seems scary.

lettersfromthewasteland.org•9 days ago

As a Michigan grad, good riddance.

illimij.bsky.social•9 days ago

Don't know about Santa Ono, but I noted reading the first 200 or so comments that the negative comments were all nearly identical: some variation of "I was a liberal prof but I saw terrible things done to promote diversity"; "where were you when conservatives' were being censored?"; staged replies?

silkyweineck.bsky.social•9 days ago

I think it's fairly obvious that he's a right-winger and played a liberal at UM as long as it netted him 1.3M a year. He was always closest to Ron Weiser and Sarah Hubbard, both Republicans. He can be himself for 3M/year now....

ladiaz.bsky.social•9 days ago

pro-active tariff adjustment...

debbikiekover.bsky.social•9 days ago

So disappointed in Ono. As a legacy U of M family he was not the leader fitting for the school.

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