Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., is doing something about the "Schools for Cultural Marxism Pipeline."
Let's just say he’s given it the Nord Stream treatment and blown it up.
DeSantis signed a bill last week that in the words of The Hill, "bans public colleges in the state from using funds on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, the latest advance in his battle with higher education."
DeSantis asserted, "This bill says the whole experiment with DEI is coming to an end in the state of Florida."
Red state governors who are mystified as to how blue ideology continues to make inroads in their conservative states should pay close attention.
The large campaign donors and spouses of prominent legislators that you persist in appointing to the boards of regents that control state universities aren’t doing their job.
DEI is better translated as: uniformity, conformity and exclusion.
So, every university in the state that boasts a DEI bureaucracy is systematically undermining everything the governor does.
The role of regents in higher education is not to look spiffy in their academic robes during graduation ceremonies and talk about what an honor it is to once again be a part of their alma mater.
Their role is also to make sure the school’s curriculum is centered around what made this country great and not centered around how to destroy the nation that created the wealth necessary to fund the school.
These cowardly political appointees focus on a winning football team while losing the ideological battle in the classroom.
DeSantis’ bill will put spine in his boards of regents appointees and provides a template for other Red State governors.
The law also says general education courses required for all students at a university "may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics, violates, or is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities."
Timid regents in Florida can now point to state law as they make sure the university under their supervision is no longer a Marxist indoctrination factory.
This template will work in any red state and give regents the backbone to resist cries of "academic freedom" and "censorship" from Marxist professors and their presstitute handmaidens in the regime media.
Removing the anti-America emphasis may indeed alienate some current and potential students. DeSantis advised that budding Marxists who want to study gender ideology "should go to schools in other states, such as the University of California, Berkeley."
DeSantis also borrowed a page from the leftist playbook and turned it against them.
The latest thought control tactic in higher education is to force job applicants and student applicants to sign a "diversity statement" that pledges them to support Der Fuhrer — whoops — the DEI apparatchiks and follow them blindly down any leftist rabbit holes that come to their minds.
That is now illegal, too. DeSantis has completely banned "loyalty oaths."
As he termed the pledges, "It is really requiring you to sign up to support an ideological agenda."
These two bills aren’t small potatoes.
Every year leftist-controlled universities turn out a new crop of brainwashed Marxists ready to turn red states blue.
If red state governors don’t get off their collective duffs and blow up the Schools for Cultural Marxism Pipeline like DeSantis just did, in 20 to 30 years there won’t be any red states.
Michael Reagan, the eldest son of President Reagan, is a Newsmax TV analyst. A syndicated columnist and author, he chairs The Reagan Legacy Foundation. Michael is an in-demand speaker with Premiere speaker's bureau. Read Michael Reagan's Reports — More Here.
Michael R. Shannon is a commentator, researcher for the League of American Voters, and an award-winning political and advertising consultant with nationwide and international experience. He is author of "Conservative Christian's Guidebook for Living in Secular Times (Now with added humor!)" Read Michael Shannon's Reports — More Here.