Three Florida professors file lawsuit against Republican-led tenure restrictions

Three Florida college professors upset by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ conservative remake of their public campuses have sued the state for gutting the tenure protections of dissenting faculty.

Professors Sarah Hernandez of the New College of Florida, Adriana Novoa of the University of South Florida and Steven J. Willis of the University of Florida filed the lawsuit this month in Leon County.

Their complaint accuses the state Legislature’s Republican supermajority of depriving them of “substantive protections inherent in their current tenured position” in a 2023 law targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

That law established five-year reviews for tenured professors and gave college presidents the sole authority to fire defiant faculty.

“I think it’s broader than just DEI,” said Jono Miller, president of NCF Freedom, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of the professors. “Giving this unique power to presidents without any appeal mechanism means you could lose your job for having the wrong political affiliation or a fender-bender in the parking lot with the president’s spouse.”

The complaint names as defendants the Republican leaders of the state Senate and House and the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the tenure system for public colleges.

It seeks an injunction against the law and a declaration that GOP lawmakers violated language in the Florida Constitution that guarantees the board exclusive authority over state universities.

The Washington Times has reached out to Florida officials for comment.

Under Mr. DeSantis, Florida has tapped several Republican lawmakers to lead state universities in recent years. They include former Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse, who stepped down as president of the flagship University of Florida on July 31.

Former state Rep. Mike Hill, a Republican from the Pensacola area, said the five-year tenure review responds to professors who pledged openly to defy state-led restrictions on DEI teaching and race-based hiring practices.

“This law makes it easier for university presidents to see if professors are adhering to standards of academic performance or the DEI ideology,” said Mr. Hill, an analyst at the conservative National Center for Public Policy Research. “As long as they don’t impose their DEI ideology on students, they’ll be fine.”

According to conservatives, Florida’s universities have shifted rightward with the political winds of the state in recent years.

Others, including the state’s largest faculty unions, have accused the DeSantis administration of infringing on academic freedom.

Mr. Miller is one of several former faculty members, alumni, staff and trustees from New College of Florida who founded NCF Freedom in January 2023.

They created the group after the governor appointed several conservative trustees, including Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo, to oversee the liberal arts campus in Sarasota.

“We know that the DeSantis administration is incredibly vindictive,” said Mr. Miller, a 1970 graduate of New College and former head of its Environmental Studies Program. “It’s a dangerous trend when the legislatures are determining directly how public universities are operating.”

In an email, New College spokesman Nathan March declined to comment on the lawsuit since it does not name the school as a defendant.

In the U.S., tenure has traditionally protected professors from political censorship and termination. However, that protection has come under pressure in recent years, as a handful of public university systems have looked to make it easier to get rid of tenured professors.

Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor in the history of education at the University of Pennsylvania, said efforts to erode tenure threaten professors from all political backgrounds.

“The current attack is brought to you by Republicans, who imagine that it will rid the university of ‘woke’ professors,” Mr. Zimmerman said. “But the GOP will live to regret it, especially when a professor is fired or not re-hired for criticizing gender-affirming care or race-based affirmative action.”