State faculty union pushes back against directive to review materials for antisemitism, anti-Israeli bias

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida’s faculty union is calling a new directive from the state academic censorship.

The United Faculty of Florida is pushing back in response to a directive from Chancellor Ray Rodrigues about universities reviewing instructional materials for “antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias.”

“We reject the premise that this directive is a good faith effort to uncover ‘bias.’ Instead, we recognize it as another politically motivated attack on academic freedom aimed at chilling speech and intimidating faculty and graduate teaching assistants,” United Faculty of Florida said in a statement.

Attorney General Ashley Moody sent a letter this week reminding universities of the state’s “zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism.”

“Last year, my office circulated a memo advising higher education officials of the zero-tolerance policy for antisemitism in our state,” Moody said. “Florida offered an example to the rest of the country with swift action while other states witnessed their colleges and universities overtaken by chaos and, in some instances, crime. Let this serve as a reminder, there is no room in our state for lawlessness or antisemitism. As a new school year begins, we are renewing our commitment to making Florida a safe state for Jewish students.”

A spokesperson with the University of South Florida told News Channel 8 the university has updated its policy on discrimination and harassment “to explicitly prohibit antisemitism and islamophobia along with all other instances of hateful expression targeting individuals because of their religion, shared ancestry or cultural heritage.”

“I think it’s great that teachers are being more inclusive to Jewish students and making sure everyone is safe on campus,” USF student Jay Lappis said.

The United Faculty of Florida sent a copy of the email to News Channel 8. In the email sent to university presidents, Rodrigues said they are going to, “conduct a keyword search on course descriptions and course syllabi. Any course that contains the following keywords: Israel, Israeli, Palestine, Palestinian, Middle East, Zionism, Zionist, Judaism, Jewish, or Jews will be flagged for review. This process will ensure that all universities are reviewing the same courses, and nothing falls through the cracks.”

“We direct faculty and graduate teaching assistants to stand united in upholding the principles of academic freedom and continue teaching with integrity and rigor. We will support them and fight for their right to academic freedom,” United Faculty of Florida said in a statement.

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