Professors from across the country have long been lured to Florida’s public colleges and universities, with the educators attracted to the research opportunities, student bodies, and the warm weather.
But for a swath of liberal-leaning professors, many of them holding highly coveted tenured positions, they’ve felt increasingly out of place in the Sunshine State. And some of them are pointing to the conservative administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as the reason for their departures, according to The New York Times.
DeSantis, who was elected to the governorship in 2018 and was easily reelected last fall, has over the course of his tenure worked to put a conservative imprint on a state where moderation was once a driving force in state politics. In recent years, DeSantis has railed against the current process by which tenure is awarded, and with a largely compliant GOP-controlled legislature, he’s imposed conservative education reforms across the state.
I’m just saying leaving isn’t going to improve the situation. If they’re leaving because they don’t want to do it anymore, that’s fine and I don’t blame them at all.
But if they think they’re making some kind of protest or statement by resigning, it won’t change anything and will arguably make the problem worse.
They’re not empowered to improve the situation. The only thing they can do is resign in protest and make a statement about why they are leaving. They should stay and suffer while the institutions they work for crumble?
Why would you stay working at a job where people are actively finding ways to fire you and you might get caught up in a literal witch hunt because someone decided that you are teaching “Anti-Christian Scientific Theories on Planetary Orbits” or whatever the latest stupidity there is?
But also? They ARE improving the situation. Florida is increasingly a lost cause where students get stupider by the year (and sometimes month). College professors are not qualified or trained in teaching basic education and all it does is take away time that can be spent teaching their passions… or whatever they got saddled with because they brought the wrong color of jello to the last department party.
But also? If someone decides “Well, Florida sucks but Professor Oliver does really interesting research work.” and puts themselves in that shithole? There is an argument that Professor Oliver is actively causing harm.
Maybe they just don’t want to live in Gilead.
Probably most realize moving out makes the situation in FL worse. Those that move probably prioritize improving their own situation. Maybe some think this will give a wake up call to DeSantis but if it is anything like mass resignations in a corporate setting, the kind of management that cultivates that kind of hostility also is unlikely to get the message; they certainly won’t blame themselves for anything.
The situation in Florida won’t improve. The situation in those professors’ lives will improve.