Florida’s public universities are falling victim to DeSantis’ war on progress

Jeanette Nuñez has been installed as “acting president” of Florida International University. As Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Sunny Isles, put it, Nuñez chose to “do a 180 for political expediency, drop a $120-thousand position and exchange it for a million-dollar position, at the university with the most number of in-state tuition waivers for undocumented kids.” FIU once prided itself on educating Dreamers, declaring, “DACA and undocumented students have a home at FIU.” The faculty don’t want her; the students are protesting; Panther Now, the FIU newspaper, calls her a “political nepo baby.” But DeSantis wants her, so the FIU Board of Trustees snaps to attention and barks, “Yes, sir!” DeSantis, the lame duck and failed presidential candidate, may have lost much of his hold on the Legislature but, given that he appoints state university trustees, our institutions must still suffer his anti-intellectualism, his spite, and his obsession with “woke.” Like FIU, Florida Atlantic has also been landed with a new president, an unimpressive ex-legislator who once proudly declared himself “the most partisan Republican in Tallahassee.” Adam Hasner beat out FSU’s dean of the College of Business and the University of Maine’s provost: two genuinely qualified candidates. ‘Transformational leader’ When Sasse was announced as UF’s new leader, state politicos hailed him as a “transformational leader,” though a more accurate description would be “useless and not very smart.” Sasse is given to spouting dim-witted, ill-phrased educational theories he clearly imagines are cutting-edge when they’re simply nonsense. Stuff like: “Our monolithic system lacks incentives to empower social entrepreneurs to spark intellectual curiosity” and “a thriving system will cultivate a student’s self-awareness about different learning styles and help them develop a style that works for them.” Those of us in the academy would first take a red pencil to this pitiful excuse for English and explain that “cultivating” different “learning styles” and “sparking intellectual curiosity” is what we call “teaching.” Appointing university presidents used to take place out in the open, where taxpayers could see the process. Jock college DeSantis’ hand-picked trustees installed Richard Corcoran, a man singularly lacking in intellect, training, and relevant experience, as president, paying him more than twice the salary of his eminently qualified predecessor.