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In the three years that passed on Ron Desantis, he got rid of ideological universities that woke up in Florida, the campus changed significantly. The professors suddenly feel anxious about what they can say and teach them. Some have begun to avoid terms such as “racism”. One of the students recently told me that when someone used a “cross” in the class, the coach told her not to use this word.
Soon this may be the case in schools all over the country. We all have heard stories about the elite institutions heading in front of President Trump’s assault on higher education. Take it from someone who knows: it may get worse – much worse.
Mr. Trump was watching what happened in Florida. The architect of education policies for the year 2025 said that Florida “leads the road” in university reform. Indeed, Mr. Trump threatened to withdraw funding from colleges that do not purify the language he considers to wake up. A new supervision of some regional studies sections. After that he can try to ban Florida has“Political or social activity”. It can weaken the protection provided by unions in possession and faculty unions. I saw this happening on my campus, and I know that the losses took place. If the Trump administration is its way, my experience may offer a preview of what will happen to other universities.
Before Mr. Desantis began targeting higher education, Florida faculty can be confident that officials support our professional judgments on how to teach our students. We conducted open and complex discussions without fear for our career. In a conversation in one of my chapters, the students expressed fear of provoking Catcalling, and their male peers responded carefully, reflecting their behavior – an educational experience for all. I am afraid that this conversation will be violated today in Florida, which is prohibited from teaching male students to feel guilty because of the actions of other men.
Since the campaign of Mr. Desantis, I have seen my colleagues who are harassing and investigating the address of topical issues, even outside the semester. Fear climate gives the government exactly the result it wants. Officials and faculty members are both obeying the proactive to avoid even the emergence of Box, which suffocates the type of open and civil discussions that lead students to developing their own views.
One of the colleagues told me that he had stopped appointing an article about the execution and white Angia, for fear that these terms would provoke red flags. Another said that she was under the supervision of her language not only in class and in the campus, but also on personal social media.
Several professors are subjected to the efforts of the holding. Last year, a man tried to demonstrate as a student Encouraging Muslim faculty members Members to criticize Mr. Disantis and Israel. A similar incident occurred to me. In October 2024, the head of the administrative department in his office called me to tell me that a person claiming to be a student in my religion and science had complained that I spent 20 minutes talking about specific candidates, including who I voted and why. I was surprised. This never happened in this chapter or anything else; It is an anti -how to study. Fortunately, the Dean’s office assured me that one accusation is baseless from work was not reasons for taking disciplinary action.
A lot of fear of the investigation is the way the accusation shook the confidence that I thought I was with my students. Does someone hate me a lot so that one lies to get a problem? In the end, I am convinced that the person who submitted the complaint was not a student in my description but rather a provocative. (Perhaps it was not a coincidence that the prosecution was brought short after my name appeared in a Politico article About the changes in our campus.)
This incident broke my conviction that if you work well and follow the rules, I will be safe. In more than 30 years at the University of Florida, I taught thousands of students, wrote hundreds of letters of recommendation and advised countless research projects. She published dozens of books and dozens of articles, won research and teaching awards and served in many university and university committees. But the state does not trust me in doing my job.
How can I challenge my students to ask difficult questions, to follow the research wherever it is, when I am concerned about what may happen to me if I do that? How can I follow the rules when university directors are not always sure how to explain them?
Teaching is, above all, the creation of a community in the semester, a network of confidence and curiosity that links students and trainers in a joint intellectual project. Lack of confidence, fear and self -control makes this project impossible.
With the recent actions of Mr. Trump, the campus atmosphere has grown more tense. His orders not only threaten humanities and social sciences, but also threatening to find STEM. Since the immigration agents detained and the deportation of international students, non -employed students on campus (and even some of the most manive citizens) maintain their heads more.
Like Mr. Disantes and Richard Nixon in front of him, Mr. Trump and Vice President JD Vance thinks that The professors are the enemy. They want the ordinary Americans the lack of confidence in the college coaches, and to think about us as unbearable militants that only political ideology lead.
University students were the greatest gift in my career. I love my university and my students, and I am doing a good job. I have no desire to teach anyone. The same applies to my colleagues.
For those who believe that the professors are the enemy, I invite you to spend time in our classroom. You may discover that, in the end, on the same side.
Anna Peterson is a professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Florida. Its books include “with God on our side: religion, social movements, social change” and “righteousness that righteousness: material practice in moral theory.”
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