The Associated Press reports:
College students and professors in Florida are suing education officials over a new law spurred by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ war on “woke,” saying it violates their constitutional rights by censoring academic freedom.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court Monday by students and professors at New College, a progressive school with a prominent LGBTQ+ community that was taken over earlier this year by DeSantis and his allies, who claimed it was indoctrinating students with leftist ideology.
Florida now leads the United States “in efforts to censor academic freedom and instruction in its college classrooms,” according to the lawsuit, which is seeking a court order to block the law from being enforced.
The Florida Phoenix reports:
“The student plaintiffs are adults capable of determining for themselves whether the viewpoints advanced by their various instructors … have merit,” the 81-page brief, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee, reads.
“In order to know whether the viewpoints advanced by their professors have merit, the student plaintiffs must first have an opportunity to encounter them; that is, they must be permitted to listen to the professors’ instruction in class,” it says.
“The professor plaintiffs are willing speakers and the student plaintiffs are willing listeners. They desire to engage in academic discussion concerning topics prohibited by SB 266.”
Florida now leads the United States “in efforts to censor academic freedom and instruction in its college classrooms,” according to the lawsuit, which is seeking a court order to block the law from being enforced. #DeSantisDestroysFlorida https://t.co/6SjP46fY4v
— Lesley Abravanel 🪩 (@lesleyabravanel) August 16, 2023
A group formed to push back against Gov. Ron DeSantis’ conservative takeover of New College of Florida has joined with professors and students at the college to file a lawsuit alleging a new law pushed by DeSantis violates free speech protections. https://t.co/nv1NEmT6C9
— PEN America (@PENamerica) August 15, 2023
Professors and students at New College of Florida file federal lawsuit alleging state law is censoring courses https://t.co/rBaMAvFDgi
— Ray Roa (@rayroa) August 15, 2023
