Ron DeSantis Criticizes 'Accreditation Cartel' and Left-Leaning Colleges

Higher Education's Lost Way

• 🎯 Higher education in the U.S. has lost its way, particularly evident after October 7th, 2023, when universities like Columbia failed to uphold moral standards and succumbed to "nasty ideologies."
• 💡 In contrast, Florida's universities did not experience similar failures because those in charge knew they would face consequences, emphasizing a focus on excellence, truth, and preparing students as citizens.
• 🧠 Florida's model differs from the prevailing national trend of imposing ideological conformity, aiming instead to foster independent thinking among students.

The Accreditation Cartel's Influence

• 🔑 A significant, though underappreciated, factor contributing to objectionable university behavior is the "accreditation cartel."
• ⚠️ This cartel embedded concepts like DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) into accreditation requirements, threatening to withdraw accreditation and federal funding if not adhered to.
• 🔍 Florida has challenged this cartel, and the current US Department of Education under the Trump administration agrees on the need for overhaul, unlike the Biden administration.

Reforming Faculty and Curriculum

• 🎓 Florida has overhauled tenure laws, requiring professors to undergo review every five years and allowing dismissal for poor performance, ensuring faculty focus on teaching and research.
• 🚀 University presidents and boards are empowered to hire new faculty directly, bypassing ideological litmus tests and challenging stale orthodoxies to reorient colleges toward their traditional mission.
• 📚 The state has also addressed the proliferation of DEI initiatives, which DeSantis refers to as "discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination," by defunding them and refocusing on merit in hiring and admissions.
• 🎯 A shift is occurring away from courses focused on ethnicity, gender, and race toward traditional, meaty core subjects like English, history, engineering, and business.

Accountability and Workforce Education

• 🚫 Florida holds students accountable for disruptive conduct, such as heckler's vetoes or encampments, contrasting with the leniency seen at other universities.
• 💧 At Florida State, encampments were quickly dispersed by sprinklers, demonstrating a firm stance against commandeering university property for agendas.
• 📈 Florida is embracing workforce education, aiming to be the number one state by 2030, evidenced by doubled apprenticeships and increased production of nurses and skilled tradespeople like truck drivers.
• 💰 The state is committed to holding down tuition, with average in-state tuition at $6,300, and attributes this to efficient university management and avoiding administrative bloat, which has often tracked with student loan increases.
• ✅ A traditional four-year university is presented as one path to advanced knowledge, but not the only or necessarily best way, emphasizing the availability of affordable, debt-free skill acquisition for immediate economic opportunities.