A new Florida law requiring all humanities General Education core courses include “selections from the Western canon” will take effect Fall 2024. The requirement was added to Florida statutes in May as part of Senate Bill 266, the same sweeping education reform bill that cut state funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Gov. Ron DeSantis awarded $5 million Dec. 13 among 10 Florida public universities to develop pre-bachelor’s apprenticeship programs. UF received about $1.3 million from the grant, which was the latest effort in DeSantis’ Pathways to Career Opportunities investment to strengthen Florida’s teacher pipeline.
DeSantis announced in his State of the State address Jan. 9 Florida universities will waive certain transfer requirements, including credit hours and application deadlines, for out-of-state students experiencing antisemitism or other religious discrimination on their campuses.
Gov. Ron DeSantis directed Florida universities to waive application requirements for Jewish transfer students fearing antisemitism Tuesday.
UF President Ben Sasse announced Scott Angle as provost in an email to faculty and community members Tuesday morning. Angle was one of 14 UF faculty members to serve on the committee, which also brought in outside consultation from the Isaacson, Miller research firm.
The Florida law bans “partnerships,” including recruitment programs, between state universities and any non-U.S. citizen living in a foreign country of concern — including China, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, Cuba, Syria and North Korea. It was passed in May and went into effect Dec. 1. The UF dean’s office and upper administration has interpreted the law to mean faculty cannot offer any assistantship or fellowship to students in these countries for the 2024-2025 academic year.
UF faculty have expressed a mixture of support, skepticism and disdain for UF President Ben Sasse’s vision for the university’s future.
After nine months on the job, UF President Ben Sasse was officially inaugurated as the university’s 13th president.
A newly proposed state regulation, if approved, will dictate how public universities implement Senate Bill 266, a sweeping set of higher education reforms signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May. The regulation would finalize DeSantis’ nearly year-long campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Florida universities.
The UF Faculty Senate proposed a resolution Oct. 19 to review shared governance processes across the university, which dictate how faculty, staff and students are able to participate in decision and policy making.
UF President Ben Sasse hired two of his former U.S. Senate office members — James Wegmann and Raymond Sass — to top positions at the university.
UF President Ben Sasse wrote an email to Jewish alumni following a vigil held Monday in support of Israel that ended in a stampede. The letter condemned Hamas and assured the UF community of its safety in the face of possible “anti-Israel protests.”
Florida’s controversial surgeon general Joseph Ladapo — who is also a tenured professor of medicine at UF — is at odds with the university over whether the public should receive new COVID-19 boosters.
UF President Ben Sasse announced Penny Schwinn as the inaugural vice president for PK-12 and pre-bachelors programs in a press release Monday.
UF joined 11 Florida schools in becoming the first state university system in the country to accept the Classic Learning Test as an alternative to the SAT and ACT in its admissions following a Board of Governors vote Sept. 8. The vote comes nearly seven months after Gov. Ron DeSantis’ proposed reevaluation of the state’s relationship with College Board, the non-profit that administers the SAT.
Solutions by The State News
