Florida's 'destruction' of higher education is experiment GOP wants to take nationwide: columnist

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) left his office early to become president of the University of Florida system at a time when Republicans in the state, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, are trying to reshape higher education. The result, wrote Georgetown University professor Jacques Berlinerblau for MSNBC, is the decimation of the state's academia.

Sasse's rise, wrote Berlinerblau, parallels a regime change at Florida institutions that pushes a slate of "once-unthinkable worst practices," including "anointing Sasse to the presidency in near secrecy and outfitting him with a pricey consulting firm to assist with 'strategic management,' and blatantly trying toprevent professors from exercising their academic freedom, not to mention engaging in a hostile, state-run ideological takeover of an entire public college" — all while Florida tries to stamp out the tenure system, which is a safeguard that ensures professors can express political opinions without retaliation.

Sasse himself, according to reports, has been a "ghost" on campus — but many of the other figures DeSantis has appointed to lead the states' schools are much more visible, like Chris Rufo and his associates, who have decimated New College of Florida's programs and are mismanaging it so badly that students promised dorm housing have to be crammed into an airport hotel, according to reports.

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The result of this, Berlinerblau warned, is that Florida professors are fleeing their jobs and their state in droves, hollowing out campuses in much the same way that censorship in K-12 schools has driven out teachers there. But the problem is, Florida is but a testing ground — the GOP wants to take this experiment nationwide.

"One way to stave off this attack on the professoriate: Professors across the U.S. must exhibit what sociologists call 'guild solidarity,'" wrote Berlinerblau. For example, he continued, the GOP was able to take over the federal judiciary because judges, right up to Supreme Court nominees like Neil Gorsuch, let it happen, willingly taking part to advance their own careers.

"I call on every American scholar with a public platform to bring their expertise to bear on what is happening in Florida and elsewhere," he continued, saying they should raise alarms collectively on every podcast and news outlet that will have them — and get administrators to join them.

If this mass uprising doesn't materialize, wrote Berlinerblau, then "the aforementioned capture — or destruction — of the entire educational sector will proceed apace."