Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix

Citing state policy on tenure, elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and the cost of living, Florida faculty laid out their frustrations in a recent survey.

In a Faculty in the South survey conducted by various conferences of the American Association of University Professors, 31% of Florida respondents said they have applied for a job outside of Florida since 2023. That number was 25% among all survey respondents in the South.

The same, 31% of Florida respondents, said they plan to seek employment in another state during the next hiring cycle.

“The governor of Florida threatens at every turn to take funding away so administration at colleges don’t stand up to him or board of education. I no longer have any motivation or creativity to make courses better,” a tenured professor at a public community college wrote.

The survey focused on policy affecting employment, including whether faculty would recommend working in their state to up-and-coming academics, and trends in applications for faculty positions. It included nearly 200 responses from Florida faculty among its nearly 4,000 responses across Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

The survey concluded with an open-ended question asking faculty to provide examples of how “attacks on higher education are directly impacting your work.” It did not report respondents’ identities beyond basic demographics like gender, race, tenure status, years of experience, and type of institution they teach at.

‘Walking on egg shells’

“Students report any classroom discussion they don’t like directly to the Governor’s office. Everyone is afraid all the time,” one woman teaching at a public four-year school wrote. “I have stopped teaching books that might be in any way controversial. I don’t open up general discussion in class but ask only direct questions that will elicit non-controversial answers. I need health insurance so I can’t just quit.”

The state scanning course materials for disfavored viewpoints was a widespread stressor for many faculty.

“Most of the courses I’ve taught for decades now violate state and university mandates,” a man teaching at a Florida tier-one research university said.

As of earlier this year, Florida institutions’ general education courses no longer contained “indoctrinating concepts,” State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues proclaimed in January.

Florida universities have conducted a review, required by a 2022 law, of general education courses to ensure that they do not “distort significant historical events or include a curriculum that teaches identity politics.”

“I’m continually worried that the content of my clases [sic] will be flagged as “DEI” because I am a historian of the Caribbean, a region mostly populated by non-white people,” one professor said.

One women’s studies professor described the effect as “Constant anxiety, walking on egg shells trying to anticipate what would be used against me/us.”

More than a third, 34%, of Florida respondents said administrators have questioned syllabi or curricula choices for their courses. Among all states surveyed, half as many, 17%, indicated administrators questioned their curricula.

One professor said that since the state and federal government have made illegal “a wide range of Constitutionally protected components of speech and expression,” “I must break the law in order to tell the truth. Because I’m hired to tell the truth, and because I’m much more committed to the truth than to the law, I break the law. This means I am expecting to be arrested in front of a classroom any day, for actions that are illegal only as a result of the right-wing fad of the most recent decade.”

Nearly three in four, 71%, of faculty in Florida who were surveyed said they would not encourage a graduate student to seek employment in Florida.

“I am going to take early retirement despite a great job and salary. The threats are real and I am exhausted, between fighting this and fighting AI and poorly prepared, lazy, unethical students,” a tenured professor at a four-year public university wrote.

Higher education funding cuts have been the subject of nationwide political debate, including Florida State University reporting that it lost $100 million in federal grants, although $83 million of that has since been reinstated, the school’s president said last week.

About one-in-10, 11%, said they have had a federal contract ended by the Trump administration.

“The loss of vital federal grants has removed opportunities from me and my colleagues,” one professor wrote. “Attacks on LGBTQ students, immigrants, and diversity have also made it difficult to recruit promising graduate students or to guarantee their health and safety. Florida colleges being forced to remove diversity languages has destroyed years of valuable work, overturned an incredible general education curriculum, taken power and governance away from faculty, and wasted a lot of valuable time.”

Tenure troubles

Since 2023, professors in Florida with tenure have been subject to post-tenure review, graded on standards crafted by university trustees relating to research performance, teaching, service, and compliance with state laws and university policies.

Of the nearly-one-third who recently applied for an out-of-state job, tenure and DEI issues, academic freedom, the political climate, and cost of living were among the most common concerns.

Respondents said the number of applications for coworkers’ positions, as well as the quality of applicants, have decreased.

“Our department is trying to improve, but we have had several failed searches in recent years because candidates don’t want to move to Florida because of the broad political climate and the fact that tenure protections functionally no longer exist here,” a tenured public university professor said.

Some faculty said they have not experienced problems with “attacks on higher education,” one stating, “I haven’t felt any — Florida is great!.” Another said, “They’re not, and freedom in the classroom still persists, and I am at a public university in… wait for it… FLORIDA…”

“I find that I’m having to spend more time explaining to students why they need to use evidence to support their views and why clear arguments are important,” a professor at a private institution wrote.

One professor complained that “our board of trustees stacked with heritage foundation members, our president was forced out and replaced by a republican politician.” Course materials face heightened scrutiny, this professor added.

“The climate of persecution, retaliation, and ideological imposition makes it impossible to teach my discipline accurately or well without opening oneself to disciplinary measures,” that professor said. “While New College got a lot of headlines, similar invasions of public universities are happening with no national press, leaving those of us who work here isolated and vulnerable to attack.”

‘Academic freedom is on life support,’ say professors surveyed on tenure, censorship

Gov. Ron DeSantis orchestrated a shake-up of the University of West Florida Board of Trustees in a more conservative light earlier this year and that institution is now led by a former GOP lawmaker.

Results for the survey were collected throughout August and more than 60% of respondents said they are tenured. Last year’s iteration of the survey featured responses from about 350 Florida professors.

“There is a lower threshold of critical thinking because everyone is fearful about what is ‘allowed’ vs. ‘banned’ by law. The fear and the self-censorship is widespread. Our administration, now saddled with a governor-imposed, unqualified hire as a President, is understandably more cautious rather than vocal about protecting academic freedom,” one professor wrote.

The Florida House and Senate have made no progress toward a budget deal during the past three weeks, House Speaker Daniel Perez acknowledged Tuesday, saying budget negotiations have to “start all over again.”

The House voted Tuesday to further extend the already-extended session, from June 6 to June 30. Although, since the Senate did not meet, the House-desired extension is not solid.

Perez, during a half-hour floor session Tuesday, emphasized the contrast between the House and Senate and governor’s office in budget negotiations.

“The governor isn’t willing to have a conversation, period, period,” Perez said. “There’s no difference between him and any seventh grader in Miami Dade County right now who tweets.”

Perez said he hasn’t spoken to Gov. Ron DeSantis in “quite some time.”

Budget, tax deal off the table

The two chambers said on May 2 that they had agreed to a budget framework, which included a cut to sales taxes. That framework was no more after DeSantis said last week a sales tax cut would be “dead on arrival” and Albritton issued a memo to senators soliciting advice to develop a new tax package.

“I have very strong feelings about the Senate president’s actions,” Perez told his chamber. “As presiding officers, as elected officials, our word is our bond. Breaking our word, breaking a deal, is breaking faith, not only with one another, but also with our institutions. However, I will not allow these actions to deter us from fulfilling our constitutional obligations.”

Dropping the agreement was a surprise to Perez.

“For me, in my community of Miami, and my culture as a Cuban, your word is your bond, and that means everything to us,” Perez told reporters Tuesday. “I’m one of the old-school guys. I can broker a deal off a handshake.”

Perez said he does not think a final budget is any closer than it was three weeks ago and told to members the budget is “truly worth fighting for.”

Budget negotiations, Perez said, are “moving at a snail’s pace,” are “fluid,” and he had nothing “concrete” to share.

Perez has criticized the governor for releasing videos on social media criticizing the House instead of engaging in direct conversations.

“At some point, adults have to prevail. I am willing to have that conversation in person at any moment. He is not. … Why are you not willing to have a tough conversation? What is it, that, are you scared? Is he scared of having a tough conversation? I have no other conclusion to reach but that,” Perez told reporters.

Perez criticized DeSantis’ use of the state’s airplane to fly around Florida, especially in the past few weeks, to insult the House. DeSantis spent Tuesday at the Ohio Capitol advocating for congressional term limits.

“I know today he took his private plane out to Ohio,” Perez said. “If he would spend more time here in this Capitol having conversations with myself and other members of the House, he would understand our position, why we’re in that position,”

Priorities

The House resolution to extend until June 30 includes the same list of bills in the original extension that may be taken up. Among them are budget-related bills, including SB 110, the $200 million Rural Renaissance, a priority for Albritton. All other bills died May 2.

Throughout the session, House committees questioned “the numerous failures of our state agencies,” as Perez put it, reiterating that the state has a “spending problem.”

Perez said, “Cutting recurring spending is the number one goal of the House. The House is not moving.”

DeSantis wants to eliminate property taxes, and leaders of each chambers have shown interest in that idea. Voters would have to decide to do that in 2026 at the earliest. In the meantime, DeSantis has proposed a $1,000 property tax rebate for Florida homeowners.

The only option Perez has ruled out, he said, “is simply mailing $1,000 checks from the state treasury,” saying that would not solve the property tax problem.

“They are just state taxpayers apologizing for local government spending, which is the kind of irresponsible idea I associate with California policy makers,” Perez said.

Albritton has said senators have told him a 0.25% sales tax reduction is not “meaningful” and that a $2.5 billion recurring tax cut could constrain options for “major property tax reform.”

A Senate spokesperson told the Phoenix that Albritton remains “hopeful” that the budget can be completed by June 6 and “the president was opposed to the expense of bringing senators up to Tallahassee this week to vote on a procedural motion.”

“We have to remember that this is a part-time Legislature. Most of my members, including myself, have other jobs, like full-time jobs, and we need to be able to have the predictability of a schedule so that we can get back to fulfilling those duties,” Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell told reporters Tuesday.

Neither Perez nor Driskell was concerned about a shutdown should talks stretch past July 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

“I think it’s likely that nothing could get done,” and “the worst case scenario” is “a skeletal-type budget that funds critical resources and probably nothing else,” Driskell said.

With just nine days left in the 2025 legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday upped his criticism of the Florida House of Representatives and continued to defend First Lady Casey DeSantis and her flagship Hope Florida Foundation amid growing controversy.

DeSantis spent the first half of a news conference he called in Fort Pierce extolling the state’s economy during his governorship and repeated recent complaints about the House, which has sparred with the governor on matters including Highway Patrol funding, Everglades restoration funding, university presidential searches, and access to the courts — all coming after dueling special sessions in January and February on immigration laws.

“They are the least productive Florida House of Representatives that we have seen in modern Florida history, and I can tell you they are the least productive since I’ve been governor by a country mile. I mean it’s not even close in terms of what they’re doing,” DeSantis said.

He hammered away against the House for its proposal to reduce the state sales tax rather than property taxes, as the governor would prefer. DeSantis said the sales tax plan would benefit tourists, even though data show most sales taxes are paid by Florida residents.

DeSantis made the remarks at Indian River College, where he announced a round of aviation- and manufacturing-related infrastructure grants.

House Speaker Daniel Perez has dismissed DeSantis’s displeasure, saying he is “emotional.”

Each insists he is more conservative than the other.

Hope Florida

DeSantis used the opportunity to play down the Hope Florida Foundation controversy, reiterating his assertion that it’s nothing more than a political attack against his wife and her initiative.

“I think a lot of people are threatened by the success of the program. It upends some of their ideological commitments. It shows that she’s actually made a difference. I know there’s people that are threatened by that, so I think the Hope Florida program has been something that’s been a tremendous success for the state.”

Health care giant Centene “donated” $10 million to the foundation as part of a $67 million Medicaid settlement involving pharmacy cost overpayments. The governor denied the money was Medicaid-related but documents obtained by the Miami Herald and Tampa Bay Times suggest otherwise.

The DeSantis administration has tried to explain the money in a letter to House Health Care Budget Committee chair Alex Andrade, who has been leading the investigation into the donation.

Two of the governor’s top health care secretaries aligned with the Hope Florida program, with the foundation supports, won’t be confirmed by the Senate this session.

Christine Sexton contributed to this report.

Florida governors have long held sway over the selection of state university presidents, but Gov. Ron DeSantis has taken extra care to install political allies with limited higher education experience in these well-paid jobs, including his former Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez.

Now, a bill filed for the 2025 regular session of the Florida Legislature would limit the governor’s authority, giving universities more autonomy in selecting their leaders. Sen. Alexis Calatayud of Miami and Rep. Michelle Salzman of Escambia County introduced the measure.

HB 1321 in the House and SB 1726 in the Senate would strip the State University System’s Board of Governors (BOG) and State Board of Education of their power to approve university and college presidents, leaving it up to the institutions’ trustees and search committees. The bill would prohibit Board of Governors members from sitting on search committees.

Since 2023, five of Florida’s 12 public universities have hired new presidents — the University of Florida, New College of Florida, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida Polytechnic University, and Florida Atlantic University. Four — Florida International University, the University of Florida, the University of South Florida, and Florida A&M University — are in the process of finding new presidents.

UF hired former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse as president in February 2023, but he stepped down in July 2024 and reports of profligate spending followed, requiring a fresh search.

FAU chose Adam Hasner as its president this month. The former state House majority leader faced pushback from College Democrats because of his partisan background, although he pledged during forums that he would stay away from politics as president.

Nuñez stepped away from the DeSantis administration to become interim president at her alma mater, FIU, this month, two years before her term in office was set to end.

Trustees from both institutions applauded their new presidents for their connections in Tallahassee and perceived political influence over appropriations.

Jose Oliva, a member of the Board of Governors, said moments before that panel approved Nuñez that when he was speaker of the Florida House and Nuñez was lieutenant governor, “it was very standard to see her during budget time in the speaker’s office advocating for FIU and making sure that FIU received not just the proper support from the Legislature, but also the proper recognition for its many successes.”

People who protested Hasner, Nuñez, Sasse, and former House speaker Richard Corcoran at New College largely focus on fears they would politicize the institutions. DeSantis has been plain that he wants to convert the formerly progressive New College into the Hillsdale of the South, referring to the conservative Christian college in Michigan.

DeSantis has hinted that similar transformations may be coming at the University of West Florida, which just underwent a big shake-up of its board of trustees, and elsewhere within the system.

Kassandra Toussaint, an FIU student, speaks in opposition to trustees voting to name Lt. Gov. Nunez as interim president during a virtual meeting Feb. 7, 2025. (Screenshot via FIU trustees livestream)

The governor’s office and BOG have made no secret of their motives, making clear they want to “prune” “ideological study stuff,” want no more “indoctrinating concepts,” are putting certain degrees under the microscope for their return on investment, now that colleges and universities must undergo “DOGE Florida” audits.

“I want to say that we are fully aligned with the Board of Governors’ vision and mission because ultimately we recognize that FIU’s success is also the BOG’s success,” Nuñez said Feb. 20 in front of governors about to vote for her confirmation.

The governor reached out to FIU to advocate for Nuñez. Earlier, DeSantis reportedly positioned now-state Sen. Randy Fine for FAU’s post (although that fell through), and his office guided Sasse to Gainesville, Politico reported.

The newly proposed legislation would reverse heightened secrecy that the Legislature and DeSantis imposed for presidential searches in 2022, reopening records about presidential searches under Florida’s public records laws.

Among the other requirements, Calatayud and Salzman’s bill would impose term limits on State Board of Education members (two four-year terms), college trustees (eight consecutive years), university trustees (10 consecutive years), and Board of Governors members (one seven-year term) and require them to disclose their financial records. Members of the Board of Governors would have to be residents of the state.

Calatayud declined to comment about the legislation, nor did Rep. Demi Busatta, chair of the House higher education appropriations commitee, respond to requests for comment.

The bill has support from the two Democrats on the Senate Higher Education Appropriations committee, Sens. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Tracie Davis.

“I’ve been concerned for many years that the governor has used his power to influence decisions on provosts and university presidents really to reward his most loyal soldiers, and it’s not getting us great leaders at our higher education institutions. In fact, it’s resulted in a lot of grift and a lot of corruption,” Smith told the Phoenix.

Davis called the Calatayud’s bill “refreshing,” saying DeSantis “has basically weaponized the appointments of presidents here in the state of Florida.”

“Being an educator myself, many of them don’t have the qualifications to be presidents of universities,” Davis told the Phoenix.

House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell, too, supports a move toward independence for universities.

“That legislation, I think, is going to be in tension with the governor,” Driskell told reporters on the opening day for the legislative session last week. She added: “I really appreciate that to the extent that we can get away from the governor having such a heavy hand on these appointments, I think that would be better for the people of Florida, too.”

‘Long history’ of nontraditional candidates

Critics see DeSantis’ exertion of control as worrisome for the universities and academic freedom but BOG vice chair Alan Levine counsels calm. He is a former deputy chief of staff to former Gov. Jeb Bush.

“It really isn’t new. I know people want to hang this on Gov. DeSantis, I just don’t think that’s fair,” Levine told the Phoenix in an interview before Salzman and Calatayud filed their identical bills.

“Gov. DeSantis is not the first governor to be interested in who university presidents are,” Levine said, adding that he believes some of the best presidents in Florida were not academicians.

Hasner, selected unanimously over two career-academic finalists, and Nuñez have no experience in higher education administration, while Corcoran previously served as Florida education commissioner and Sasse was president of Midland University, a small, private institution in Nebraska.

State University System Gov. Alan Levine speaks during a Board of Governors meeting in Orlando on Thursday, June 27, 2024. (Screenshot via The Florida Channel)

When he served under Bush, Levine said, “a new president didn’t get hired unless we were aware of who it was and we were comfortable with who that person was.” The Board of Regents — now replaced by the Board of Governors — would keep the governor’s office informed about presidential searches he added.

“There’s a long history of people that are nontraditional candidates” who proved “exceptional presidents,” Levine said, listing former House Speaker John Thrasher (FSU 2014-2021); former House Speaker T.K. Wetherell (FSU 2003-2010); former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney (UNF 2003-2018, Flagler College 2021-present); and former Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan (FAU 2003-2009).

He also listed attorney Marshall Criser, who served on the Board of Regents and as president of University of Florida for five years starting in 1984.

How does Florida stack up with the rest of the nation?

Politics in higher education is happening “most in red states,” Judith Wilde, a presidential search researcher at George Mason University, told the Phoenix, listing as examples Virginia, Texas, and Georgia.

“It’s those sorts of southern red states where we see politics come in most. The most egregious by far is in Florida,” Wilde said. “DeSantis makes it clear what he wants, and his people make sure that’s what happens. There’s not much more to say about that.”

“It was exacerbated in a way by Sasse himself, when you look at the reasons that he was forced out of the position,” Wilde said. “When he took on the role, he said he would not bring politics into the position and yet he hired people who had been on his staff when he was a senator to do things. He hired some firms that he knew from his days in Washington. … So, he brought politics right back into it.”

UF responded to Sasse’s administrative practices by implementing new HR policies for the office of the president.

DeSantis himself claims the universities are heading in the “direction quite frankly that Florida voters have been very favorable towards in the last many elections.”

“We believe in the mission, but we also have a responsibility to make sure [presidents are] operating in ways that are consistent with the state’s best principles and best ideals,” DeSantis said during a news conference last month.

“So, when you have somebody that has already proven that they have a dedication to classical mission of the universities, that they have opposed efforts to use universities for ideological indoctrination, I just think it gives people a little more confidence that they’re going to do that as they go in.”

Wilde argued that presidents selected through nonpolitical processes can produce conservative leadership, but that relying on politicians may not always lead to the desired result.

“I think it’s sort of naive to say that having a politician, you know what they’re going to do and that they will remain conservative,” she said. “I don’t feel that that’s necessarily a rule, and if they really want somebody conservative, then they should be able to get that with a regular search. Most politicians don’t seem to really have a clue about what a university does, and so how can they really lead it?”

Fear of political payback could prevent search committees from advocating for candidates other than the one preferred by the governor, Wilde said.

Judith Wilde is a professor at George Mason University. (Photo via George Mason University)

“It’s going to take a lot of thinking and cogitating on the part of the members of the search committee to go against the governor, because they know that if they go against him and choose somebody else without having a really good reason, or being able to convince that this other person would be better, that they may lose their positions in whatever it is they do.” Wilde said.

More presidents than in the past across the country are stepping down before their terms end, one reason being the increased frequency of secret searches and another lack of support from the university community, she said.

“When the search is done in secret, it means that the people at the university don’t know who’s coming and, at the end, kind of like the Wizard of Oz — suddenly a curtain has pulled aside and with a roll of drums, here’s your new president,” Wilde said.

At UF, Sasse was the sole finalist named — notwithstanding a state law requiring a “shortlist” of finalists to be made public.

Wilde’s research into the 2015-16 academic year found that 92% of searches nationwide involved an outside search firm, the vast majority of which suggested secret searches. During 1975-76, only 2% of searches were done in secret; the rest were done locally and involved alumni, faculty, students, and local stakeholders.

According to a 2022 nationwide survey of college presidents by the American Council on Education, since 2006, presidents’s tenure has decreased by 2.6 years. Presidents surveyed had been in their position an average of 5.9 years.

“I’m not aware of any specific effort for this to happen, it’s just sort of a natural evolution,” Levine said.

What’s it take?

According to Artis Hampshire-Cowan, a search consultant hired by FAMU, university presidents must be “business executives” to be successful — tenacious, with an understanding of the complexity of university finances and the scramble for resources.

About 80% of presidents will serve in that capacity at only one school in their career; 17% will serve in a second presidency, Wilde said.

“[Search firms] claim you need to have someone who’s been president, and yet there aren’t very many of those who choose to be president again,” she added.

Sen. Gayle Harrell via Florida Senate

Sen. Gayle Harrell, chair of the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee, said she believes political experience can help a president but isn’t everything.

“They have to be the complete package.” Political experience “may give you a leg up, but it’s only one aspect of all the credentials that you have to present,” Harrell told the Phoenix.

“There are insights gained from having legislative experience or administrative experience in Tallahassee that perhaps someone coming from out of state or from another university system might not understand,” Harrell said.

by Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix

February 20, 2025

A few days after being named attorney general, James Uthmeier filed a class action against retail giant Target Thursday, claiming it defrauded investors in the process of promoting “radical LGBTQ activism.”

The suit focuses on the Minnesota-based company’s 2023 Pride campaign, a product collection in advance of Pride Month. The collection raised tensions in favor of and against the campaign, ultimately resulting in Target removing some items, moving displays to the back of the store, and releasing an official statement.

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Uthmeier’s office, with the help of conservative legal nonprofit America First Legal, claims Target “misled investors by claiming to monitor the social and political risks posed by its DEI [environmental, social, and governance] initiatives.”

“Corporations that push radical leftist ideology at the expense of financial returns jeopardize the retirement security of Florida’s first responders and teachers,” Uthmeier said in a news release. “My office will stridently pursue corporate reform so that companies get back to the business of doing business — not offensive political theatre.”

The campaign caused shareholders to lose $25 billion in six months, the suit claims, with $10 billion of that in the first 10 days.

“This is a fight worth having,” Uthmeier said in a video posted to his X account. “And we will fight to hold Target financially accountable for these wrongful practices, and force them and other corporate giants to get back to the business of doing business.”

Target’s campaign prompted boycotts and bomb threats to stores, USA Today reported.

‘America First agenda’

Uthmeier was sworn in as attorney general Monday, replacing Ashley Moody, appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Marco Rubio.

Surrounded by prominent politicians in Tallahassee, Uthmeier promised to promote an “America First agenda,” and “not stand idly by as the Left tries to infiltrate our institutions and use the court system to indoctrinate our kids.”

“We will use the office of the attorney general to punish criminals, to protect the innocent, and to stand boldly by our brave law enforcement,” Uthmeier said.

America First Legal filed a suit in August 2023 in federal court over the Pride campaign and now has teamed with Uthmeier for the class action filed in the Middle District of Florida court.

“We’ve seen time and time again that when companies prioritize performative virtue signaling and wokeness over profitability, they alienate customers, lose market value, and erode shareholder trust — all while pretending their activism carries no financial risk,” Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis said in the news release.

“It’s unacceptable and Florida is fighting back on behalf of taxpayers and investors that have had enough. Businesses like Target need to focus on the bottom line and do right by their customers, not some ESG overlords.”

In January, Target announced it would end its diversity goals.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.

Florida International University trustees voted Friday to install Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez as interim president, meaning she will leave her statewide-elected office 23 months before her term expires. Trustees expect she will assume the presidency officially after a formal search.

“The governor’s office has contacted me and suggested that we consider Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez as the next leader for FIU,” Board of Trustees Chair Roger Tovar said during a special meeting held via Zoom. “Subsequent to that, I have had several conversations with the Lt. Gov. Nuñez, who confirmed her interest in leading this great university, which happens to be her alma mater.”

During a news conference on immigration Friday morning, DeSantis said the leap actually was her idea. He applauded Nuñez for her support for his policies as lieutenant governor, including efforts to “bring some sanity” to higher education.

“This is something she was interested in doing, she had my endorsement and my support, and I think that she’s somebody that is very well regarded in the community anyways,” DeSantis said.

The interim hiring would be effective Feb. 17. The university must launch a formal search to name a president, although trustee Dean Colson said the “probable results of the search are already known.”

Sitting FIU President Kenneth Jessell, who served for three years and whose contract was set to expire in November, will become senior vice president and chief administrative officer. Tovar called the administrative changes “additive.”

“I have complete confidence in the lieutenant governor,” Jessell said. “She’s a double Panther, and I look forward to supporting her. I look forward to continuing supporting our students, our faculty, our staff, our alumni, our great supporters and donors, and our community.”

Finding funding

Trustees praised Jessell’s leadership while emphasizing a desire to boost fundraising efforts.

“Given the university FIU is today, a top 50 public preeminent research university, we need to increase our endowment to at least $500 million and triple our annual fundraising. World class universities have healthy endowments. This is imperative for the university’s future,” Tovar said.

The move, notably, comes shortly before the 2025 legislative session starts, when lawmakers will decide how much state support the Miami institution will receive.

Tovar said Nuñez’s experience as a health care lobbyist and lieutenant governor make her “an ideal leader to help transition FIU into the future,” noting her connections in the community and in Tallahassee.

She graduated from FIU in 1994 with a bachelor degree in political science and international relations and in 1998 earned a master degree in public administration.

Nuñez posted to X following the vote, saying she is “deeply committed to the success of FIU. I look forward to working with the Board of Trustees in the coming days.”

Her salary as lieutenant governor is $135,000. The outgoing president, Jessell, made a base salary of $650,000.

Opposition

Trustee Noël Barengo, representative of the FIU Faculty Senate, was the lone no-vote on Nuñez. He questioned the need to remove Jessell before the contract ended and voiced “deep concern about what we see as another effort by the governor’s office to interfere with public higher education.”

Several of the about 15 people speaking during public comment questioned Nuñez’s qualifications to serve in higher education, as well as the need for a new president given the lack of criticism of Jessell’s leadership.

Kassandra Toussaint, an FIU student, speaks in opposition to trustees voting to name Lt. Gov. Nuñez as interim president. (Screenshot via FIU trustees livestream)

“Jeanette Nuñez is a textbook example of what happens when politicians prioritize partisan loyalty over genuine leadership. Rather than standing up for people, for the people of Florida, Nuñez has acted as a rubber stamp for policies that erase history, limit opportunities, and push a narrow, exclusionary agenda,” said Kassandra Toussaint, mentioning Nuñez’s recent walk-back of her previous support for in-state tuition for Dreamers.

Every public-comment speaker was against the change in leadership.

“FIU deserves better than a yes-woman for DeSantis’ dangerous agenda,” Toussaint said. “We deserve leaders who fight for all of us, not just those who fit their narrow vision of who belongs.”

DeSantis specifically mentioned the Adam Smith Center for Economic Freedom at FIU, a think tank studying free-market policies labeled as non-partisan. He suggested the center might increase its activity under Nuñez.

“I think you have pretty much every right-of-center former head of state in the entire Western hemisphere has been there to talk, and so they’ve really been great at promoting free enterprise and the rule of law and constitutional government. I think they’re going to be able to do a lot more of that going forward,” the governor said.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried called the hiring “Republican hypocrisy.”

“Just a few weeks after she backflipped on protecting in-state tuition for Dreamers — Jeanette Nuñez will now lead one of the most diverse colleges in the state. With her record, how can she be trusted to lead the college with the largest population of Hispanic students in the country?” Fried said in a prepared statement Friday morning.

“Her appointment is just the latest move in Ron’s hostile takeover of Florida’s colleges and universities, as he continues to install political hacks and loyalists to push his partisan agenda,” Fried continued. “It has nothing to do with improving Florida’s cratering educational outcomes and everything to do with rewarding loyalty.”

‘Engaged governor’s office’

Naming of an interim president often follows the retirement or resignation of a sitting president. The transition at FIU defies common practice, Colson acknowledged.

“Is the current way we are selecting a president a perfect system? I don’t think so. Is the current selection process what was anticipated when the Florida Constitution was amended to create an independent board of governors? Again, I don’t think so,” Colson said.

“But will FIU find itself not just surviving but thriving over the next decade under its new leadership team? Well, I think so, and for that reason, I’m hopeful in support of your motion.”

Colson advocated for the Board of Governors to revise its presidential selection rules.

“We all know that the BOG is an independent constitutional body, but its rules did not anticipate the reality of an engaged governor’s office being involved in the hiring of our presidents. I don’t think this engagement is going to change in the next two years. And I think you can’t help but wonder what happens in two years when we have a new governor — are these presidencies going to be included in the jobs that a new governor might want to fill during his or her transition or first few years in office?”

Presidential searches often take months, requiring appointment of a formal search committee that names a shortlist of finalists (in the case of University of Florida and Ben Sasse the list was as short as one) that must be approved by the Board of Governors and university trustees.

The transition from interim to permanent president would cost “a lot of time and money,” “when the probable results of the search are already known,” Colson said.

A dispute between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican leaders of the Legislature over conflicting views of an immigration crackdown escalated Monday after the governor labeled as “bizarre” lawmakers’ proposal to strip him of immigration enforcement powers.

Following Senate President Ben Albritton’s and House Speaker Danny Perez’s rebuke of DeSantis’ call for a special session Monday morning — choosing to adjourn but then convene their own special session to consider their own legislation — DeSantis took to social media to slam the move.

The governor attacked the sole proposal both chambers filed for the session, partly because it puts Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson — and not DeSantis — in charge of coordinating immigration enforcement with the federal government. The agriculture commissioner is an elected Florida Cabinet officer up for election every four years.

“They also bizarrely stripped immigration enforcement power from the governor and gave it to the commissioner of agriculture,” DeSantis said in a video he posted on X.

“But agriculture has not exactly been known for immigration enforcement, so it’s almost like the fox guarding the henhouse. It was bizarre and I think it was more a sop to folks who want cheap labor. That is totally bad policy. That can’t happen.”

Republican leaders flexing their power

Senate President Ben Albritton fields questions from reporters during a news conference in the Florida Capitol on Dec. 16, 2024. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix)

In response, Albritton and Perez said the governor had insulted members of the Cabinet, local law enforcement, and the agricultural community.

“Unlike others, the Legislature is not interested in misleading or attacking Floridians, especially Florida law enforcement,” the Republican leaders wrote in a statement. “Our number one goal is to work together with President Trump. Anyone that says anything otherwise is not reading the bill, not reading the executive orders, or just not telling the truth.”

The bill emphasizes that Florida does not have a “single head of the executive branch,” but rather is governed in part by the Cabinet — three independently elected officials who with the governor decide a range of policies. It adds that the Legislature has previously expanded duties of the commissioner of agriculture.

DeSantis is set to appoint two Cabinet members to fill an attorney general vacancy with Ashley Moody’s move to Congress, while Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis is considered the frontrunner for a Panhandle congressional seat.

Immigration enforcement power would be stripped from the governor under the proposed bill, DeSantis posted to X, adding, “It unconstitutionally removes authority to enforce the law from the governor to a lower-level cabinet agency, the department of agriculture, that does not oversee state law enforcement.”

Perez and Albritton replied that the unconstitutionality claim is “completely untrue, and the governor knows that.”

Speaker Daniel Perez via Florida House

“Under our bill, the governor will maintain all of his emergency powers,” Perez and Albritton said.

“The commissioner of agriculture already has broad authority to act during emergencies and does in fact have a law enforcement division of 200 sworn law enforcement officers who partner with local law enforcement to provide a statewide presence at our borders. There is absolutely nothing unconstitutional about the separation of powers and the advancement of immigration enforcement at a constitutionally created cabinet-level agency other than the governor.”

The Legislature is set to vote final passage on the proposal Tuesday. Two thirds of the members of each chamber would have to approve the bill to override a potential veto from DeSantis.

What is the CIMO?

The proposed Chief Immigration Officer (CIMO) position would place the commissioner of agriculture as the liaison between state and federal governments to enforce immigration policy, supplying about $500 million and nearly 150 new employees.

The bill would task the CIMO with the following, according to the summary:

Coordinating with and providing assistance to the federal government in the enforcement of federal immigration law. Coordinating with and providing assistance to law enforcement agencies and monitoring local government compliance with federal immigration enforcement.Administering the local law enforcement immigration grant program.Coordinating random audits to ensure compliance with E-Verify.Providing recommendations to the Legislature regarding measures that may be implemented to improve cooperation and coordination with the federal government in the enforcement of federal immigration law.

Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson welcomed the proposal.

Wilton Simpson via Florida Department of Agriculture

“Our dedicated law enforcement professionals are in this fight every single day, and I am honored to stand with them as a liaison between the State of Florida and the Trump Administration,” Simpson said in a written statement.

“I am confident with the leadership of our state and local law enforcement and the funding the Legislature is appropriating in this bill, President Trump’s home state will be a national leader in apprehending criminal illegal aliens, as well as a destination for law enforcement to train on apprehending and detaining criminal illegals through ICE.”

Budgeting for CIMO

The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services would use $8.58 million to establish 142 new full-time jobs in its Division of Law Enforcement/Office of State Immigration Enforcement, including 50 sworn law enforcement officers, 50 non-sworn investigators, 20 regulatory specialists, 16 governmental consultants, three attorneys, one chief of general operations, and two training consultants.

Lawmakers directed the agriculture commissioner to use $550,000 to hire seven full time positions within its executive office to implement the bill, too.

Some $100 million would be allocated to the Local Law Enforcement Immigration Grant Program in the agency’s Division of Law Enforcement/Office of State Immigration Enforcement to implement the Local Law Enforcement Immigration Grant Program. Of that, $3.75 million would be immediately released for administrative costs associated with implementing the grant program including procedures, administration, and criteria for approving grant applications.

The bill calls for $375 million to implement and support the enforcement of federal immigration policies.

Christine Sexton contributed to this report.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday that he will “have somebody ready to go” to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy created by Marco Rubio. Given the slim GOP U.S. House majority, he suggested the appointee should come from outside of Congress.

Rubio is expected to resign when President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Rubio is Trump’s pick to serve as secretary of state.

“Well, we’re obviously, we’re going to make an appointment very soon,” DeSantis told reporters during a Monday morning press conference at the Capitol.

“I anticipate a vacancy occurring in the afternoon of the 20th or no later than the 21st, so we’ll have somebody ready to go on that,” DeSantis said.

Attorney General Ashley Moody has been rumored to be on a shortlist of potential appointees, although last week the governor said he will not be “refereeing any ‘who’s in, who’s out’” conversations.

Monday, DeSantis said elevating a Floridian from the U.S. House might not be the best strategy to maintain GOP strength in Washington.

Voters elected 220 Republican representatives during the 2024 elections, although the five-person majority potentially slims to two with former Rep. Matt Gaetz not taking office and others leaving for other offers, including Rep. Mike Waltz leaving to serve as national security adviser. Taking away from the House could give Democrats a chance to control the chamber, DeSantis said.

U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida. (U.S. House) Cory Mills. (U.S. House)

“We’ve talked to a lot of good people. We’ve got a lot of, I think, credible candidates, and some good candidates,” DeSantis said, confirming that he’s spoken with Rep. Kat Cammack and Rep. Cory Mills recently.

“I’ve been honest with the congresspeople, that’s a big concern of mine, because one of the criteria I had with who I’m going to appoint is, we just had an election. President has a mandate. I want you to help facilitate that. I don’t want you to be sand in the gears,” DeSantis said. “… But if you put someone there, and then it reduces the numbers in the House, and they make it harder for them to be able to enact an agenda.”

DeSantis said Cammack is a “fighter. She’s really really good, really strong, I think she’s got a great record.”

Mills has said he will run for the Senate seat when it is up for election in two years, Politico reported.

Mills took to social media after the news conference, saying he understands DeSantis’ “concerns regarding the U.S. House slim majority.”

“While I feel I would add value and be better positioned to help [Trump’s] American First agenda, we will have to see what the Governor decides,” Mills posted. “Either way, it’s an honor to be considered for the Senate and appreciated the positive feedback the Governor gave after our interview.”

Resign to run

Florida law currently requires anyone running for a new office to submit an irrevocable letter of resignation ahead of qualifying if the terms of the two offices overlap.

DeSantis on Monday criticized Florida’s resign-to-run laws, saying they prevent congressional and legislative special elections from happening on the same day because of the timeline requirements in statutes. DeSantis is charged with setting the special election date after consulting with the secretary of state.

“Incidentally, on this resign to run, I think it’s a ridiculous thing the way it’s worked out in Florida. I mean, the idea is, I think, that they want you to focus on the job you got elected to, and then not run for anything else while you’re supposedly being … ,” DeSantis trailed off. “The problem is, you don’t actually resign until the election’s over anyways.”

State Sen. Randy Fine and state Rep. Joel Rudman are among those campaigning for the two spots available in the U.S. House left by Waltz and Gaetz.

DeSantis said he wanted to schedule the legislative and congressional special elections on the same day, but existing law does not allow enough time for candidates to qualify.

Fine and Rudman are required to resign from their Legislature posts, although the law allows both to delay their departure until the day before the April 1 election.

Rudman made his resignation effective Jan. 1, while Fine will not leave the Senate until March 31.

“So, if you were going to do resign to run, you would say you resign the minute you announce your candidacy, which is not what they’ve done,” DeSantis said. “So I think they should just chuck the whole thing. I think it’s been more expensive for the state as a result of having to do the resign to run. It just hasn’t worked. But at a minimum, if you’re going to do it, the resignation, you would want it to be effective prior to the campaigning.”

The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the governor for not calling special elections for the open legislative seats.

The Legislature in 2023 changed Florida’s resign to run laws so DeSantis could make a presidential run and would not have to resign his job as governor had he become the GOP candidate.

Days after Hurricane Milton caused widespread damage to areas still rebuilding after Hurricane Ian two years ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday dismissed a suggestion that the state limit development in coastal areas vulnerable to dangerous tropical storms.

Hurricane Milton made landfall near Sarasota Wednesday evening, bringing high winds, storm surge, and flooding to much of Florida’s west coast and central peninsula. The storm spun off tornadoes, claiming 17 lives, including at least five in St. Lucie County.

DeSantis did not provide a comprehensive update on the storm’s death toll during a morning news conference in St. Petersburg.

Milton arrived roughly two weeks after Hurricane Helene caused extensive damage in Florida’s Big Bend before spinning up through the Southeast causing catastrophic flooding. It was the third hurricane in the Big Bend within the past year or so.

Despite the damage, DeSantis said government prohibitions on rebuilding in areas repeatedly demolished by natural disasters are off the table.

“The reality is, is people work their whole lives and work hard to be able to live in environments that are really, really nice, and they have a right to make those decisions with their property as they see fit,” DeSantis said in response to a question during a news conference in Bradenton Beach.

“It is not the role of government to forbid them or to force them to dispose or utilize their property in a way that they do not think is best for them,” the governor said.

DeSantis said the demand to live in Florida can override the threat of natural disasters.

“These things are very tough. What I see is people have a lot of resilience,” DeSantis said, summarizing damage from hurricanes Ian and Michael, which heavily damaged the Panhandle in 2018.

“And a lot of people were saying, ‘Oh, you know, are people going to want to live in Southwest Florida?’ And, like, within two weeks [after Ian] you had people buying up homes. I mean, people wanted to get down there. So, I think that there’s always going to be a demand to live in a beautiful part of the world.”

According to the governor’s office, more than 1,600 people and 140 pets had been rescued from floodwaters, rubble, or other hazards as of Friday morning.

Restoring power

As of Friday afternoon, 2.26 million customers across Florida remained without power, down from the approximately 4 million right after Milton’s landfall.

“Yesterday was a day of damage assessment and the beginning to restore critical customers, hospitals, water treatment plants, shelters, 911 centers,” Duke Energy Florida President Melissa Seixas said. “Today we started full bore, 1,000% moving very quickly into restoration so we will begin to see these numbers quickly decrease.”

In estimating how long power restoration might take for her customers, Seixas said, “This is not weeks. This is days.”

While workers restore power, clear debris, and pursue other recovery efforts, state Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie pleaded for people to refrain from sight-seeing.

“Don’t disaster sight see. We have a lot of people that are out here doing great work, well over 50,000, probably closer to 60-65,000 responders, electrical workers, all doing really, really good work right now,” Guthrie said. “But we need you to stay out of our way, just simply put. … We really, really need your cooperation on this.”

Amid widespread gasoline shortages, DeSantis said there is “a lot of fuel in the ports,” although moving it to consumers is a matter of distributing it to gas stations that have generators, dispensing it straight out of trucks, or restoring power to gas stations.

During an afternoon news conference in Englewood, Guthrie said 140,000 gallons out of the state’s 1-million-gallon reserve has been distributed to 20 gas stations in the state. Nineteen gas stations have received generators, Guthrie said.

State officials are being careful about deploying generators to gas stations, he said.

“We’re also communicating with our electrical providers, because it doesn’t make sense for us to pour a lot of money into something that’s going to correct itself in 12 to 24 hours,” Guthrie said.

DeSantis said Port Tampa Bay did not “suffer much structural damage” and that resuming operations will depend on restoring power.

Crane collapse

A construction crane in St. Petersburg collapsed during the storm, causing damage to a building housing the Tampa Bay Times. DeSantis and Guthrie blamed a lack of common sense by its operators in leaving it up as forecasters warned the storm was coming.

“Common sense has got to prevail,” Guthrie said. The state “cannot hold everybody’s hand and do everything for them,” he added.

DeSantis agreed the state should not have to regulate taking cranes down in advance of a storm.

“Do you have to really, kind of, like, crack down from the state to do it? I would hope not,” DeSantis said. “And I think most of the time in Florida that is handled very appropriately, but I think it just takes a little bit of common sense.”

Florida elected officials of Haitian descent are speaking out after former President Donald Trump doubled down on false attacks against Haitian immigrants made by his vice-presidential pick, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance.

Of the nearly half-million Haitian Americans in the Sunshine State, one represents Florida in the U.S. House of Representatives, three sit in the Florida House of Representatives, and several more serve in municipal governments. Florida is home to more Haitians than any other state, according to World Population Review.

U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, representing the Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach area, said Trump intended to create fear and division.

“Donald Trump is once again fixating on fictitious stories rooted in racist stereotypes in hopes of scaring Americans into voting for him,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in a news release.

Vance claimed that “people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country.” False claims about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, started in a Facebook group focused on local crime, NBC News reported.

Vance made the claim on social media, saying “where is our border czar?” — a title Republicans have attached to Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Facebook post quickly made headlines this week, with Trump repeating the claim during his debate with Harris on Tuesday.

“In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” Trump said.

Police in the area say they have “no credible reports” of immigrants hurting pets.

“His outrageous comment about immigrants eating Springfield, Ohio, residents’ pets is nothing more than a desperate attempt to stoke fear and division,” Cherfilus-McCormick, the first Haitian American Democrat elected to Congress, said.

“It’s insulting, it’s false, and it’s rooted in the worst kinds of stereotypes. Let’s be clear: Haitians and other immigrants come to this country committed to education, hard work, and building a better life, not just for themselves but for all of us. They contribute to our economy, enrich our culture, and strengthen our communities. Trump’s comments are a distraction from the real issues we face, and we won’t be fooled.”

According to the Florida Immigrant Coalition, all elected officials of Haitian descent it asked to comment on the matter responded except Florida Rep. Berny Jacques, a Republican.

Rep. Dotie Joseph, the state House minority leader pro tempore, said Vance’s comments were racist and xenophobic.

“As a lawyer, the VP-wannabe knows how to research, so he certainly knew and should have known that his racist and xenophobic claims are false — even if he doesn’t ‘practice’ law,” Joseph said in the news release.

“But when you don’t have integrity you don’t care about truth, you don’t care about the impact on people, and you just want attention. I am also a graduate of Yale, and also happen to be a lawyer engaged in public service, but unlike the shameless comment, I believe in truth, integrity, and loving thy neighbor.”

Joseph, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the same institution where Vance earned his law degree, said “we all see” that Vance is “losing and desperate for political attention.”

Vance referred to Haitians who live in Springfield as “illegal immigrants.” The city of Springfield website states otherwise: “Haitian immigrants are here legally, under the Immigration Parole Program.”

Vance, who represents Ohio, was joined by Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, in claiming Haitian immigrants do such things.

“Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don’t eat us,” Cruz posted to X with a picture of kitten.

The House Judiciary Committee Republicans’ X account made a similar post, saying “Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!” with an artificial intelligence-generated image of Trump with a duck and cat.

‘Agenda of hate and chaos’

State Rep. Marie Woodson said she refuses to believe “those who also care deeply about this country will support the continuation of the Trump-Vance agenda of hate and chaos.”

“For those who do not believe former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance for their disdain of immigrants who do not look like them, it was made crystal clear at the recent debate with Vice President Harris,” Woodson said.

“Trump’s unhinged rants about migrants indicate he has no problem spreading lies and vicious characterizations about Haitians and others. Which group will he use next to divide and put fear in our neighbors, friends, and workplaces? Migrants are human and should not be treated as pawns for a selfish goal of divide and conquer.”

U.S. Reps. Maxwell Frost and Cherfilus-McCormick spoke out about Vance’s comments earlier this week before Trump reiterated them at the debate Tuesday.

Also speaking out were Miami-Dade Commissioner Marleine Bastien, Coral Springs Commissioner Nancy Metayer Bowen, North Miami Mayor Alix Desulme, and North Miami City Clerk Vanessa Joseph.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said he does not know whose idea it was for a state agency to publish a webpage attacking Amendment 4, the proposed abortion-right amendment on the November ballot, but he also insists the page is entirely accurate.

“It’s not an anti-Amendment 4,” DeSantis declared during a news conference Tuesday of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration’s page. “What it is, it’s providing information about what Florida law is and the resources that are available under that law.”

The webpage states: “Current Florida Law Protects Women, Amendment 4 Threatens Women’s Safety,” and “DON’T LET THE FEARMONGERS LIE TO YOU.” The page goes on to say that the terms in the amendment are “open-ended and arbitrary” and has a “Here’s the Truth” section.

DeSantis said the website is “100% accurate” and that it “is not weighing in on a specific amendment.”

The Florida Democratic Party has threatened to sue over the webpage, and a Lake Worth attorney appealed to the Florida Supreme Court Tuesday to order the page taken down.

The governor spoke during a news conference in which he announced rural infrastructure investments in Lake City, also criticizing proposed Amendment 3 to legalize recreational marijuana use by Floridians at least 21 years old.

DeSantis said he thinks people benefit from medical marijuana but took aim at Trulieve, the state’s largest marijuana company, for spending more than $60 million in attempt to earn more than 60% voter support for the amendment.

“Are they just doing that because they want to be good citizens and participate in the process? No, they’re doing it because they’re hot-wiring the amendment so that they can profit from it,” DeSantis said.

“It’s not true legalization if you can’t even grow it in your backyard,” he added.

Defining who can perform abortions

The governor repeated earlier comments taking aim at the way Amendment 4 was written — many of which the webpage repeats. For example, the amendment would allow “healthcare providers” to perform an abortion. DeSantis insisted that without specifying a “physician” perform the procedure, bad actors would take advantage.

“Now that maybe you just glance at it, that’s a huge, huge change,” DeSantis said. “That is going to mean you don’t even have to have a medical license to be able to be green-lighting late term abortions all the way up to the moment of birth. That’s insane. I don’t think any other state has done that. That’s in that amendment.”

Actually, the amendment restricts state interference in abortion through viability, defined since Roe v. Wade as the moment the child can survive outside the womb, at around 24 weeks’ gestation. Presumably, state regulation would be allowed after that, as it was under Roe.

It says: “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”

DeSantis maintained that the amendment could be tied up in legal battles for decades, if it passes.

“There’s going to be people that are going to have interpretations that may be different, but how do they know? It’s not defined.” DeSantis said.

Rebuttal planned

Florida Protecting Freedom, the group behind the proposed amendment, announced plans for a news conference on Wednesday to address DeSantis’ claims. In advertisement Tuesday, the group made its case.

“Before many women know they’re pregnant. Before their first appointment. Before a doctor can see anything on an ultrasound. This is when government in Florida has banned abortion. An extreme ban with no real exceptions. Not for her health. Not even for rape,” the ad says.

The governor said supporters of the amendment are lying about a there being no exceptions in state law. The statute permits abortions after six weeks only if there is a fatal fetal diagnosis, to save the life of the mother, or for victims of rape, incest, or human trafficking.

However, two doctors have to agree about any health risk, and patients must produce evidence such as a police report that they were victims of a crime. Additionally, doctors complain that regulations governing health exceptions don’t cover all of the potential risks faced by pregnant people.

DeSantis complained that patients would be taken advantage of by non-physician health care providers looking to make money if the abortion-rights amendment passes.

“This amendment were to be enacted, you would absolutely have people coming to Florida for this purpose,” DeSantis said. “And if people could make money, non-physicians could make money to be involved, they will do that.”

The AHCA webpage states, “We must keep Florida from becoming an abortion tourism destination state.”

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.

TALLAHASSEE – A Tennessee state House member once expelled from that body flew to Florida to advocate against authoritarianism and stump for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz.

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Pearson, one of the “Tennessee Three” expelled for protesting on the House floor against gun violence, made a stop in Tallahassee Friday, a place he believes is “integral to the future of Democratic politics.”

“Absolutely, Florida is in play. I think Vice President Harris has increased the level of momentum and energy in this state in a way that we have not seen in quite a long time,” Pearson said. Especially the youth vote, he said, “is going to help swing this election.”

Pearson dined at Olean’s Cafe, a venerable soul food restaurant that also hosted then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2016 while in town for a fundraiser.

Pearson, who represents part of Memphis, and Rep. Justin Jones were expelled for their protests on the Tennessee House floor last year. The two, both Black, won reelection to their positions and continue to serve as Democrats amid a Republican supermajority. Democratic Rep. Gloria Johnson also protested but was not expelled. She is white.

The 29-year-old Pearson saw a parallel between leadership in his home state and the Sunshine State, both dominated by Republicans.

“Because democracy is at stake, the future of our opportunities as people is at stake, and when you live in a place like Florida or Tennessee you see what happens when authoritarians are in charge,” Pearson said.

“And when we have somebody who says they want to be dictator on Day One, we have a responsibility of making sure they lose so that we can preserve this democratic experiment.”

Small business tax proposal

Pearson appeared in the state capital in part to promote the small-business tax proposal Harris released this week.

She wants to increase tax incentives for startup businesses from $5,000 to $50,000, with an option to wait to claim the deduction until the business turns a profit, for maximized effect. The vice president’s campaign set a goal of 25 million new small business applications in her first term, if elected.

Pearson said Harris hopes to create an “opportunity economy,” and the small-business tax relief would help that, he said.

“The Harris campaign is really committed to our small businesses, committed to our HCBUs [historically Black colleges and universities], committed to helping to grow the places that haven’t been given the necessary investments, particularly in Black and lower-income communities,” Pearson said at the cafe, located across the street from Florida A&M University, the state’s sole public HBCU.

The release of the small business proposal came less than a week before the two presidential candidates are scheduled to debate.

Georgia school shooting

The representative who made national headlines for his protest against gun violence commented on the school shooting Wednesday in Georgia that took the lives of two students and two teachers.

Pearson said the shooting in Georgia was preventable and criticized Republicans who have blocked increased protections from firearms.

“We get folks expelling members of general assemblies instead of doing all they can to pass laws that actually protect our communities,” Pearson said. “And a lot of our communities experience gun violence nearly every single day.”

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday defended former President Donald Trump’s visit to Arlington National Cemetery, which violated federal regulations and, the Army said, featured an alleged assault by Trump’s staff against a cemetery staff member.

“I don’t see the outrage,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Daytona Beach highlighting state initiatives to address nursing shortages.

The event happened more than a week ago but DeSantis referenced a more recent reaction from Vice President Kamala Harris, who on Saturday said in a social media statement that the cemetery “is not a place for politics.”

“But here’s the thing: If people like Harris and the media are going to express more outrage at that than the people that made them Gold Star families in the first place, something is wrong. That is unacceptable,” DeSantis said.

The ceremony at Arlington was ostensibly to honor 13 service members who died in a suicide bombing at a check point outside Kabul Airport during the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago.

Trump posed for photos with families, most holding their thumbs up, in Section 60, an area in the military cemetery primarily reserved for those who died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A Trump campaign staffer “abruptly pushed aside” a cemetery staff member attempting to enforce a rule against taking photographs, according to an Army statement.

Families of the service members who died during the withdrawal have defended Trump, saying they invited him to Arlington. Some family members of the fallen spoke at the Republican National Convention in support of Trump.

‘Suckers,’ ‘losers’

Harris vowed to never politicize fallen service members and referenced previous remarks in which Trump referred to fallen service members as “suckers” and “losers.”

“Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt,” Harris said.

The cemetery prohibits filming for fundraising or campaign purposes. Trump’s campaign posted a TikTok featuring footage from the ceremony.

A Trump campaign spokesperson alleged the cemetery staff member trying to prevent the group from filming in the cemetery was suffering from a mental health episode, according to NPR.

In its statement, the Army stood by the actions and professionalism of the cemetery staff member, who declined to press charges rather than risk retaliation from Trump supporters, The New York Times reported.

Trump, his running mate Sen. J.D. Vance, and DeSantis have emphasized that Trump was invited to the service by the families. Still, those relatives lack power to suspend federal cemetery rules.

“He was invited by the Gold Star families. He didn’t just show up to make a scene. They invited him to be there. They asked him to pose for photos with the family members of the fallen,” DeSantis said.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.

Gov. Ron DeSantis denied Thursday that he is “losing his grip on Florida” amid the backlash against his administration’s proposal to build golf courses, hotels, and other projects in Florida state parks.

During a news conference in Crystal River, the governor was asked about a Tampa Bay Times article suggesting the outraged reaction to the proposal from a bipartisan collection of elected officials demonstrates a decline in his influence.

The report asked: “Is DeSantis losing his grip on Florida?”

“I’ve never been one to follow chatter at all. I do not care about it. I don’t read the chatter. I don’t listen to the chatter. I don’t do anything. Because the chatter changes. You know, on a daily basis, the news cycles change. That is not the way you can be a leader, by worrying about chatter,” DeSantis insisted.

He said he has “never categorized as me having a grip on anything.”

“I’m the governor, right? I discharge the duties of my office. I have the ability to set an agenda and deliver that agenda.”

The Times report includes comments from Republican state Rep. Randy Fine, outgoing Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, and Democratic Sen. Jason Pizzo following the “revolt” to the state parks proposal.

DeSantis’ Department of Environmental Protection envisioned golf courses, lodges, and pickleball courts in parks. Outrage was widespread enough that the agency postponed public feedback hearings.

DeSantis on Wednesday disclaimed responsibility (even though he met in April with a representative of the foundation that wanted to build three golf courses in Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County) and said the whole idea is going “back to the drawing board.”

Fine told the Times that DeSantis’ administration should have given a heads-up to legislators in whose districts the parks are located. Passidomo maintained that the Legislature’s relationship with the governor has been “very collaborative,” and Pizzo doubted there will be an “all-out assault” against the governor but added that the Legislature feels a little more comfortable “stretching its elbows out in the aisle.”

Among those who rejected the proposal are Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, both Republican members of the independently elected Florida Cabinet, who help manage state lands along with DeSantis.

The remaining member of the Cabinet, Attorney General Ashley Moody, has not responded to a request Wednesday from the Phoenix for her stance on the park proposals.

Last week, a cohort of fellow Republicans sent a letter to the governor asking him to collect more substantial feedback on the proposal. The letter was led by former governor and sitting U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, and U.S. Rep Brian Mast, who represents parts of Palm Beach, Martin, and St. Lucie counties. Also signing were Palm Beach and Martin counties officials, including members of the Florida Legislature.

Reflecting on record

During remarks about the story during a news conference announcing infrastructure grants in the Crystal River area, DeSantis focused largely on what he characterized as a successful record in office.

The governor said the best decisions he has made were reopening schools, prohibiting local work restrictions, and prohibiting mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic — decisions, he said that proved popular.

“The reason we’ve been successful isn’t because I had a grip.” He mentioned blocking gender-affirming care for minors and “some of the things we’ve done with illegal immigration, like the economic policy that people recognize were good policy and they wanted to see it.”

The governor said his pandemic policies were not received well by some members of his party.

“All those decisions that really set the foundation for Florida to boom because we were the Free State of Florida, none of those were considered popular at the time,” DeSantis said.

“Quite frankly, there were a lot of Republicans who were not supportive of what I was doing. Every Republican now says those were the right decisions. At the time, that was not the case. So, if you listen to chatter, you’re not going to be able to get the job done.”

The governor said he believes cooperation with the Legislature will continue.

“We’ve worked with people like [Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, who was present at the news conference] and the Legislature very well, and I think we’ll continue to do that, but we’re going to continue to be very, very successful,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis said Republicans will “clearly” retain their supermajority in the Senate following the November General Election (they also hold one in the state House). He called 2022 a “high water mark,” and said, “We’ll see how [20]24 plays out, but I think it’s going to be a good year.”

Similar predictions of “ the fever breaking” following a raft of culture-war initiatives as DeSantis pursued his abortive campaign for president have surfaced following the primary elections last week in which, of the 24 school board candidates DeSantis endorsed, six won, seven will face runoffs in November, and 11 lost.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.

The DeSantis administration, in encouraging introduction of religious chaplains into Florida’s public schools, has published a definition of “religion” that appears to exclude world faiths with millions of followers.

The Florida Department of Education’s model policy to guide school principals interested in implementing the optional program defines both religion and the qualifications needed to serve as chaplains.

“Florida welcomes only legitimate and officially authorized chaplains to become volunteers at their local schools and to provide students with morally sound guidance,” Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. said in a news release announcing the policy last week.

The policy appears to be aimed at The Satanic Temple, an organization whose founders have said is intended to counter government efforts to inject Christianity into government operations by espousing beliefs considered repugnant to it, in defense of the separation of church and state.

The policy “defines religion too narrowly in a way that not only excludes Satanists, but Buddhists, Humanists, Jains, Confucianists, and many others,” said Lucien Greaves, a spokesperson for the temple, in an email to the Phoenix.

“It is a clear encroachment of religion into public schools, with the clear intention of advancing a specific viewpoint,” said Greaves ( a pseudonym he adopts for his temple work).

“It’s divisive, it is legally unsound (and will not survive its forthcoming lawsuits that the Florida taxpayer will finance), and it is born of cheap political grandstanding without any real concern for the children in Florida public schools.”

During a Board of Education meeting Wednesday, Diaz encouraged schools interested in implementing the program to use the model policy “to ensure that credible chaplains can volunteer in Florida schools.”

The policy defines a chaplain as “an individual who is officially authorized by the leadership of a religion under the religion’s governing principles to conduct religious exercises.”

It defines religion as “an organized group led, supervised, or counseled by a hierarchy of teachers, clergy, sages, or priests that (1) acknowledges the existence of and worships a supernatural entity or entities that possesses power over the natural world, (2) regularly engages in some form of ceremony, ritual, or protocol, and (3) whose religious beliefs impose moral duties independent of the believer’s self-interest.”

The program, authorized by HB 931, went into effect in July and allows schools to authorize religious figures to offer counseling on campus. Participating schools would publish lists of volunteers available “to provide support, services, and programs to students as assigned by the district school board or charter school governing board,” the legislation says.

The law allows public districts and public charters to partake in the program, but does not require it and, in districts that do, parents must approve a student visiting with a chaplain.

Statute and model policy

The statute places one requirement for chaplains to meet: Pass a level 2 criminal background check, a fingerprint-based review of disqualifying offenses for people in positions of responsibility or trust.

Opponents of the program told the Phoenix that’s not enough to protect children.

The model policy, if a school chooses to use it, places the burden on a principal to ensure applying chaplains meet minimum requirements, including:

A chaplain “not be disqualified following a background screening.”

Be affiliated with a group within the school district.

Possess a bachelor’s degree and a graduate degree in counseling or theology or have seven years of chaplain experience.

Have at least two years of chaplain experience with a local group.

Must signify they will not “teach or encourage students to behave contrary to any of Florida’s state academic standards” and show a “sincere desire” to enhance student welfare.

“A principal may deny the application of any individual to become a volunteer chaplain if the principal determines that the individual is not applying to fulfill the program’s purpose or the applicant’s participation will be contrary to the pedagogical interests of the school and the chaplaincy program,” the model policy states.

Greaves said the policy “flies in the face of all standing First Amendment precedent and basic respect for religious pluralism and liberty.”

“Now we see even more clearly the disingenuous intentions of policymakers who simultaneously portray the chaplaincy program as uninterested in proselytizing, while also insisting that chaplains hold only to certain specific beliefs that have nothing to do with counseling and could only be relevant to proselytizing,” Greaves said.

The organization’s website says: “The mission of The Satanic Temple is to encourage benevolence and empathy, reject tyrannical authority, advocate practical common sense, oppose injustice, and undertake noble pursuits.”

Greaves told The New York Times that he doesn’t believe in a literal Satan any more than he does a literal God.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill in April, addressing already looming concerns about involvement by The Satanic Temple.

“Some have said that if you do a school chaplain program that, somehow, you’re going to have satanists running around in all our schools,” DeSantis said during the bill-signing ceremony in Kissimmee.

“We’re not playing those games in Florida. That is not a religion. That is not qualified to be able to participate in this. So, we’re going to be using common sense when it comes to this. You don’t have to worry about it.”

“We strongly encourage school districts to move forward with their chaplaincy programs,” Bryan Griffin, the governor’s communications director, posted to X.

“The State of Florida and the Florida Department of Education will stand with and support school districts who implement the program. To further this goal, The Department of Education has recently released a model policy for districts to adopt in implementation of the chaplaincy program.”

‘Extremely problematic’

In an interview with the Phoenix last month, before the model policy was announced, Kara Gross, the ACLU of Florida’s legislative director and senior policy counsel, said the program “creates an environment that is ripe for religious coercion and indoctrination of students.”

After the model policy was announced, Gross emphasized those concerns.

“The government-proposed ‘model policy’ further demonstrates that the true intent behind this law is to advance certain religious viewpoints that are favored by the Governor in our public schools and to exclude other religious viewpoints that the Governor disfavors,” Gross said in a news release.

She said the model policy is “extremely problematic and raises several constitutional concerns.”

“It is very concerning that the government-proposed ‘model policy’ seeks to define religion for Floridians,” Gross said.

“This is the opposite of religious freedom. Additionally, it creates arbitrary requirements that would open up school districts to potential liability for excluding certain religious viewpoints and promoting others.”

The newest member of the Broward County School Board, Rebecca Thompson, said during a Wednesday call with reporters said she is “very against” the chaplain program, saying she does not think there is enough structure.

“But my main concern as a mental health professional, as the only one on our board, once I get placed there, is that these people don’t have training, so they’re not mental health professional-training that you go years to understand how to see the signs that someone might be suicidal, see the signs that someone’s getting abused,” Thompson said.

“So we are sending unqualified people into our school to harm our students. … And we are putting our students at harm for another cultural war message that DeSantis is pushing.”

Sarah Leonardi, representing Broward County’s district three, said during that same call that the program will not give students what they need.

“We are in a youth mental health crisis, and this is, again, another distraction, another culture war issue, and it’s also not giving kids what they need. What parents and what educators want are real solutions to the mental health crisis and, unfortunately, that’s not what the Legislature is bringing to the table,” Leonardi said.

One organization against voluntary chaplains, The Council of Florida Churches, previously advised districts considering implementing the program to instead hire more certified counselors or psychiatrists or, at the very least, consult with public stakeholders on a feasibility study or something similar to gauge the interests and desires of the community.

Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, an organization dedicated to the separation of church and state, encouraged school boards to not pick up the program.

“The policy permits chaplains to provide ‘spiritual guidance’ to students, but that is not the role of public school officials. Public schools are not Sunday schools, and people of faith along with the nonreligious all have a stake in keeping church and state separate,” Laser said in a news release.

“Religious freedom means students and their parents — not politicians or public school officials — get to decide if, when, and how to engage with religion. Florida’s public-school boards should refuse to implement this, or any, policy on public school chaplains.”

The chaplain program has not received much interest from Florida districts, although the Osceola County School Board recently scheduled a vote on the topic. However, the district later dropped the matter following a statement of interest in participating from “Ministers of Satan,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

Jackie Llanos contributed to this report.

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and X.