Florida professors are quietly refusing to comply with state policy barring DEI practices in universities.
Sociology professors in the Sunshine State have been refusing to alter their teachings in the classroom regarding issues such as race, gender, and inequality, according to The Guardian.
Across Florida universities, some sociology professors are quietly choosing not to alter their courses in response to new state guidelines restricting how topics like race, gender and sexuality can be discussed. Rather than rewriting syllabi or removing foundational material, as the new demands would call for, they say they are continuing to teach their classes as designed. The professors view the preservation of their curricula not as an act of defiance, but as a professional responsibility to provide students with a full and rigorous education.
In late January, Florida’s department of education introduced what many professors are calling a censored sociology textbook for use in the state’s public colleges and universities, along with a list of proposed guidelines at state schools, restricting various discussions related to systemic discrimination, gender and sexual identity, race-conscious remedies, and the structural causes of inequality. Faculty members say this move reflects a broader effort to narrow academic freedom in higher education and follows several years of legislation aimed at reshaping public university curricula under the banner of combating “woke ideology”.
“This is part of a coordinated assault on civil rights in the state, in the country, including censoring the nation’s history,” said Zachary Levenson, an associate professor of sociology at Florida International University. “The warning is clear to professors: shut up or lose your job.”
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Some have complained about the vague language in the guidelines, arguing they are overly broad. Levenson said the language is “left at a level of vagueness where it’s unclear what exactly might get faculty in hot water.”
The professor further explained that the guidelines include a list of prohibited topics that would prevent professors from giving instruction on content discussing systemic or institutional discrimination as a significant factor in causing present-day inequality. They are also not allowed to explore whether inherent
He stated that “we’re in this phase now where instead of telling us what not to teach, they’re telling us what to teach” and that this “feels especially terrifying and authoritarian.”
Florida lawmakers built one of the nation’s most aggressive anti-DEI frameworks in 2023. The law prohibits state funding for any university program that advocates for “diversity, equity and inclusion or promote or engage in political or social activism.” It further bars courses built on “identity politics” or content “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”
Other states have passed similar laws. President Donald Trump issued executive orders aimed at cracking down on DEI in the federal government and pressuring universities to end DEI programs to keep federal funding.
We sent undercover investigators into Kansas universities after the state banned DEI.
— Adam Guillette (@adamguillette) March 16, 2026
What they found: administrators openly admitting they’re still doing DEI—they just renamed the jobs and kept going.
Taxpayer-funded activists ignoring the law.
I’m joining Mundo in the…
Still, educators at universities across the country have been subverting these laws and finding other ways to keep teaching DEI-related topics. A university employee in Iowa was caught on camera admitting that educators were burying DEI exercises online to ensure they would not be found in internet searches.
Fox News reported on a conservative watchdog group’s footage showing another university employee at the University of Utah stating that the school’s DEI programs “have to be marketed in a certain way” to make it appear as if they are complying with the law.
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