Commentary: Six UVU faculty members share their opposition to Ron DeSantis' appearance at the school this weekend, writing that his views on education 'are out of sync with UVU’s mission and values and run counter to the principle of academic freedom.'
Pictured is the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University lit up in rainbow colors for an LGBTQ graduation celebration for 2021.We are writing on behalf of the David R. Keller Chapter of the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors to express the concerns of some faculty and staff at Utah Valley University regarding Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s upcoming visit to the UCCU Center for the Utah Republican Convention.
DeSantis’ views on higher and K-12 education are out of sync with UVU’s mission and values and run counter to the principle of academic freedom. In Florida, he has supported bills such as HB999, which would ban “any programs or campus activities” that “espouse diversity, equity, and inclusion or critical-race-theory rhetoric” and mandate a general-education course promoting “the values necessary to preserve the constitutional republic.
A recent Deseret News poll found that almost half of Utah’s GOP county chairs would consider supporting DeSantis in the 2024 presidential primary. DeSantis’s views are antithetical to the university’s mission and values. They threaten the very programs and initiatives that make UVU a welcoming and inclusive place for all students, including the Champions of Inclusion awards program, the Foundations of Inclusion workshop series, the EID Committee, the Campus Climate Committee, Multicultural Student Services, the LGBTQ Student Center, Lavender Graduation, the annual Martin Luther King Jr.
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