DeSantis signed a new bill into law on Tuesday that calls for Florida's public colleges and universities to survey the beliefs and viewpoints of their students, faculty members and staffers.
Per the bill - HB 233 - the annual survey will "assess intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity" at public institutions of higher learning. It also details the assessment will provide officials with an idea of whether students, faculty members and staffers "feel free to express beliefs and viewpoints on campus and in the classroom."
Prior to DeSantis' signing of the proposed legislation, the bill encountered pushback from Democratic lawmakers in the state's House and Senate.
Florida Sen. Lori Berman (D) questioned if the information obtained from the surveys would be weaponized to "punish or reward" public colleges or universities. She also asked if the jobs of faculty members or staffers would be put in jeopardy over the survey.
Florida Sen. Ray Rodrigues (R), the bill's sponsor, denied the legislation would do what Berman posed.
Indeed, the bill does not detail what the results of the new assessment entail.
However, DeSantis has expressed that some schools may lose funding if they are caught "indoctrinating" students.
"That’s not worth tax dollars and that’s not something that we’re going to be supporting moving forward," the Republican governor said during a Tuesday news conference in Fort Myers, Florida, as reported by the Miami Herald.
DeSantis argued that while public university campuses used to be a place where students were "exposed to a lot of different ideas," they are becoming "hotbeds for stale ideology."
The legislation will go into effect on July 1, and comes as one of three education bills signed by the Republican governor on Tuesday, including legislation on the expansion of civics education in public K-12 schools.
