ImageImage
Students walk outside the Board of Governors meeting on Jan. 30, 2025, at the University of North Florida | Michelle Corum, Jacksonville Today

UNF faculty protest as Florida limits what qualify as ‘core classes’

Published on February 2, 2025 at 12:46 pm
Free local news and info, in your inbox at 6 a.m. M-F.

University of North Florida faculty are among the Florida higher ed faculty members who are expressing concern over what they consider state censorship of what Florida students have a right to learn.  

Florida’s Board of Governors, the board overseeing public universities, met last week in Jacksonville and approved a greatly reduced selection of courses that qualify for general-education status, spurred by a new state law, Senate Bill 266, which prohibits core classes from teaching “identity politics” or that systemic racism is “inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”

Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.

United Faculty of Florida members who teach at UNF spoke out on Thursday outside the Board of Governors meeting at the UNF Delaney Student Union.

UNF Professor Matthew Leon (far right) speaks alongside other United Faculty of Florida demonstrators at UNF’s John A. Delaney Student Union on Jan. 30, 2025. | Michelle Corum, Jacksonville Today

UNF Professor Matt Leon called on the state to stop attacks on courses and content that promote DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion after the university last year shut its Office of Diversity and Inclusion and ended other campus initiatives in response to state laws.

Leon said, “Really, all diversity equity inclusion content is, is making sure that if you are that veteran with a disability, if you are a first generation college student, if you are someone that comes from a small town that’s now living in corporate America, that you have the tool set you need to navigate that and succeed.”

Article continues below

Jacksonville Today thanks our sponsors. Become one.

The faculty union represents more than 25,000 faculty members at all 12 Florida public universities. In a statement before the Board of Governors vote, UFF said, “Florida State University System’s Board of Governors is about to approve massive cuts to general education courses, those that almost all students begin with when they enter our prestigious colleges and universities, regardless of what degree they seek. These changes will disrupt the normal academic timeline of students, limit their ability to understand and impact their world, and leave them unprepared for the modern job market.”

UNF Junior Calvin Pell said he’s dismayed at the removal of sociology from the list of general education courses offered at UNF. According to UNF’s website, “The sociology program provides students with a comprehensive understanding of society, its structures, and the intricate dynamics that shape human behavior.”

“The Sociology, (Anthropology and Social Work) Department gets their majors from people who first take their courses as just general ed requirements, so while they haven’t explicitly removed sociology as a course, they have significantly limited its reach,” Pell said Thursday.

Carol Gauronskas, vice president of the Florida Education Association representing K-12 teachers, also attended the protest. She said adults should be able to choose their coursework. 

“Imagine a healthcare practitioner who didn’t know the intricacies of racial discrimination because she wasn’t allowed to take the class because someone who was not an expert thought it was too ‘woke,'” she said.


author image Reporter and Radio Reading Service Manager email Michelle Corum is a reporter who previously served as Morning Edition host at WJCT for a dozen years. She’s worked in public radio in Kansas and Michigan, had her stories heard on NPR, and garnered newscast recognition by Florida AP Broadcasters. She also oversees WJCT's Radio Reading Service for the blind. Michelle brings corporate communication experience from metro D.C. and holds a master's degree from Central Michigan University and a bachelor's degree from Troy University.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.