The office of Florida Governor <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ron-desantis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ron DeSantis</a> charged Thursday that state <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/colleges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">universities</a> drastically under-reported <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversity, equity, and inclusion</a> spending after the Republican leader told administrators to provide state lawmakers with the data.
DeSantis, who entered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/freedom-lives-here-ron-desantis-sworn-in-for-second-term-as-florida-governor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second term</a> as chief executive last month after a landslide re-election victory, asked public university officials to produce an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-puts-woke-colleges-on-notice-tells-them-to-hand-over-diversity-receipts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">account</a> of expenditures related to DEI initiatives as lawmakers consider budget proposals for the new year. He <a href="https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1620439246883688448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> on Tuesday that his office would work to “eliminate all DEI and Critical Race Theory bureaucracies in the state of Florida” and force the departments to “wither on the vine.”
A notice from DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin provided to The Daily Wire said that administrators charged with accounting for the expenditures “significantly misreported and under-reported” the information.
“These bureaucracies are more interested in protecting their status quo and furthering their agenda rather than delivering a quality education to Florida’s students,” Griffin said in the notice, adding that DeSantis would work to “ensure that a full and truthful compilation” of the initiatives are gathered.
The University of Florida, for example, entirely neglected to report spending related to its “Youth Gender Project,” under which officials educate “patients and their families about gender identity development and gender nonconformity and offer services for social and medical transitioning.”
Griffin added that the programs that were reported ultimately “revealed an extraordinary misuse of taxpayer dollars to promote a political agenda at the expense of academic focus.” He noted that the chief diversity officer and related support staff at the University of Florida are paid more than $750,000 per year, while the University of Central Florida’s vice president for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and her assistant earn a combined $445,000 annually.
The results from the audit correspond with previous revelations that diversity consultants and administrators often reap substantial salaries. Public universities in Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, and Illinois employed diversity officials who pocketed annual pay ranging from $329,000 to $430,000, according to a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/college-diversity-inclusion-officers-rake-sky-high-salaries-debt-saddled-students-face-rising-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Fox News.
Among the diversity departments listed by Griffin were the Center for Environmental Equity and Justice at Florida A&amp;M University, which costs $1.8 million per year; the Diversity and Inclusion Office at the University of South Florida, which costs over $1.1 million per year; and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Florida International University, which costs over $1 million per year. One of several DEI initiatives undertaken using taxpayer funds was a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/15ns8KL08fZK9rGXR8m5Dn_JJHY_BUIjc77Bl5GNLi6Q/htmlview?urp=gmail_link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spreadsheet</a> called “Antiracist Resources for White People” compiled by University of South Florida officials; readers are told that they should donate to bail funds and examine books by critical race theorists such as Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo.
The request from DeSantis regarding the DEI initiatives asked university administrators to include a brief description of each program, the total funding used to support the program, and the portion of the funding that came from taxpayer dollars. He recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/a-drain-on-resources-desantis-announces-war-on-college-diversity-funding-and-deadweight-professors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">commented</a> that “DEI bureaucracies” are “hostile to academic freedom” and “constitute a drain on resources.”
“It really serves as an ideological filter,” DeSantis said, observing the compelled speech and political pressure that emerges on college campuses through diversity programs. “We probably are the first state that’s actually leading by example, but I can tell you those bureaucracies are not representative of what the people of this state and the taxpayers of this state want.”

Florida’s Southern Gulf Coast Continues Clean Up Efforts In Wake Of Hurricane Ian

Florida College Bureaucrats ‘Significantly Misreported’ Diversity Initiatives When Pressed By DeSantis, His Office Says

Florida Colleges 'Significantly Misreported' Diversity Initiatives When Pressed By DeSantis

College

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Education

Florida

Ron DeSantis

A New York university will force all incoming freshmen to take a course focused on “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Social Justice” — or they won’t graduate.
The members of the SUNY (State University of New York) Board of Trustees have mandated the DEISJ course for all freshmen starting in the fall of 2023.
“This is nuts,” Professor Nicholas Giordano of SUNY’s Suffolk Community College, told <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/01/31/SUNY-MAKES-NEW-RACIAL-EQUITY-CLASS-MANDATORY-FOR-GRADUATION-AT-ALL-SCHOOLS/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Post</a>. “SUNY is one of the best university systems in the country. Why are they doing this? DEISJ is a cultural movement, not based on academics. Unfortunately, SUNY responded to the mob.”
Giordano claimed the DEISJ coursework views the United States as “inherently racist,” while “creating groups and pitting them against each other.” He added that the curriculum wants students “defined by the color of their skin.”
“This is a woke, left-wing agenda,” echoed Conservative Party of New York Chairman Jerry Kassar. “It’s disturbing. It’s dangerous. They’re treating everybody as having prejudice. It’s like a socialist, Communist state. It’s unbelievable. These ideas are best addressed at home.”
The guidance from the University Faculty Senate and the Faculty Council of Community Colleges to Campuses encourages the teaching of the course to consider perspectives from outside America, <a href="https://system.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/academic-affairs/general-education/suny-ge/FCCC_UFS_Guidance-on-DEISJ-courses.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a>, “One can imagine how theory and criticism rooted outside the United States could help guide faculty and students in addressing and thinking about diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice in the United States.&#8221;
But SUNY Chancellor John King countered, “Exposure to, and understanding of, diversity is essential to success in our modern society and economy. As a leader in preparing the future workforce and citizenry, SUNY is committed to embedding diversity into the foundation of all it does – from academics to campus life and everything in between.&#8221;
“By recognizing and celebrating our diversity and fostering respectful dialogue and debate, SUNY provides students with the world-class education they deserve,” he added.
In September 2021, The New York State Board of Regents <a href="http://www.regents.nysed.gov/common/regents/files/September%2013%2C%202021%20NYS%20Board%20of%20Regents%20Diversity%2C%20Equity%2C%20and%20Inclusion%20Work%20Group%20Materials.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">insisted</a>, “Every New York school district will develop and adopt a diversity, equity, and inclusion education policy. &#8230; It is the expectation of the NYS Board of Regents that the Department, schools, and districts will implement DEI policies and practices with urgency and fidelity.”
“The Board of Regents will discuss a framework on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for New York State Schools which will serve as the basis for adopting a policy statement,” they added. “With this framework, the Board is ready to address the long history of racism and bigotry, and the corrosive impact they have had on every facet of American life.”

Students Wearing Mortarboards In City

‘This Is Nuts’: State University Of New York Forces Students To Take DEISJ Course Or Not Graduate

State University Of New York Forces Students To Take DEISJ Course Or Not Graduate

Graduation

State University of New York

U.S.

Gov. <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ron-desantis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ron DeSantis</a> (R-FL) announced that the state of <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida</a> would scrap <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversity, equity, and inclusion</a> funding from public <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/colleges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">universities</a> and increase scrutiny toward underperforming professors.
DeSantis, who entered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/freedom-lives-here-ron-desantis-sworn-in-for-second-term-as-florida-governor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second term</a> as chief executive this month after a landslide re-election victory, recently asked public university administrators to provide a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-puts-woke-colleges-on-notice-tells-them-to-hand-over-diversity-receipts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">detailed account</a> of expenditures related to DEI initiatives as members of the Florida legislature consider budget proposals. He <a href="https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1620439246883688448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revealed</a> on Tuesday that his office would work to “eliminate all DEI and CRT bureaucracies in the state of Florida” such that the programs “wither on the vine.”
“It really serves as an ideological filter,” DeSantis said, noting the compelled speech and political pressure that emerges under the auspices of diversity programs. “We probably are the first state that’s actually leading by example, but I can tell you those bureaucracies are not representative of what the people of this state and the taxpayers of this state want.”
The request from DeSantis regarding DEI initiatives asked university administrators to include a brief description of each program, the total funding used to support the program, and the portion of the funding that came from taxpayer dollars. He added that “DEI bureaucracies” are “hostile to academic freedom” and “constitute a drain on resources.”
Consultants and university officials often reap significant financial returns from their promotion of the DEI movement within postsecondary institutions. An <a href="https://www.heritage.org/education/report/diversity-university-dei-bloat-the-academy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from the Heritage Foundation found that colleges hire an average of three diversity staffers for every 100 tenured faculty.
Previous legislation signed by DeSantis mandates performance reviews of tenured professors every five years. He announced further “accountability for tenured faculty” by granting university presidents and trustees “the power to call a post-tenure review at any time.”
“The most significant deadweight cost at universities is typically unproductive tenured faculty,” he said. “Why would we want to saddle you as taxpayers with that cost if we do not have to?”
The proposals come after DeSantis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-mounts-anti-woke-offensive-at-public-florida-college" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appointed</a> a number of conservative officials to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees with the hope that the public liberal arts school would likewise eliminate controversial ideologies. Among the appointees were Christopher Rufo, a fellow with the Manhattan Institute and an activist who has vocally opposed critical race theory, as well as Matthew Spalding, a constitutional government professor at Hillsdale College.
DeSantis stressed promoting curricula that emphasize the values and philosophy of Western civilization; he also discussed the need for Florida to offer training courses for nurses, truck drivers, and other professions with shortages in the state and national economies.
“You see the growth of administrative bloat around the country with higher education, and it dwarfs what they are spending on people who actually teach our students. &#8230; They are not really improving the academic performance,” he commented. “They are expanding bureaucrats and administrative staff and trying to impose an agenda through that way. That is a failed model, and we want to make sure that’s not what’s happening here in the state of Florida.”
DeSantis has also sounded the alarm over the College Board’s forthcoming AP African American Studies curriculum. One version of the course <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/illinois-governor-backs-including-black-queer-theory-other-controversial-lessons-in-african-american-studies" target="_blank" rel="noopener">included</a> black queer theory and invited students to consider the merits of abolishing prisons. The Florida Department of Education, which mandates traditional black history in public schools, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/contrary-to-florida-law-desantis-rejects-high-school-course-emerging-nationwide-over-wokeness-concerns" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blasted</a> the material as “contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value” and called on the College Board to make the content “historically accurate.”

US-ISRAEL-POLITICS-REPUBLICANS

‘A Drain On Resources’: DeSantis Announces War On College Diversity Funding And ‘Deadweight’ Professors

DeSantis Will Scrap College Diversity Funding And ‘Deadweight’ Professors

Imagine you’re under the scope. The operating room lights partially blind you as you drift into an anesthetic-induced coma. Barely clinging to consciousness as the doctors surround you and prepare to fix your heart, you can only hear flickers of conversation before you go. But one line is unmistakable: the last thing you hear out of your surgeon is “I don’t know how to handle these tongs …”
You may think there is no chance our medical schools would ever produce such an unqualified physician. But the lowering of standards in medicine is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/unc-med-school-to-base-instruction-on-diversity-claim-organs-arent-gender-specific" target="_blank" rel="noopener">already happening</a> – and it will get consistently worse until Americans put a stop to it.
New evidence emerging from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine shows the school pledging to “integrate social justice into the curriculum with anti-racist components” into the entirety of their health system. They wrote it all down in a 2020 document called <a href="https://colorusunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Social-Justice-Task-Force-Report-and-Recommendations-Final-Final_12-9-20.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“The Task Force to Integrate Social Justice into the Curriculum”</a> and reaffirmed their transformation of the medical system in a February 2022 <a href="https://colorusunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/TaskForce_WebUpdate-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">update</a>.
So focused is the UNC School of Medicine on “anti-racism” that a new study shows they have a <a href="https://donoharmmedicine.org/2023/01/23/the-unc-school-of-medicine-scores-92-on-the-aamc-dice-inventory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">92%</a> compliance rate with a national Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) inventory. DEI is an extremely dangerous ideology that threatens to label institutions as racist unless they comply with outrageous demands made by DEI officers. These demands include forcing medical faculty to sign DEI statements, cutting doctor hours to learn about “unconscious bias,” and grading doctors on their “inclusivity” rather than their medical performance.
I don&#8217;t know if UNC is being held hostage by the DEI lobby <a href="https://www.med.unc.edu/inclusion/about/our-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">or by their own VPs.</a> All I know is this has to stop.  
One of the immediate harms that DEI is inflicting upon UNC’s medical quality is its recruitment of doctors. UNC School of Medicine has already pledged to practice “holistic admissions,” meaning they actively admit lesser-qualified doctor candidates who happen to be black and Latino over more qualified white and Asian doctors. They justify this practice in the name of “anti-racism,” <a href="https://donoharmmedicine.org/2023/01/23/the-unc-school-of-medicine-scores-92-on-the-aamc-dice-inventory/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">newly released documents</a> from their School of Medicine show.
In other words, they are admitting black and Latino doctors with lower MCAT scores and grades over white and Asian doctors with higher MCAT scores and grades. (The entire school is <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/2022/21-707" target="_blank" rel="noopener">currently facing</a> a Supreme Court lawsuit for this practice in their undergraduate program).
The lowering of standards for different groups in admissions represents a shift from producing the best-qualified doctors possible to producing doctors who fit racial and gender quotas in the name of DEI.
Is it possible that MCAT scores are not predictive of how good a doctor will eventually turn out (although MCATs are <a href="https://www.cureus.com/articles/28573-correlation-of-medical-college-admission-test-scores-and-self-assessment-materials-with-the-united-states-medical-licensing-examination-step-1-performance#!/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">correlated</a> with performance on Medical Boards)? Sure, but is medicine really the place to practice such social experiments? These are patients’ lives we’re talking about here. The margin of error between life and death rests in the doctor’s hands, and you want the best qualified doctor possible.
Another grave issue with DEI in medicine is the bad health advice indoctrinated doctors will soon give to patients. UNC School of Medicine’s required textbook, the Social Medicine Reader, analyzes health disparities through the lens of “intersectionality,” talking about how “racism” impacts health outcomes.
But any good doctor knows the predominant cause of ills in a person is that person’s own family, genes, environment, and life choices, not “racism.” That is why COVID predominantly affected those who were <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-who-is-at-risk/art-20483301" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sick</a>, <a href="https://www.science.org/content/article/why-covid-19-more-deadly-people-obesity-even-if-theyre-young" target="_blank" rel="noopener">obese</a>, <a href="https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-who-is-at-risk/art-20483301" target="_blank" rel="noopener">old</a>, and <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/19/1099" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sedentary</a> – yet the progressive medical community tried to blame the pandemic’s effect on black Americans on <a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/04/with-covid-spread-racism-not-race-is-the-risk-factor/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“racism.” </a> 
A good doctor would tell his patient, honestly but frankly, if he wants to lower his risk for disease, he should commit to a pattern of diet and exercise. But UNC Medical School now claims in its Task Force to Integrate Social Justice that “health disparities are primarily determined by structural factors, rather than by biological ones or by individual behaviors.”
This is bad advice and bad medicine. DEI is leading UNC Medical School – and other medical schools across the nation – down to road to shamanistic, feelings-based healthcare.
Medical mistakes are the <a href="https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/study_suggests_medical_errors_now_third_leading_cause_of_death_in_the_us" target="_blank" rel="noopener">third-leading cause</a> of death in the United States, right below heart disease and cancer, according to a study. Although good medicine saves lives, bad medicine kills. We cannot have bad medicine leaking into our medical institutions in the name of DEI.
UNC-Chapel Hill’s medical campus was most recently investigated by the federal government for putting patients in “<a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/feds-threaten-unc-hospitals-funding-over-immediate-jeopardy-to-patient-health/ar-AAZsx9w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">immediate jeopardy</a>.” Only 3%of all hospital systems are so ignobly designated, with UNC’s issues with patient rights, quality assessment, and infection control cited as evidence.  
In this precarious medical environment, should UNC really be realigning its focus to combat “racism” rather than the immediate health needs of its patients?  
How bad can it get? The Chinese immigrant Helen Raleigh, whose mother worked as a doctor during the Cultural Revolution, <a href="https://helenraleigh.substack.com/p/the-danger-of-woke-medicine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">states it best</a>: “Medical students spent less time learning medicine but more time on political indoctrination. … Once graduated, these young doctors didn&#8217;t know much about how to treat patients in real life.”
It’s time to say: we don’t want Cultural Revolution healthcare.
My organization, Color Us United, <a href="https://colorusunited.org/unc-petition/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">started a petition</a> protesting DEI in healthcare at UNC and other Medical Schools. We need to stand up to the DEI lobby before it completely transforms our health care system from one of high quality doctors to one excessively focused on social justice at the expense of your health.
Kenny Xu is the President of <a href="https://colorusunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/TaskForce_WebUpdate-1.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Color Us United</a> and the author of the book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Inconvenient-Minority-American-Excellence-Meritocracy-ebook/dp/B08MQN8J6D/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">“An Inconvenient Minority.”</a>
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Stethoscope and tablet,Close-up of stethoscope against white background

Bad Medicine: How DEI Is Dismantling UNC’s Medical School And Endangering Patients

Bad Medicine: How DEI Is Dismantling UNC's Medical School And Endangering Patients

COVID

medical school

Readers Pass

University of North Carolina

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/google" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Google</a> dismissed dozens of employees working in the firm’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversity</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/social-media-censorship" target="_blank" rel="noopener">content moderation</a> departments, as well as a number of massage therapists, in a round of company-wide <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/unemployment" target="_blank" rel="noopener">layoffs</a>.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-white-house-brushed-off-concerns-about-mass-firings-at-microsoft-and-amazon-now-google-is-laying-off-employees-too" target="_blank" rel="noopener">informed</a> the company last week that some 12,000 positions would be eliminated due to macroeconomic turmoil, impacting roughly 6% of the company’s workforce. Executives dismissed 31 massage therapists, 21 members of the Trust and Safety department, and two diversity czars, according to disclosures with the California Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification system obtained by The Daily Wire.
One employee with the title of “Diversity Manager” and another with the title of “Diversity Specialist” were listed in the disclosures. The latter position earned an average of $84,000 per year in base pay, $11,000 per year in bonuses, and $19,000 per year in stock benefits for expected annual compensation ranging between $90,000 and $148,000, according to an <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Google-Diversity-Specialist-Salaries-E9079_D_KO7,27.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">estimate</a> from Glassdoor.
Individuals working in the Trust and Safety department are charged with “deciding what content is allowed on our platforms” while “preserving people’s right to express themselves freely at the colossal scale we operate,” according to a <a href="https://blog.google/around-the-globe/google-europe/meet-teams-keeping-our-corner-internet-safer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blog post</a> shared on Google’s website. Employees with “Manager,” “Analyst,” and “Specialist” titles were dismissed from the business unit, according to the disclosures. Investigative journalists who were provided internal communications at Twitter recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-twitter-files-show-fbi-paid-twitter-millions-influenced-execs-to-censor-hunter-biden-laptop-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that employees in the Trust and Safety department coordinated with the FBI and intelligence agencies to censor political content.
Beyond the aforementioned positions, hundreds of employees bearing titles as divergent as “Product Analyst,” “Verification Engineer,” “Compliance Specialist,” and “Solutions Consultant” were impacted by the layoffs, according to the disclosures with the state of California, which requires companies to inform affected employees in the state 60 days before a mass layoff.
The dismissal of the employees classified as “Massage Therapists” comes as prominent companies in Silicon Valley face mockery for excessive employee perks that critics say distract unmotivated employees from their primary responsibilities. One former Google employee who posted footage of herself enjoying the company’s free meals and lavishly themed rooms later shared another tear-filled <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/former-google-employee-goes-viral-with-day-in-the-life-video-series-ending-in-layoff-news" target="_blank" rel="noopener">video</a> showing herself after learning that she had been dismissed.
Twitter, which recently reduced headcount by as much as two-thirds amid Elon Musk’s efforts to make the company “much more engineering-driven,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/twitter-scraps-employee-benefits-like-meal-allowances-reduces-family-planning" target="_blank" rel="noopener">auctioned</a> a variety of kitchen equipment and furniture such as espresso machines, rotisserie ovens, commercial blenders, refrigerators, griddles, fryers, braising pans, and pizza ovens. Musk warned employees that they should expect “extremely hardcore” hours should they desire to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/read-it-elon-musk-tells-twitter-staff-to-work-long-hours-at-high-intensity-or-hit-the-road" target="_blank" rel="noopener">stay</a> at the company.
The headcount reduction at Twitter has contributed to investors requesting further dismissals at other prominent companies. The Children’s Investment Fund Management CEO Christopher Hohn called for Alphabet to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/google-should-dismiss-more-employees-cut-excessive-salaries-from-median-300k-investor-argues" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slash</a> headcount by another 25,000 workers, referencing excessive median salaries of $300,000 and rapid growth in payrolls, noting that Alphabet has “more than doubled” payrolls in only five years. “Cost discipline is now required as revenue growth is slowing,” he wrote in a letter to Pichai. “In a new era of slower revenue growth, aggressive cost management is essential.”
Altimeter Capital Management CEO Brad Gerstner likewise <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/investor-tells-zuckerberg-to-cut-headcount-cool-down-metaverse-push-since-no-one-knows-what-it-even-means" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pressed</a> Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to reform the company’s hiring practices and focus on core competencies, noting that headcount had tripled in the span of four years.
“It is a poorly kept secret in Silicon Valley that companies ranging from Google to Meta to Twitter to Uber could achieve similar levels of revenue with far fewer people,” he asserted. “I would take it a step further and argue that these incredible companies would run even better and more efficiently without the layers and lethargy that comes with this extreme rate of employee expansion.”

Mid adult woman giving back massage to female customer lying on table in spa

Massage Therapists, Diversity Czars Laid Off From Google As Silicon Valley Takes Away Employee Perks

Massage Therapists Laid Off At Google As Company Introduces Cost Discipline

Big Tech

Business

Google

Social Media Censorship

Unemployment

Presidents of the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/florida" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida</a> College System issued a statement vowing to nix diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, also known as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">DEI</a>, and prioritize academic freedom after Governor <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ron-desantis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ron DeSantis</a> (R-FL) launched an overhaul of the state’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/colleges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">universities</a>.
DeSantis, who entered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/freedom-lives-here-ron-desantis-sworn-in-for-second-term-as-florida-governor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second term</a> as chief executive of the Sunshine State this month after a landslide re-election victory in November, recently asked public university administrators to provide a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-puts-woke-colleges-on-notice-tells-them-to-hand-over-diversity-receipts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">detailed account</a> of expenditures related to DEI programs as members of the Florida legislature consider budget proposals. The statement from the Florida College System noted that DEI initiatives tend to advance left-wing ideologies and silence dissent.
“Our institutions will not fund or support any institutional practice, policy, or academic requirement that compels belief in critical race theory or related concepts such as intersectionality, or the idea that systems of oppression should be the primary lens through which teaching and learning are analyzed,” said a memo from the officials provided to The Daily Wire. “In the development of knowledge, research endeavors, and creative activities, a college faculty and student body must be free to cultivate a spirit of inquiry and scholarly criticism, and to examine ideas in an atmosphere of freedom and confidence.”
The statement also comes after DeSantis <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-mounts-anti-woke-offensive-at-public-florida-college" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appointed</a> a number of conservative officials to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees in the hopes that the public liberal arts school would likewise eliminate the controversial ideology. Among the appointees were Christopher Rufo, a fellow with the Manhattan Institute and an activist who has vocally opposed critical race theory, as well as Matthew Spalding, a constitutional government professor at Hillsdale College.
Presidents of the Florida College System remain “committed to developing campus environments that uphold objectivity in teaching and learning,” the statement continued. The officials also reaffirmed a “commitment to nondiscrimination in hiring” and a desire to cultivate “intellectual autonomy and equality.”
The rejection of DEI at Florida universities occurs as other universities promote the ideology. Students at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, one of the nation’s top business programs, are now able to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/worlds-best-business-school-adds-diversity-and-woke-investing-majors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">earn</a> majors in DEI.
Consultants and officials often garner significant financial returns from their promotion of the DEI movement within postsecondary institutions. Public universities in Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, and Illinois have employed diversity officials who pocketed salaries ranging from $329,000 to $430,000, according to a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/college-diversity-inclusion-officers-rake-sky-high-salaries-debt-saddled-students-face-rising-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Fox News, while an <a href="https://www.heritage.org/education/report/diversity-university-dei-bloat-the-academy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from the Heritage Foundation found that colleges hire an average of three diversity staffers for every 100 tenured faculty.
The request from DeSantis regarding DEI initiatives asked university administrators to include a brief description of each program, the total funding used to support the program, and the portion of the funding that came from taxpayer dollars.
“We must ensure school systems are responsive to parents and to students, not partisan interest groups, and we must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideology,” DeSantis remarked during his second inaugural <a href="https://www.flgov.com/2023/01/03/governor-desantis-delivers-inaugural-address-sets-priorities-for-second-term/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">address</a>. “We will enact more family-friendly policies to make it easier to raise children and we will defend our children against those who seek to rob them of their innocence.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Bradenton

Florida Colleges Vow To Ban Critical Race Theory After Overhaul From DeSantis

Florida Universities Vow To Ban Woke Ideology After DeSantis Launches Education Overhaul

Wells Fargo announced a pivot toward offering <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/housing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">home</a> ownership services for <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/diversity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">minority</a> applicants even as the <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/banks" target="_blank" rel="noopener">firm</a> pulls away from the mortgage correspondent and servicing businesses.
The financial services company’s retail employees will “focus primarily on bank customers and underserved communities” amid continued efforts to simplify its mortgage business model. The firm will broaden an existing $150 million investment earmarked for racial equity in homeownership to include purchase loans, as well as introduce another $100 million toward the effort, according to a <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230110005938/en/Wells-Fargo-Announces-Strategic-Direction-for-Home-Lending-A-Smaller-Less-Complex-Business-Focused-on-Bank-Customers-and-Minority-Communities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> issued on Tuesday.
“Mortgage is an important relationship product, and our goal is to continue to be the primary mortgage lender to Wells Fargo bank customers as well as minority homebuyers. We are making the decision to continue to reduce risk in the mortgage business by reducing its size and narrowing its focus,” Wells Fargo Consumer Lending CEO Kleber Santos remarked in the statement. “As the largest bank lender to Black and Hispanic families for the last decade, we remain deeply committed to advancing racial equity in homeownership.”
Kristy Fercho, who leads Diverse Segments, Representation, and Inclusion efforts for Wells Fargo, added that the company will “hire additional mortgage consultants in communities of color” in order to “reach more customers in underserved communities.”
The initiative comes after Bank of America <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/boa-ripped-over-no-down-payment-no-closing-costs-mortgage-plan-for-minorities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">unveiled</a> a mortgage lending program oriented toward minority communities. Applicants are required to pay neither down payments nor closing costs. The initiative, which was piloted in a handful of neighborhoods across the country, has no minimum credit score requirement and does not make buyers pay mortgage insurance.
Mortgage rates saw a rapid increase through the second half of last year as the Federal Reserve rolled back expansionary monetary policies. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate remained below 3% for much of the past two years, according to <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MORTGAGE30US" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac, before rising to more than 7% two months ago.
Wells Fargo nevertheless has a questionable past with respect to ethical business practices. The company recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bank-will-fork-over-3-7-billion-after-thousands-wrongly-lose-homes-and-vehicles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">agreed</a> to pay $3.7 billion in civil penalties and redress after officials carried out a number of abuses concerning mortgages and consumer accounts, marking the largest fine in the history of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The firm wrongfully repossessed cars and misapplied mortgage payments, causing thousands to wrongly lose their homes and vehicles.
“Wells Fargo’s rinse-repeat cycle of violating the law has harmed millions of American families,” Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra said in a <a href="https://www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/cfpb-orders-wells-fargo-to-pay-37-billion-for-widespread-mismanagement-of-auto-loans-mortgages-and-deposit-accounts/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>, naming the company a “repeat offender.” Wells Fargo consented to pay $3 billion in February 2020 after employees were pressured to “meet unrealistic sales goals that led thousands of employees to provide millions of accounts or products to customers under false pretenses or without consent, often by creating false records or misusing customers’ identities,” according to a <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wells-fargo-agrees-pay-3-billion-resolve-criminal-and-civil-investigations-sales-practices" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> from the Justice Department.
Despite the company’s purported efforts to advance racial equity and inclusion, Wells Fargo also paid $7.8 million in August 2020 to settle a claim from the Department of Labor asserting that executives <a href="https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/ofccp/ofccp20200824" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discriminated</a> against more than 34,000 African-American applicants for banking, customer sales, and administrative support positions, as well as over 300 female applicants for administrative support positions.

Wells Fargo Agrees To Pay $3.7 Billion, Largest CFPB Banking Fine To Date

Major Bank Will Focus Mortgage Activities On ‘Minority Communities’

Wells Fargo Pouring Millions Into Minority Mortgages

Banks

Housing

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/victorias-secret" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Victoria’s Secret</a> had spent decades marketing luxury lingerie with runway shows and supermodels. The once-iconic brand has nevertheless been languishing in recent years following a pivot toward <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/diversity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversity</a> and <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/woke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wokeness</a>.
The company earned approval from the media as executives announced the end of the Angels fashion show broadcast four years ago and vowed to “rethink” marketing tactics. The Angels were later replaced with VS Collective, an “unparalleled group of trailblazing partners who share a common goal to drive positive change.” The brand that had built its image on models such as Heidi Klum and Gisele Bündchen would now be <a href="https://www.victoriassecret.com/us/thevscollective" target="_blank" rel="noopener">represented</a> by figures such as left-wing lesbian soccer player Megan Rapinoe and male-to-female <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/report-victorias-secret-hires-first-transgender-paul-bois" target="_blank" rel="noopener">transgender</a> person Valentina Sampaio.
The company’s website and social media pages now feature women of all shapes and sizes, as well as various nods to the purported importance of diversity and inclusion. The brand’s performance has meanwhile been less than angelic: the company permanently closed hundreds of stores and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/victorias-secret-went-woke-now-theyre-laying-off-160-management-positions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">axed</a> several dozen management-level positions over the past three years. Victoria’s Secret CEO Amy Hauk recently <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/victorias-secret-brand-ceo-out-as-company-struggles-following-pursuit-of-wokeness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">exited</a> the company after spending less than one year in her post.
Brittany Martinez, a model and the editor-in-chief of Evie Magazine, a beauty and lifestyle publication that promotes traditional femininity, characterized the decline of Victoria’s Secret as a “masterclass in a corporate brand misdiagnosing the root cause” during an interview with The Daily Wire. She contended that the company’s powerful brand had eclipsed overpriced and low-quality merchandise until the marketing overhaul.
“Instead of lowering their prices or improving their quality, they killed the Angel and the entire fantasy along with it,” Martinez said. “They made a critical mistake many companies have made: they obsessed over their competitors and the media instead of obsessing over their customers.”
Victoria’s Secret is indeed one of several companies in the fashion industry that has compromised branding to make controversial social statements. Balenciaga recently garnered <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/balenciaga-responds-to-child-bdsm-photo-shoot-scandal-we-could-have-done-things-differently" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backlash</a> for publishing a photoshoot which depicted young children holding teddy bears in bondage gear, while Ulta Beauty <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ulta-beauty-turns-off-comments-stands-by-offensive-transgender-video-that-triggered-boycott-calls" target="_blank" rel="noopener">featured</a> transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney discussing “girlhood” alongside a “gender-fluid” hairdresser.
Martinez said that the move away from the “surface-level nature” of the Victoria’s Secret brand drastically changed the customer experience. “Shopping in their stores as a young woman used to be incredible. The supermodels in black and white on the walls. The scent. The displays. You felt like a bombshell. You didn’t shop there to take part in some kind of desperate activism,” she said. “Not only were they shaming the brand’s former celebration of feminine beauty and sensuality, but they replaced beloved female supermodels with activists.”
The new direction was even more palpable for males shopping for their significant others. “Countless men still readily buy products from left-leaning companies like Apple or watch the NFL regardless of their political ideology. But ask any man you know if they’ve been to Victoria’s Secret lately,” Martinez continued. “They’ll likely comment on the overweight mannequins or the fact that they’re looking at a biological man in cheekies and a pushup.”
Many customers of Victoria’s Secret believe the shift toward wokeness was merely performative in nature. Even as the company featured plus-sized models, executives were implementing damage control by signing “thin, white” celebrities such as Bella Hadid and Hailey Bieber.
“Everyone could see what they were doing. They were checking the token diversity boxes, whereas other newer brands were built from day one with diversity and inclusion as part of their core values,” Martinez noted. “Victoria’s Secret will never be what it was. It feels like the brand has no clue what it is, what it’s selling, and who it’s selling to.”

A logo of Victoria’s Secret, an American designer,

‘They Made A Critical Mistake’: How Victoria’s Secret Went Woke And Got Broke

How Victoria’s Secret Went Woke And Got Broke

Economy

Victoria's Secret

Wokeness

The Canadian psychology association <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/dr-jordan-peterson-lashes-out-at-canadas-commissars-after-board-threatens-his-medical-license">clashing</a> with Dr Jordan B Peterson over his social media statements has embraced radical gender theory in recent years, even hosting a speaker who told members it is a &#8220;microaggression&#8221; to offer counseling to clients seeking sex changes.
The College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO) called out Peterson for his political views on a range of issues and demanded he complete &#8220;<a href="https://members.cpo.on.ca/public_register/show/19846">social media communications retraining</a>&#8221; or face a suspension of his license to operate as a clinical psychologist. The best-selling author and Daily Wire+ host has 3.6 million followers on Twitter and millions more on Instagram and YouTube and frequently weighs in on politics and cultural issues.
&#8220;What exactly have I done that is so seriously unprofessional that I am now a danger not only to any new potential clients but to the public itself?&#8221; Peterson asked in an <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/my-critics-have-weaponized-the-college-of-psychologists-disciplinary-process-for-political-reasons">article</a> for Canada&#8217;s National Post.
The disciplinary threat may have more to do with Peterson&#8217;s opinions than his methods of communication, given that its embrace of radical gender and race theories runs counter to Peterson&#8217;s decidedly non-woke beliefs.
In July 2020, the college established an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Working Group and published &#8220;A Commitment to Anti-Racism,&#8221; presumably in response to the &#8220;call to action&#8221; from protesters during the George Floyd riots for businesses to adopt Social Justice doctrine. In April 2021, CPO announced a &#8220;gender neutral language&#8221; update and an acknowledgment of &#8220;gender identity,&#8221; a set of ideological beliefs <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-biological-evidence-for-gender-identity-exists-group-of-scientists-researchers-says">unsupported by empirical evidence</a>. 
In June 2021, the Canadian regulatory body introduced Allison Kirschbaum, a self-identified &#8220;queer&#8221; psychologist <a href="https://remedycentre.ca/team/allison-kirschbaum/">whose</a>&#8220;approach is informed by feminist social justice scholarship and is rooted in values of diversity, inclusion, and anti-oppression,&#8221; to give a <a href="https://cpo.on.ca/members/professional-practice/barbara-wand-seminar/barbara-wand-seminar-archives/#june-2021">presentation</a> on &#8220;Ethical Practice in the Context of Sexual and Gender Diversity.&#8221;
According to Dr. Michael Grand, the former CPO <a href="https://cpo.on.ca/presidents-message-april-2021/">president</a>, and current <a href="https://cpo.on.ca/about-cpo/council/committees/">Discipline Committee member</a>, over half of the college&#8217;s membership participated in the seminar. 
The <a href="https://vimeo.com/562191329/67c341385e">presentation</a> included a lesson on the &#8220;Gender Unicorn,&#8221; a graphic intended for children to introduce them to the pseudoscientific concept of &#8220;gender identity,&#8221; created by the activist-led organization Trans Student Educational Resources (TSER). TSER was founded by Eli Erlick, a transgender activist best known for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/transgender-activist-eli-erlick-continues-to-boast-of-potentially-illegal-drug-scheme">advertising</a> a potentially illegal drug trafficking scheme on social media that would ship prescription drugs to people, including minors. 
The materials in the presentation include concepts like “assigned sex,” the idea that doctors arbitrarily dictate a person’s biological sex rather than observe and record it.
Kirschbaum recommended to participants the booklet &#8220;A Quick &amp; Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns&#8221; by Archie Bongiovanni, an activist known for selling explicit <a href="https://archiebongiovanni.bigcartel.com/">merchandise</a> like the &#8220;demystify fisting&#8221; patch and a sticker promoting public sex.
The education materials included guides on how to use gender-neutral and neopronouns (like &#8220;ze,&#8221; &#8220;hir,&#8221; and &#8220;they&#8221;) or even “no pronouns.” An example of how to subvert the English language to use neopronouns is provided: &#8220;The book is hirs. Ze identifies outside a gender binary.&#8221;
In part of her presentation, Kirschbaum listed &#8220;common therapist microaggressions,&#8221; which included &#8220;gatekeeping,&#8221; the idea that conducting a proper evaluation of patients and assessing their individual needs might hinder their ability to easily access hormones and surgeries. 
Exploratory psychotherapy, an <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-clinical-guidelines-offer-therapeutic-alternative-to-affirming-gender-dysphoric-youth">approach</a> to explore possible underlying factors that might cause distressed youth to experience gender dysphoria, may have spared Chloe Cole the pain of detransition. 
Cole, 18, was recently interviewed by Peterson on his <a href="https://youtu.be/6O3MzPeomqs">podcast</a>. Her story documents how she was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-chloe-cole-gives-powerful-testimony-against-gender-affirming-care-at-white-house">introduced</a> to gender ideology online at 11 years old, which led to her self-identification as a transgender boy at 12 years old. Cole was prescribed puberty blockers and testosterone at 13, and received a double mastectomy to remove her breasts at 15, all at the behest of “gender affirming” medical professionals who she says emotionally blackmailed her parents into giving their consent. 
Cole had no history of suicidal ideation, but her parents were given the ultimatum: “Would you rather have a dead daughter or a living son?” 
“It’s corrupt to the point of malevolence what the medical professionals are doing on this front,” Peterson said of the <a href="https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/pediatric-gender-medicine-and-the">affirm-or-suicide</a> narrative deployed by proponents of &#8220;gender-affirming&#8221; care. Cole is now <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-chloe-cole-announces-intent-to-sue-kaiser-permanente-for-experimental-hormones-and-surgery">suing</a> the hospital and affiliated medical group that facilitated her medical transition as a minor. 
Canada enacted a <a href="https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-4/royal-assent">law</a> last year banning any form of therapy that does not affirm a child&#8217;s chosen transgender identity by labeling it as &#8220;conversion therapy.&#8221; They succeeded in the ban by equating &#8220;watchful waiting,&#8221; which is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on exploring underlying causes of dysphoria and delaying medical interventions, with the controversial practice of trying to get gays and lesbians to &#8220;convert&#8221; to heterosexuality. 
“It’s actually mandatory by law, in many jurisdictions,” Peterson said on his podcast. “Because of standards of ‘gender-affirming care,’ if you’re a girl and say something like ‘I’m a boy,’ the therapist is now required to agree with you.”
Over 20 states in the United States have also <a href="https://www.lgbtmap.org/equality-maps/conversion_therapy">passed laws</a> in recent years banning <a href="https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/on-gender-the-aap-has-chosen-ideology">&#8220;conversion therapy&#8221;</a> for both homosexuality and &#8220;gender identity.&#8221; 
While <a href="https://www.elmhurst.edu/news/researcher-simon-levay-talks-about-the-science-of-sexuality/">science</a> has been able to definitively demonstrate a biological basis for same-sex attraction, there is “zero point zero zero” evidence that the concept of  “gender identity” has any scientific basis, <a href="https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2018/01/20844/">according</a> to pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Quentin Van Meter. 
According to an international group of over 100 clinicians and researchers, there is currently<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-biological-evidence-for-gender-identity-exists-group-of-scientists-researchers-says"> no biological evidence</a> for “gender identity” and no laboratory test that can distinguish a trans-identified person from a non-trans-identified person. Despite this, the belief in “gender identity,” determined by sex-based stereotypes and behaviors, is used as the basis for medically transitioning<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-insurance-data-reveals-shocking-number-of-minors-obtained-transgender-surgeries"> thousands</a> of children and adolescents.
As their source of purportedly authoritative information, CPO references the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), an organization <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-declaration-launches-opposition-to-leading-transgender-health-association">denounced</a> internationally by medical and mental health professionals for its “adherence to ideological views unsupported by evidence, its exclusion of ethical concerns, and its mischaracterization of basic science.”
Peterson filed an application for judicial review with the Ontario Divisional Court and said he will refuse to comply with the regulatory body’s findings.

Jordan Peterson

Canadian Board Threatening Dr Jordan B Peterson’s License Over Tweets Pushes Radical Gender, Race Theories

Canada

Transgender

World

Governor <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ron-desantis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ron DeSantis</a> (R-FL) nominated six candidates for the New College of Florida Board of Trustees in the hopes that the public liberal arts <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/colleges" target="_blank" rel="noopener">school</a> would scrap controversial ideologies.
DeSantis, who entered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/freedom-lives-here-ron-desantis-sworn-in-for-second-term-as-florida-governor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second term</a> as chief executive of the Sunshine State this week after a landslide reelection victory in November, appointed Christopher Rufo, Matthew Spalding, Charles Kesler, Mark Bauerlein, Debra Jenks, and Jason “Eddie” Speir to the institution’s Board of Trustees, according to a <a href="https://www.flgov.com/2023/01/06/governor-ron-desantis-appoints-six-to-the-new-college-of-florida-board-of-trustees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> from the Executive Office of the Governor. The nominees must be confirmed by the Florida Senate, which is presently controlled by Republicans.
Rufo, a fellow with the Manhattan Institute, is an activist who has opposed Critical Race Theory at the state and federal levels, while Spalding is a constitutional government professor at Hillsdale College. Kesler is the editor of the Claremont Review of Books and a professor at Claremont-McKenna College; Bauerlein is a professor of English at Emory University; Jenks is an attorney and serves on the Fourth District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission; and Speir is the chairman of the Inspiration Academy, a high school in southwestern Florida.
“Like so many colleges and universities in America, this institution has been completely captured by a political ideology that puts trendy, truth-relative concepts above learning,” DeSantis Communications Director Taryn Fenske contended in a statement provided to The Daily Wire. “In particular, New College of Florida has reached a moment of critical mass, wherein low student enrollment and other financial stresses have emerged from its skewed focus and impractical course offerings.”
The move comes days after DeSantis asked public university administrators to provide a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-puts-woke-colleges-on-notice-tells-them-to-hand-over-diversity-receipts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">detailed account</a> of expenditures related to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs as members of the Florida legislature consider various budget proposals. For each initiative, officials were instructed to include a brief description of the program, the number of staff positions associated with the program, the total funding used to support the program, and the portion of the funding that came from taxpayer dollars.
“As Governor DeSantis stated in his second inaugural speech: ‘We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth.’ Starting today, the ship is turning around,” DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin said in a statement provided to The Daily Wire. “New College of Florida, under the governor’s new appointees, will be refocused on its founding mission of providing a world-class quality education with an exceptional focus on the classics.”
DeSantis prioritized education reform in his first term, drawing criticism from leftist media outlets and large corporations. Disney was rebuked by customers last year for opposing legislation that <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-signs-parental-notification-bill-shrugs-off-dont-say-gay-uproar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prohibited</a> instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity for students between kindergarten and third grade, prompting lawmakers to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-desantis-signs-bills-into-law-that-strips-disney-of-special-powers-blocks-crt-in-schools" target="_blank" rel="noopener">revoke</a> special tax and regulatory privileges the entertainment conglomerate formerly enjoyed in central Florida.
DeSantis has also endorsed legislation that explicitly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-makes-it-simple-for-media-on-proper-curriculum-for-kids" target="_blank" rel="noopener">condemns</a> teaching the notion that one racial group is morally superior or inferior to another. “No one should be instructed to feel as if they are not equal or shamed because of their race,” he commented. “In Florida, we will not let the far-left woke agenda take over our schools and workplaces. There is no place for indoctrination or discrimination in Florida.”

DeSantis Mounts Anti-Woke Offensive At Public Florida College

DeSantis Appoints Conservatives To Public Florida College

The office of Governor <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/ron-desantis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ron DeSantis</a> (R-FL) requested information on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei" target="_blank" rel="noopener">diversity</a> expenditures from state universities.
A <a href="https://twitter.com/BryanDGriffin/status/1610710708135821312/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">memo</a> addressed to Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and Florida State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, which was sent on December 28 and posted to social media on Wednesday by DeSantis Press Secretary Bryan Griffin, told the officials to gather data on diversity initiatives in the higher education system as the Florida legislature begins to consider budget proposals.
“It is important that we have a full understanding of the operational expenses of state institutions,” the memo said. “This letter is a request for information from the Department of Education and the State University System regarding the expenditure of state resources on programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory within our state colleges and universities.”
For each initiative, university administrators were told to include a brief description of the program, the number of staff positions associated with the program, the total funding used to support the program, and the portion of the funding that came from taxpayer dollars.
Numerous reports have noted the inflow of capital into the nascent diversity sector, which garnered attention following the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020. Public universities in Michigan, Maryland, Virginia, and Illinois employed diversity officials who pocketed salaries ranging from $329,000 to $430,000, according to a <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/college-diversity-inclusion-officers-rake-sky-high-salaries-debt-saddled-students-face-rising-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from Fox News, while an <a href="https://www.heritage.org/education/report/diversity-university-dei-bloat-the-academy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">analysis</a> from the Heritage Foundation found that colleges hire an average of three diversity staffers for every 100 tenured faculty.
“State legislatures, boards of higher education, and university trustees should investigate the extent of resources devoted to DEI personnel at the universities they oversee and subsidize,” the conservative think tank concluded. “Stakeholders should demand evidence about whether DEI resources are necessary and effective for achieving appropriate goals.”
DeSantis, who entered a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/freedom-lives-here-ron-desantis-sworn-in-for-second-term-as-florida-governor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second term</a> as chief executive of the Sunshine State after a landslide reelection victory, has enacted a number of reforms meant to combat the spread of Critical Race Theory. The official <a href="https://www.flgov.com/2021/06/22/governor-ron-desantis-signs-legislation-to-set-the-pace-for-civics-education-in-america/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">signed</a> Senate Bill 1108 and House Bill 233 into law two years ago; the former piece of legislation “requires state college and state university students to take both a civic literacy course and a civic literacy assessment as a graduation requirement,” while the latter “requires state colleges and universities to conduct annual assessments of the viewpoint diversity and intellectual freedom at their institutions.”
Reforms in the primary and secondary education systems drew ire from leftists as media outlets and large corporations contended that the new parental rights laws discriminated against proponents of the LGBTQ movement. One such statute <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/desantis-signs-parental-notification-bill-shrugs-off-dont-say-gay-uproar" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prohibited</a> instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity for students between kindergarten and third grade.
“We must ensure school systems are responsive to parents and to students, not partisan interest groups, and we must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideology,” DeSantis reiterated during his second inaugural <a href="https://www.flgov.com/2023/01/03/governor-desantis-delivers-inaugural-address-sets-priorities-for-second-term/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">address</a>. “We will enact more family-friendly policies to make it easier to raise children and we will defend our children against those who seek to rob them of their innocence.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks to supporters at a campaign

DeSantis Puts Woke Colleges On Notice, Tells Them To Hand Over Diversity Receipts

DeSantis Tells Colleges To Fork Over Diversity Receipts

Critical Race Theory

A bill from a Texas legislator is targeting the often one-sided leftist political viewpoints present in higher education institutions, demanding that DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) offices on campuses be banned.
The bill, Texas H.B. 1006, <a href="https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/88R/billtext/html/HB01006I.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">states clearly</a> that “each institution of higher education has the general responsibility to foster a diversity of viewpoints” and to “maintain political, social and cultural neutrality.” It was introduced by Republican Rep. Carl Tepper.
The bill says that public institutions of higher education must adopt a policy that must “prohibit the funding, promotion, sponsorship, or support of any office of diversity, equity, and inclusion.&#8221; The institution must allow student organizations and faculty to invite speakers to speak on campus and “establish disciplinary sanctions for students, student organizations, or faculty who unduly interfere with the expressive activities of others on campus.”
The bill also provides an opportunity for redress for someone who feels the institution has failed in obeying the standards of the bill, allowing them to bring an action for injunctive relief to compel the institution to comply. The fees and costs that the person bringing the action would garner would come from the budget of the office of the chief executive officer of the institution or the institution’s system.
Education activist Christopher Rufo, whose dedicated work has exposed the use of Critical Race Theory-tinged curricula in schools and other organizations, praised the bill.
“D.E.I programs have become offices of racialist ideology, speech suppression, and political indoctrination—and deserve zero taxpayer support,” Rufo said while announcing that he would be “making a series of announcements early next year about a national campaign to abolish D.E.I. offices and reform higher education from the ground up.”
“We are assembling a team of the brightest policy minds in the country and will be *laying siege the universities*,” he declared.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I will be making a series of announcements early next year about a national campaign to abolish D.E.I. offices and reform higher education from the ground up. We are assembling a team of the brightest policy minds in the country and will be *laying siege the universities.*
&mdash; Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) <a href="https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1603804570911911936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 16, 2022</a></blockquote>
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Rufo has exposed the impact of the diversity movement numerous times: in the <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/city-of-seattle-holds-training-session-for-white-employees/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seattle city government</a> in July 2020; in the company that <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/company-americas-nuclear-weapons-hosted-training-session-for-white-execs-white-privilege/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">designs nuclear weapons</a> for the United States in August 2020; in the <a href="//74580DEE-BE0A-44E9-AB88-0C8142098DB3/v" target="_blank" rel="noopener">San Diego Unified School District</a> in December 2020; and in the <a href="https://dailywire.com/news/2nd-largest-u-s-defense-contractor-goes-woke-white-straight-christian-men-must-identify-your-privilege-participate-in-reparations-decolonize-your-boo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">second-largest defense contractor</a> in America in July 2021.
Former Heritage Foundation president Dr. Ed Feulner has <a href="https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/the-state-conservatism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> of DEI programs at universities, “In some of the world’s greatest universities, woke is everywhere. We’re all in favor of more opportunity, but equity implies everyone will turn out equal and it has become more of a leveling down.”

Pushback Starts: Texas Legislator Offers Bill To Stop Wokeness On Campuses

Texas Legislator Offers Bill To Stop Wokeness On Campuses

Texas

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