Floridas 12 state universities are removing any classes that may distort significant historical events or teach[] identity politics in order to conform to S.B. 266, a law passed by the state legislature in 2023, which prohibits schools from spending state or federal funding on anything that advocates for diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) policies, promotes political or social activism. The law has also resulted in the shutdown of LGBTQ+ student centers and cultural support programs on campus.As a result, colleges and universities are removing classes like Anthropology of Race & Ethnicity, Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies, Sociology of Gender, Women in Literature, Chinese calligraphy, the History of Food and Eating, Humanities Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality, Social Geography, a class on Magic, Witchcraft and Religion as well as a Social Problems class that examines issues like racial and gender inequality and crime, Politico reported. Related Ron DeSantis administration bans diversity programs in colleges Promoting diversity is discrimination, according to Ron DeSantis. The bill allows officials in the states university systems Board of Governors filled with appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to review colleges core curriculum classes for any 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. If officials find such content, the curriculum can be removed, realigned, or expanded to stop such viewpoints. Stay connected to your community Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter. Subscribe to our Newsletter today Some of the aforementioned classes were removed, while others have had their general education designations removed from them, meaning that theyre now only offered as electives to upper-level students majoring in specific disciplines rather than as an available class for all students to fulfill their general education requirements. Some of the classes have had their public descriptions and student outcomes changed to avoid violating the law.The Board of Governors will look over each schools proposed course listings for the 2025-26 academic year and make suggestions over which courses should altered or removed. Schools that refuse could lose vital state funding or be targeted by DeSantis and the board for other penalties.Critics have said that the law violates academic freedoms, forces colleges to accept government-approved viewpoints, will drive talented educators and students away from Floridas universities, and could even cause some schools to lose their national accreditation from groups that require DEI programs as a critical part of higher education. Other professors and department chairs have complained that the law is so broadly written that its unclear whats allowed and whats forbidden. The power to make these decisions has traditionally been left up to colleges and universities. But the law is part of DeSantis war against DEI policies and his plan to shift his states schools toward a conservative ideology.[DEI] has basically been used as a veneer to impose an ideological agenda and that is wrong, DeSantis said while signing the law in May 2023. If you want to do things like gender ideology, go to Berkeley, go to some of these other places You dont just get to take taxpayer dollars and do whatever the heck you want to do and think thats somehow OK.In 2022, DeSantis also signedthe so-called Stop WOKE Act,which forbids schools and businesses from offering educational programs onracism and gender-based discrimination. The law is currently on hold as a court considers its impact on our constitutionally protected rights to free speech. Federal Judge Mark. E. Walker, who blocked the Stop WOKE Act in 2022, called the law positively dystopian, stating that it officially bans professors from expressing disfavored viewpoints in university classrooms while permitting unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints.Professors enjoy academic freedom so long as they express only those viewpoints of which the State approves, Walker said of the law.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.