DeSantis to sign new bill that introduces legal, funding repercussions for teaching CRT

​'The governor looks forward to this bill hitting his desk,' Christina Pushaw, DeSantis' press secretary, told Campus Reform.

The state legislature passed House Bill 7, titled 'Individual Freedom,' on Mar. 10.

Florida residents may soon be able to sue public universities in their state that insert tenets of Critical Race Theory into curricula. 

The state legislature passed House Bill 7, titled “Individual Freedom,” on Mar. 10. The legislation now awaits Governor Ron DeSantis’ signature. 

[RELATED: UPDATED: DeSantis, Noem offer legislation banning Critical Race Theory in public universities]

”The governor looks forward to this bill hitting his desk,” Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ press secretary, told Campus Reform. 

”If approved,” the Miami Herald reports, “public universities and colleges could be accused of and sued for discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin or sex if a student or employee objects to instructional materials or training sessions that they believe don’t meet a new set of ‘individual freedom’ principles.”

”Specifically, universities would be ineligible for what is known as performance funding — money tied to a school based on its performance — in the subsequent fiscal year if there is a “substantiated violation” of the restrictions outlined in the bill,” the newspaper states. 

[RELATED: Faculty union tells members to ignore Florida ‘viewpoint diversity’ surveys]

Public universities that violate this ban by teaching claims such as “[a]n individual’s moral character or status as either privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by his or her race, color, sex, or national origin” may also lose state funding. 

The bill further stipulates that universities teach that regardless of national origin or race, they “cannot and should not attempt to treat others without respect to race, color, sex or national origin.”