WATCH: Professor accuses Desantis of 'Race McCarthyism'
The top stories of the week: Florida seeks to replace the SAT with CLT, criticism of Desantis’ higher ed reforms, and a new 5-year DEI plan.
On this week’s episode of Campus Countdown, Campus Reform Senior Correspondent William Biagini reports on a meeting between members of Desantis’ administration and creator of the Classical Learning about potential alternatives in standardized testing methods in Florida, a discussion panel at Yale criticizing Desantis’ education policies, and a new Five-year DEI plan at a New York University.
First, Biagini discusses Governor Desantis’ ongoing feud with the College Board—which administers both the SAT and Advanced Placement curricula (AP). Top officials in Desantis’ administration recently met with Jeremy Tate, creator of the Classical Learning Test (CLT), to consider possible alternatives in standardized testing in Florida.
This comes after Desantis has been questioning the College Board’s ideological agenda for the past several weeks.
Campus Reform Correspondent and University of Georgia senior Jack Applewhite joined the program to talk about a Yale professor’s recent remarks during a Feb. 3 discussion panel, during which she claimed that Desantis’ higher education reforms were part of “MAGA Education.”
The professor, Kimberle Crenshaw, stated that “hoping to sow dissatisfaction with public education in order to dismantle it.” She also claimed that these efforts would lead to a “Race McCarthyism.”
Finally, Biagini reports that Syracuse University (SU) in New York recently released its first draft framework for its Strategic Academic Plan, in which the school reaffirms its commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA).
The plan aims to further promote DEIA programs on the SU campus by investing in a diversity hiring plan.
Biagini also shared the Campus Reform Woke Tweet of the Week by UVA Postdoctoral Fellow David Austin Walsh, which reads, “The only meaningful choice facing the academics on the chopping block in Florida is whether or not to wait to be fired or to quit. Either way, they probably aren’t working in academia again.”
Watch the full episode above or on YouTube.
Follow @BiaginiWilliam on Twitter.
