After a week of Controversy and Pushback from Faculty, Alumni, and Academics across the Country, the University of Florida (UF) on Friday, said Three Political Science Professors should Not be Barred from Testifying in a Voting Rights Lawsuit against the Administration of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
UF President, Kent Fuchs, sent a Campuswide Email Friday, that he was asking the School’s Conflicts of Interest Office, to Approve the Requests, and Allow Three Political Science Professors to Testify in a Federal Lawsuit.
The Lawsuit by Voting Rights Groups, Challenges a New State Law, Championed by DeSantis, that puts New Limitations on Ballot Drop Boxes, and Vote-by-Mail Practices.
After Fuchs’s Announcement Friday, Kenneth Nunn, a Law Professor at the University, called it a welcome Development. “I think it’s great that the president saw the university’s reputation was being damaged by their unfortunate decision to restrict those three faculty members from testifying in their case.”
Unfortunately, Nunn said, that Decision doesn’t do anything about the Many Faculty who have been Restricted from Testifying, and those who probably feel a Chilling Effect.
“I think there’s still a significant problem at the University of Florida,” he said. “I hope this task force will get to the bottom of it, although I don’t have great confidence …”
Fuchs said in an email to Students and Faculty earlier this week, that he was Appointing a Task Force to Review the University’s Conflict of Interest Policy, which was Created last year.
“First, we would like to be abundantly clear that the University of Florida stands firmly behind its commitment to uphold our most sacred right as Americans — the right to free speech — and to faculty members’ right to academic freedom,” Fuchs wrote. “Nothing is more fundamental to our existence as an institution of higher learning than these two bedrock principles. Vigorous intellectual discussions are at the heart of the marketplace of ideas we celebrate and hold so dear.”
But that Failed to Quell the Firestorm among Faculty and Others, who saw the Prohibition against Professors Sharon D. Wright Austin, Daniel A. Smith, and Michael McDonald, as a Violation of Academic Freedom. The University’s Actions had Elicited Condemnation From Faculty and other Leaders across the Country.
“This is completely antithetical to what higher education is as an enterprise,” Irene Mulvey, President of the American Association of University Professors, and Professor and Chair of the Mathematics Department at Fairfield University, said earlier this week. “It’s a complete abandonment of the University of Florida’s mission … of the obligation to share the benefit of its research and knowledge for the public good.”
First, UF said the Professors was getting Paid to Testify, and that was One of the Reason they were Rejected from Testifing. But then the Professors said they would Not take any Payments.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
