DeSantis: I'll take accreditation from schools with DEI programs

[Demovictory9]

DeSantis: I’ll take accreditation from schools with DEI programs
The Florida governor said he’d “totally blow up the accreditation cartel” as president, by stripping schools of their official recognition if they have DEI initiatives.

Oct. 5, 2023, 3:22 PM PDT
By Ja'han Jones

As president, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says he would strip accreditation from colleges and universities that offer diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

In an interview Wednesday, the faltering Republican presidential candidate told conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt about his plans for higher education. The governor, who has suggested that he might pursue drone strikes against Mexican drug cartels as president, said he would “totally blow up the accreditation cartel” if he wins the White House:

Part of the reason universities operate [the way] they are is because they need to get accredited, and these accreditors are all trying to create the types of universities that we object to as conservatives. So we’re going to have alternative accreditors. It’s going to be, instead of ‘You have to have gender studies or you have to have DEI to get accredited,’ it’ll be the opposite. We’re not going to accredit you if you have DEI and some of these other things.

Allow me, the former president of a college organization that received DEI funding, to tell you what DeSantis’ crusade would look like in practice: Schools that host events promoting cultural diversity — as varied as lectures, concerts, study groups, book clubs, campus safety seminars for frequently targeted groups, along with a seemingly endless array of other events — would be at risk of losing their official recognition as postsecondary institutions if DeSantis becomes president.


The governor also said he wants to remake schools in the image of New College of Florida, a school that he has placed under the control of right-wing ideologues.


https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/desantis-dei-college-accreditation-diversity-rcna119051