Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, University of Florida administration announced it would seek to reverse its decision to block faculty from opining on cases against the State of Florida. The University had been criticized for its highly controversial decision prohibiting professors from testifying on the state’s new voter suppression law, which “goes against the school’s interest by conflicting with the administration of Governor Ron DeSantis.”
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who earlier today sent an open letter to University of Florida President Dr. Kent Fuchs signed by over 440 UF alumni, students, and citizens across the country, offered the following statement:
“Academic freedom is a hallmark of higher education, and the University barring professors from paid expert testimony because it would ‘conflict’ with the Governor’s political priorities is beyond wrong. That’s why I, along with more than 440 alumni, students, and citizens across the country, wrote to President Fuchs that this decision must be reversed. It’s welcome news that University administration is reversing this mistake — but it never should have happened in the first place. I hope that stronger safeguards for independent intellectual freedom are put into place, because free speech and the truth cannot be bound by political headwinds.”
Fried — an independently-elected member of the Florida Cabinet — earned Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Juris Doctor degrees from the University of Florida, where she was Student Body President, a current Board of Trustees member of the UF Law Center Association, and a member of Florida Blue Key.
Background: Three University of Florida professors were barred from serving as paid expert witnesses in a lawsuit against the state’s recently-signed law suppressing voting rights. The decision has received intense nationwide criticism, with The New York Times writing, “the ban is an extraordinary limit on speech that raises questions of academic freedom and First Amendment rights.” This follows the University of Florida restricting other faculty from speaking on lawsuits against restricting felons’ voting rights and the state’s ban on COVID-19 mask requirements, two of Governor DeSantis’ political priorities. The national organization that accredits the university announced it will investigate if the university “conforms to standards for academic freedom and avoids undue political influence.”
