(Excerpts of The Chronicle of Higher Education)

• Ron DeSantis of Florida signed legislation on Tuesday that requires public colleges to survey their level of “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity,” among other things. Faculty groups have criticized the new law as unnecessary and potentially chilling.
• Florida’s more than three dozen public colleges and universities will have to determine “the extent to which competing ideas and perspectives are presented” and if community members “feel free to express their beliefs and viewpoints” in the classroom and on campus. 
• The law, which takes effect on July 1, does not describe the survey’s methodology but stipulates that it should be “objective, nonpartisan, and statistically valid.” It will be selected or created by the state university system’s Board of Governors and the state’s Board of Education.
• The legislation also allows college students to record lectures without their instructor’s consent, for educational purposes or in connection with a complaint against the institution or a criminal or civil proceeding. (A recording may not be published without the instructor’s permission.)
• The law does not say what, if anything, will happen in response to the survey results, which must be compiled and published by September 1 each year, starting in 2022. But DeSantis hinted at potential consequences for state institutions, saying that colleges should not be “hotbeds for stale ideology.” That’s “not worth tax dollars, and that’s not something that we’re going to be supporting going forward.”
• Faculty organizations and Democratic state lawmakers have questioned the legislation’s intent and criticized its vagueness. Because colleges are prohibited from “shielding” offensive or unwelcome speech, does that mean that a professor “could be barred from enforcing respectful and appropriate classroom conduct by students?” asked the American Association of University Professors in its statement opposing the bill. The legislation’s language would rob administrators and faculty members of their discretion to control the academic environment, which is typically their right, State Rep. Omari Hardy, a Democrat, told fellow lawmakers in March.