JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The University of North Florida, along with all other public colleges and universities in Florida, will soon come under scrutiny from Governor Ron DeSantis’ state-level DOGE (Department of Government Efficency) team.
The Governor’s DOGE team sent a letter (see below) to college and university presidents throughout the state, asking them to detail their budgets, staffing, courses, facilities, centers, and their progress in closing DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) programs and activities.
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The letter specified that DOGE team members and representatives from other state agencies will even be conducting site visits to ensure compliance with the Governor’s DOGE executive order.
“My initial reaction was, ‘oh brother!‘” Mark Helley, President of the United Faculty of Florida UNF Chapter, said.
Halley told Action News Jax that university personnel are closely watching to see what this new DOGE effort might entail.
“You see how DOGE is playing out at the national level, and I don’t see really any reason why we need to bring that to Florida, to our state university system or our college system. We have a really great educational system as-is,” Halley said.
Read: Duval DOGE mulls roughly $100 million in capital projects
Students we spoke with on campus said, given what’s been seen at the national level, they’re worried programs they care about could be at risk.
“I just don’t want spending to be cut from communities that support POC and LGBTQ and other minorities,” UNF student Jonah Grant said.
“I’m hoping to trust them, but I also know that the government is the government,” Florida State College at Jacksonville student Annie Lee said.
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In a statement, the Governor’s Office told Action News Jax that DEI is one of the main targets of the DOGE effort.
“Our recently sent letter clearly lays out the expectations of the colleges and universities. We expect timely and complete responses and look forward to working with our partners in higher education to eliminate waste and eradicate DEI,” a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office said.
And while it’s not clear what might fall into the category of “waste” and “DEI,” state education leaders did put certain subjects in their crosshairs this past year when they removed sociology and anthropology from the list of general education courses.
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“I think the idea that we would cut programs or somehow think that psychology, sociology, anthropology, these kinds of programs don’t matter would have a detrimental impact, not just culturally, not just for the kind of broader issues, but economically it would not be the kind of impact we’re looking for in the State of Florida,” Halley said.
Colleges and university presidents were given until Thursday to provide a single point of contact who will be in charge of working with the state DOGE team.
For UNF, that will be Lorraine Beach, Senior Advisor to the President.
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