Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 233 into law on June 22. Under the new law, the Florida Board of Education will require Florida’s public colleges to survey students, faculty, and staff every year to assess “the intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity” at each institution.
The BOE will be required to select or create an objective, nonpartisan and statistically valid survey for each institution to use, and determine the extent that competing ideas are presented to the college’s community. The survey is meant to determine how free students, faculty, and staff feel to express their own beliefs and viewpoints while on campus and in the classroom.
Under the new law, assessments will need to be ready for use and published by Sept. 1 of each year, starting in 2022. We spoke with Florida Gulf Coast University President, Dr. Mike Martin, to get his take. You can learn more about the Colorado survey Dr. Martin mentioned during the interview here.
Plus, FGCU is bucking a national trend in enrollment numbers. It’s looking at a record-breaking freshman class in the fall, and numbers are up for transfer and graduate students. We talk with Dr. Mitch Cordova, Vice President for Student Success & Enrollment Management, and Dr. Lisa Johnson, Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management, to find out why.
For first time ever FGCU is hoping for 2,245 incoming students for the fall semester.
• Applications: 16,759 (Up 7.9% over this time last year)
• Deposits: 2,889 (Up 33.3% over this time last year)
• Orientation Registration: 2,820 (Up 39.1% over this time last year)
