By Alex Schwerha
Daily Caller News Foundation
Florida universities “misreported” or “under-reported” the amount they spent on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) programming on campus, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration alleged Thursday afternoon.
The state Office of Policy and Budget requested Dec. 28 each state public university submit a report detailing how public funds were used to support DEI and CRT initiatives — which reportedly tallied over $28 million in total at the university level including approximately $15 million of taxpayer money. The administration, however, claims that the total amount reported “revealed an extraordinary misuse of taxpayer dollars to promote a political agenda at the expense of academic focus,” Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ press secretary, said in an email sent to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Undoubtedly, these bureaucracies are more interested in protecting their status quo and furthering their agenda rather than delivering a quality education to Florida’s students,” Griffin wrote. “Consequently, the Executive Office of the Governor is working to ensure that a full and truthful compilation of CRT- and DEI-related spending is gathered, and these efforts are ongoing.”
University of Florida’s (UF) Youth Gender Program, which offers services for social and medial transitioning, was allegedly not included in the report, according to the DeSantis administration. The program “is for transgender and gender-nonconforming, or TGNC, youth and their families” and provides “consultation, psychotherapy, and assessment of medical readiness for cross-sex hormone therapy,” according to its website.
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Universities also spent taxpayer money to fund social justice related documents that were distributed on campus, the DeSantis administration revealed. Florida State University (FSU) created a “Social Justice Ally” workbook that instructed students to “confront” their guilt, while University of South Florida (USF) established an “Antiracist Resources” document that includes an ongoing list about things that “White People Can Do for Racial Justice” which is currently up to 106 recommendations.
The resource list consists of other books, podcasts, people and organizations white people can refer to “on [their] journey to antiracism.”
The FSU workbook, obtained by the DCNF, accompanies a two-day training and includes categories such as “developing awareness,” “developing knowledge of self & others” and “using action toward becoming an ally.”
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“The mission of the Social Justice Ally Training program is to educate members of the Florida State community about issues related to social justice in order to develop allies who will promote an equitable and inclusive environment and serve as social change agents in a diverse and global society,” the packet reads.
Universities outlined line-by-line how much taxpayer money was spent on DEI and CRT initiatives, according to the State University System (SUS) of Florida report. Large sums of money were allocated toward diversity offices and staff members.
UF spent more than $750,000 state funds to its chief diversity officer and staff, the report read. The University of Central Florida paid its vice president for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and its assistant $445,000 annually at the expense of taxpayers.
Diversity offices at the USF and Florida International University cost more than $1 million in taxpayer dollars, according to the report. Florida A&M University’s Center for Environmental Equity and Justice cost taxpayers $1.8 million per year
“This speaks directly to the issue raised by the governor at the press conference on January 31st in Sarasota: these DEI and CRT bureaucracies are large, bloated, and self-serving,” Griffin said in the email. “Nonetheless, what was reported revealed an extraordinary misuse of taxpayer dollars to promote a political agenda at the expense of academic focus.”
The universities and SUS did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
This story originally was published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: What is behind the current war against America’s children? Why are so many adults killing their unborn children right up to the moment of birth, or even after? Why are millions of kids sexualized virtually from birth, and injected with an experimental “vaccine” proven to be both ineffective and dangerous, then as toddlers transported to events glorifying mentally ill, demonically possessed men dressed as women?
Why are America’s children systematically sexualized at school, and by transgender recruiters on social media platforms like TikTok, seducing many into “identifying” as the opposite gender, or a brand-new imaginary gender, then encouraged to take powerful drugs and hormones and have their healthy breasts amputated or undergo chemical or surgical castration?
Why are our children simultaneously indoctrinated with toxic Marxist ideologies like “critical race theory” intended to condition them to hate and reject their own country, parents, faith, race, gender and themselves? Why are they simultaneously being frightened of the future by being fed lurid, terrifying – and groundless – apocalyptic tales of the imminent destruction of the world due to global warming?
No wonder youth suicides have skyrocketed, as have depression, anxiety, addiction and drug overdoses. Indeed, fentanyl, the No. 1 cause of death of younger Americans 18 to 45, destroys multitudes of children annually.
Make no mistake: The harm being done to America’s children in this multi-front war is not accidental: Children are the primary target.
WHY? How can all this be happening in the greatest nation on earth? Who and what is behind it? And HOW CAN IT BE STOPPED?
Find out in the explosive January issue of WND’s critically acclaimed monthly Whistleblower magazine, “WINNING THE WAR AGAINST AMERICA’S CHILDREN,” available in both print and state-of-the-art digital editions.
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