Last spring, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new law that restricts voting by mail, limits the use of outside money to assist in election administration, restricts voter registration drives and grants partisan election observers broader powers to challenge election results. A coalition of civic groups filed suit, saying the bill was politically motivated and violated Floridian’s voting rights act. The coalition enlisted the expert testimony of three University of Florida political science professors to assist with their case. The University of Florida initially tried to put the kabosh on that, prohibiting the professors from testifying against the state, citing a conflict of interest. That decision touched off a storm of controversy nationwide, with the end result that University President Ken Fuchs reversed the decision on November 5th, and called for a review of the college’s conflict of interest policy. Here to talk more about the issues of academic freedom is Arizona State University English Professor George Justice.
Photo by Allen Forrest on Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND)
