Professors from across the country have long been lured to Florida’s public colleges and universities, with the educators attracted to the research opportunities, student bodies, and the warm weather.

But for a swath of liberal-leaning professors, many of them holding highly coveted tenured positions, they’ve felt increasingly out of place in the Sunshine State. And some of them are pointing to the conservative administration of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as the reason for their departures, according to The New York Times.

DeSantis, who was elected to the governorship in 2018 and was easily reelected last fall, has over the course of his tenure worked to put a conservative imprint on a state where moderation was once a driving force in state politics. In recent years, DeSantis has railed against the current process by which tenure is awarded, and with a largely compliant GOP-controlled legislature, he’s imposed conservative education reforms across the state.

  • that guy@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Maybe I’m wrong but this isn’t good for anyone. Brain drain on the south only bolsters the southern strategy and will hand over the electoral college to the uninformed

    • TwoGems@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Exactly. Being driven out is what the GOP aims to do so it can win those important states like some red and swing states

      • assassin_aragorn@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        A nice unintended effect is that it’s causing Republicans in swing states to move to these deep red strongholds. They’re consolidating their base, but securing a state that may be slipping at the cost of losing swing states is a recipe for losing the electoral college.

        Edit: Not to mention, all these doctors and professors have to go somewhere. If they go to a swing state that’s a pretty much guaranteed blue vote.

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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      11 months ago

      Yup, this is a exactly what a person like DeSantis and his supporters want.

      • dumpsterlid@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        That can be true while at the same time it can be true that it isn’t worth destroying your quality of life to fight when you can move to somewhere where people don’t irrationally hate you for no good reason.