The University of Central Florida’s English department made a bold statement last year detailing new anti-racism policies, noting that it had an “appalling history of complicity in perpetuating colonialist and racist practices and power structures” and had “upheld a canon of literature that is exclusive, elitist, and blindingly white.”

However, that statement was suspended for a short time last week, with an addendum that it violated a recently enacted state law, according to The Orlando Sentinel. That suspension note drew attention on social media and was ultimately removed from the UCF website. The department suspended its original statement “without any direction from the university,” according to a UCF spokesperson. 

Last week, the English department at the University of Central Florida briefly suspended its anti-racism statement in the wake of state law recently enacted. (Photo: Facebook.com)

The suspension notice did not specifically address the controversial new law, the “Stop WOKE Act” enacted by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Instead, it read: “The following statement was enacted by the Department of English in 2021. As of July 1, 2022, the statement is suspended as it violates Florida law.”

The “Stop WOKE Act” was a key piece of legislation from DeSantis banning the instruction of critical race theory in Florida K-12 schools, colleges and universities. The teachings, which are typically only explored in law or graduate schools, maintain that racism is systemic and ingrained in many U.S. institutions. To conservatives, the “critical race theory” (CRT) term has become a catch-all for any American history that makes white people “feel bad.”

As previously reported by theGrio, at the signing of the bill into law, DeSantis said, “We will not use your tax dollars to teach our kids to hate this country or hate each other.” 

While the original UCF statement did not reach DeSantis’ office, they were made aware of it after its suspension. According to the Sentinel, the governor’s spokesperson, Christina Pushaw, said of it in an email: “The UCF English Department ‘Anti-Racism Statement’ is mostly nonsensical Marxist drivel, but troubling in areas that suggest intent to treat students/faculty differently based on skin color.”

Pushaw also disregarded “white fragility” and “the epithet ‘Latinx,’” mentioned in the UCF English department’s policy, “as evidence-free ideological constructs.”

“Florida’s new law speaks to classrooms and training, and we are confident in our faculty’s ability to objectively engage students in robust, scholarly discussions; expand their knowledge, and empower them to freely express their views and form their own conclusions,” UCF spokesperson Chad Binette reportedly wrote in an email to The Sentinel last week. “Freedom of speech, civil discourse, and academic freedom are at the core of our values.”

In August of 2020, the University of Central Florida vowed to fight “long-standing inequities and discrimination” and condemned “the systemic racism plaguing our society.”

The college’s English department had reportedly planned to ensure scholarships for low-income and first-generation college students, create space for anti-racist curricula and discussions, and increase representation for writers of color in course materials.

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