(TheLastPatriotNews.com) – A new law recently signed by Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis stipulates that the state’s three biggest universities must boost their instruction on the US Constitution and patriotism.
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The legislation instructs three existing academic centers at Florida State University, the University of Florida, and Florida International University to concentrate on teaching constitutional principles, patriotism, and western-democratic thought, The College Fix reports.
“[The University of Florida’s Hamilton Center will] educate university students in core texts and great debates of Western civilization and the great books. The center is responsible for developing curriculum and courses to satisfy the requirement for the competency in civil discourse,” the law reads.
During the bill signing event on May 15, Governor Ron DeSantis emphasized the importance of teaching the values of America’s Founding Fathers.
“[Hamilton] is going to be a place where all these subjects, which were so essential for most of our history, and certainly the American founders would have said you need to have grounding on all this stuff, will be front and center,” DeSantis declared.
“Eventually, we’ll hopefully turn these [centers] into their own college[s],” the governor elaborated, saying they would play critical roles in “faculty recruitment” and improving civic literacy.
The new law allocates funding to Florida International University’s Adam Smith Center for the Study of Economic Freedom for faculty hiring and curriculum development.
It further instructs Florida State University to “rename and refocus” its Institute for Politics into an Institute for Governance and Civics.
Under the new legislation, the UF’s Hamilton Center will receive $30 million in additional state funding, FSU’s Florida Institute for Governance and Civics will get an extra $8 million, and FIU’s Adam Smith Center will receive another $5 million.
The state law promoting patriotism and constitutional principles in public university teaching was lauded by James Kallinger, a former member of the Florida House of Representatives, who has taken part in efforts to boost civic literacy.
“It is so foundational in a free society that we understand civic literacy basics. We’re always one generation away from losing our freedom and, if we don’t have a basic understanding of civic literacy, we are going to lose it,” Kallinger commented.
New Florida law forces universities to vastly expand Constitutional curriculum, civic literacy https://t.co/86D66fyamt via @collegefix
— The College Fix (@CollegeFix) June 5, 2023
