The University of Florida has barred faculty members from testifying in a lawsuit against new voting restrictions, raising questions about freedom of speech and the right to testify.
The testimonies by political scientists Daniel Smith, Michael McDonald, and Sharon Wright Austin against Senate Bill 90, an election reform bill that updates voter identification requirements for mail-in ballots and regulates how absentee ballots are handled, among other provisions, could be “adverse to the university’s interests,” according to the school, which emphasized its “long track record of supporting free speech and [its] faculty’s academic freedom” in an email to the Washington Examiner.
“It is important to note that the university did not deny the First Amendment rights or academic freedom of professors Dan Smith, Michael McDonald and Sharon Austin,” Steve Orlando, the university’s assistant vice president for communications, told the Washington Examiner. “Rather, the university denied requests of these full-time employees to undertake outside paid work that is adverse to the university’s interests as a state of Florida institution.”
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The potential conflict of interest stems from Gov. Ron DeSantis’s power over the university’s board of trustees and the funding for the state school. As governor, DeSantis has the power to appoint six of the 13 board of trustees members, pending state Senate approval.
The federal lawsuit, filed by Florida Rising Together in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida Tallahassee Division on May 17, seeks injunctive and declaratory relief over the legislation, which will “place a discriminatory burden on voters of color, especially Black and Latino voters.”
The voting law, signed by DeSantis on May 6, prohibits food and water from being given to people in line at voting centers from anyone except election officials, an issue because long voting lines may dissuade communities of color from waiting in the sun to cast their ballots, the political scientists allege. The law’s provision limiting the use of mail-in ballots also disproportionately affects minorities, they argue.
Barring testimonies from university professors, considered experts in their field, is an unusual move. The professors’ attorneys argued in a letter to the university they were protected under the First Amendment’s freedom of speech provision, even if the speech would “make a University’s relationship with funding sources more difficult.”
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The professors will file a legal challenge against the university if it does not change its stance and allow the academics to testify, according to their attorney, Paul Donnelly.
Representatives for the University of Florida did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
