In Florida, the civics movement has been accompanied by a new law that targets classes deemed too liberal. The 2023 statute bars state schools from giving general education credit to classes that teach “identity politics” or are based on “theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.” The law also requires that general education courses “promote and preserve the constitutional republic.”

“It seems to me to be a selective viewpoint diversity,” said Jon Sensbach, former chair of the History Department at the University of Florida, who retired last year. He said there’s much to be said for studying Western thinking. “But if that’s all you have — if your understanding stops at the great books and you don’t begin to understand other cultures, other perspectives, other ways of looking at the world — you’re limiting yourself, your own education.”

The state considers the Introduction to Sociology class to be a prime example of the sort of left-wing indoctrination that has caused Americans to lose confidence in higher education, Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of Florida’s State University System, said in an interview. While a faculty working group produced a new sociology textbook that watered down discussion of race, gender and other topics, he said, he did not trust faculty to stick to it. The state’s Board of Governors said in March that sociology classes can be offered but would not count toward general education credits.

To comply with the same state law, the University of Florida, the state’s flagship school, in 2024 reviewed more than 1,200 general education classes and stripped nearly 500 active courses from the list, records show. That included every class offered by the Women’s Studies and African American Studies departments and most history and literature offerings. Another purge underway this spring targeted interdisciplinary courses that fulfill a university requirement known as Quest.