TAMPA BAY, Fla. — January 13 is the deadline for colleges and universities to submit the Higher Education Program and Activity Survey.

In a memo from the Director of Office of Policy and Budget, directive is given for state university systems and the Department of Education to submit information about all of their programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion and Critical Race Theory. The governor’s office wants to know how much of that activity is state funded.

It’s a move a judge ruled is within their rights to ask as it relates to a pending lawsuit challenging the governor’s so called “Anti-Woke Act”. Enforcing certain parts of the law is currently on pause after a judge issued an injunction.

One of the main arguments supporters and teachers of Critical Race Theory emphasized from the very beginning was that critical race theory wasn’t being taught in K-12, only in higher education. But this latest request has teachers in higher education worried about the future of CRT in the classrooms. 

“There was concern and concern with the students actually taking my course this semester because they thought it would be cancelled before it even started and I had that concern as well,” said USF Associate Professor Dr. Dana Thompson Dorsey. 

Dr. Thompson Dorsey is an expert when it comes to CRT.

“Critical Race Theory, which many people know began in the legal field, is a way to look at or lenses to use for research, as you’re looking at the United States and its history,” she said.

She teaches a Critical Race Studies course for mostly graduate level students at USF. She’s also one plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging the law that wants to keep it out of classrooms like hers.

“If I don’t do it, or my colleagues don’t do it, then we would be on the side of wrong. We would be supporting or in compliance with taking people’s constitutional rights away, in terms of free speech and academic freedom,” she said.

This latest move from the governor’s office is a Higher Education Program and Activity survey requesting the state university systems and the department of education to submit information about all of their programs and initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.

Thompson Dorsey said this latest move from the governor crosses a line.

“I guess it’s their right to know, but to be threatening funding because of free speech and academic freedom is unconscionable,” Thompson Dorsey said.