FSU's proposed changes to discrimination rules stoke concern before being taken down

Earlier this month, Florida State University proposed amendments that would have removed language such as "race," "religion," "gender identity" and "gender expression" from its Sex Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct regulation, among other rules. 

But following an outcry from faculty union members and others in the university community, the proposals that were listed as notices on the university's Regulations and Policies website have been taken down.

Moreover, the United Faculty of Florida's FSU Chapter President Robin Goodman says the proposed amendments were "an assault on our Collective Bargaining Agreement" because the terms at issue are in the faculty's contract with the university.

"We were using our networks to get people to publicly comment, and the next thing we knew, it was gone," Goodman, a professor of English at the university, told the Tallahassee Democrat. "Whatever happened, we're happy."

In addition, FSU student Madalyn Propst – who also serves as president of the FSU Chapter of College Democrats – took to social media with a TikTok video that garnered over 90,000 views where she encouraged the university community to submit complaints about the proposed regulation changes. 

"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that it is going to harm students irreparably in the coming years and drastically change the great reputation that Florida State University currently holds," Propst said in the Aug. 5 video ahead of the FSU notices being taken down. 

The specific dates of when notices of the amendments on FSU's website were posted and taken down are unclear. Besides FSU Regulation 6.013 (Sex Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct), language amendments were in the works within the following other regulations: 

• FSU Regulation 6.014, Non-Discrimination 

• FSU Regulation 4.001, General Human Resources Policies 

• FSU Regulation 4.011, Affirmative Action Program 

• FSU Regulation 4.012, Director of Equal Opportunity Compliance and Engagement 

At the same time, the possible changes – which would have been considered by FSU's Board of Trustees – have not been disregarded completely.

"Proposed amendments to the university's regulations you are referring to are still being revised to align with state and federal law," an FSU spokesperson said in an Aug. 26 email to the Democrat. 

The proposed amendments that were prematurely posted on FSU's website came as diversity, equity and inclusion-related initiatives continue to be a particular target for Gov. Ron DeSantis and a critical concern in Florida, followed by the close attention that President Donald Trump has given DEI through his executive orders since stepping into the presidency. 

A few months ago, the university took measures of scrubbing its websites of keywords that included the terms "women," "diverse," "systemic" and "cultural relevance" because of federal executive orders related to  funding cuts  and DEI in order to comply with national guidelines.

More: FSU scrubbing DEI keywords from websites. Here's what the president says.

Explaining how the recently proposed regulation amendments would not have aligned with the faculty union's collective bargaining agreement, Goodman referred to Article 6 in their contract. It states: "neither the Board (of Trustees) nor the UFF shall discriminate against any faculty member based upon race, color, sex, religious status, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, political affiliation, marital status, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity or gender expression." 

While that same list of protected categories is currently included in several of FSU's regulations in a similar fashion, the amendment proposals that were posted on the university's website showed that all but "veteran status" and "disability" would have been scrubbed from regulations such as Sex Discrimination and Sexual Misconduct. 

The university would have to bargain with the faculty union to implement the amendments that were initially proposed of removing majority of the protected categories, but it is not likely that the faculty group would agree to the changes, Goodman said. 

"Article 6 ... has strong anti-discrimination language that was negotiated with much attention," Goodman said in an Aug. 4 email to UFF-FSU members. "We find this new language frightening." 

"Though we think this new language is a violation of the contract, it would be best to nip it in the bud before it is passed," she added, encouraging the faculty union members to submit feedback on FSU's regulations website to express concerns about the attempted changes. 

Regarding the proposed amendments, an FSU spokesperson was unable to specify what state and federal law the university is making efforts to comply with by making the changes. Although FSU's Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet Aug. 28–29, discussions about the initially proposed regulation amendments are not on the board's agenda. 

"We believe in fairness," Goodman told the Democrat. "We don't think that there's an equal playing field right now, and we defend people's rights to be at the university and to be protected."

Tarah Jean is the higher education reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat, a member of the USA TODAY Network – Florida. She can be reached at  tjean@tallahassee.com . Follow her on X:  @tarahjean_ .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU proposed changes to discrimination rules, then walked them back