In new lawsuit, Florida professors say tenure changes chill speech, harm academics

A legal fight is ramping up on yet another portion of Gov. Ron DeSantis' higher education agenda: Tenure overhaul.

A trio of Florida public university professors filed a lawsuit Wednesday over recent tenure changes that they say deprive them of the "substantive protections inherent in their current tenured position."

That not only damages professional development, they write, but also means "professors' speech is at risk of being chilled, the progress of intellectual inquiry will slow and students will not be exposed to cutting-edge or novel thoughts and ideas."

And that's not the only allegation listed in the lawsuit , which was filed in Leon County Circuit Civil court.

The tenure changes and the allegations

The professors' concerns are driven by a 2023 law created by DeSantis and GOP legislators that requires tenured faculty members in Florida's public universities to go through a comprehensive post-tenure review every five years. It also assigns final decision authority to the president.

"The most significant deadweight cost at universities is typically unproductive tenured faculty," DeSantis said, as previously reported by the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida.

Tenure generally protects professors' jobs until they retire. The three professors involved in the case, though, said, "(This) amounts to a five-year renewable contract renewable at the discretion of their university's president."

The loss of tenure protections, they continued, makes it harder for state professors to get grants and advance in their fields.

They are New College of Florida sociology professor Sarah Hernandez, University of Florida College of Law Steven Willis and University of South Florida social science professor Adriana Novoa.

The professors additionally allege that the Legislature unconstitutionally encroached on the authority of the Florida Board of Governors, which governs public state universities.

"Having successfully imposed its will over the Board of Governors ... the Legislature is likely to expand its control over the state university system when it comes to curriculum, tenure and core policy determinations in the future," the professors wrote.

Those sued are the Florida Board of Governors, Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and House Speaker Paul Renner.

Representatives for the board did not respond to a media request. A spokesperson for Renner said he did not comment on pending litigation.

"The Senate has not been served at this time, though we did receive a copy of the lawsuit earlier in the week, which the President has reviewed," said Katie Betta, a spokesperson for Passidomo, in an email. "Her practice generally has been not to weigh in on pending litigation."

Leon Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh last month refused to dismiss a separate challenge to the tenure changes, according to the News Service of Florida . Judge Angela Dempsey is overseeing the latest case.

Not the only higher education battle

This is not the only legal fight against a higher education policy pushed by DeSantis and Florida's Republican legislative supermajority. They've made a flurry of controversial changes in recent years.

In fact, this is not plaintiff professor Novoa's first lawsuit. She's challenged a key portion of DeSantis' much-touted " Stop WOKE Act ," which limits discussion of race, gender and other topics in state university classrooms. 

That portion is currently blocked by federal judges while awaiting a decision from an appeals court.

Plaintiff Hernandez also sued over the state's funding ban on state college and university diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. That lawsuit failed because of a cited lack of legal standing to sue, but the federal judge who made the decision appeared unhappy about the measure.

"Here we have real professors who teach real subjects at a real school where lawmakers and decisionmakers have demonstrated real hostility toward certain ideas and viewpoints, and there is now a law that could or could not be used to punish them," wrote Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, an Obama appointee.

On top of all that, DeSantis has mounted a conservative takeover over the New College of Florida, which had been known for having a progressive faculty and student body.

And, at an event last month , DeSantis said the state is going to make more higher education changes. He accused left-leaning professors of trying to indoctrinate students: "If Marxist professors are leaving Florida, that is not a bad thing," he said.

Contributed: News Service of Florida. This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at  DSoule@gannett.com .

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida professors file suit, say tenure change harmful, chills speech