As state officials finalized a ban on diversity spending in universities Wednesday, University of North Florida activists rallied to call for reopening an LGBTQ Center they expected would close.
“I myself have benefited from it. And they want to take it away?” Marlo Crosby, vice president of UNF’s Students for a Democratic Society chapter , shouted to about 100 people gathered outside the school’s Fine Arts Center.
“We are not free until we all are,” Crosby told the crowd, which marched through the campus declaring “Gay Lives Matter,” then substituting the phrase “trans lives” and “queer lives.”
The rally highlighted participants’ concern about campus impacts from the rule adopted Wednesday by the state university system’s Board of Governors which bans use of federal or state funds for programs that advocate diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.
Rule in colleges: Florida Board of Education bans DEI on college campuses, removes sociology core course
UNF administrators in January 2023 listed the LGBTQ Center as such a program in response to a question from state lawmakers, reporting that its $193,580 yearly funding included $139,403 in state money. A report listing those expenses said “the primary mission of this center is focused on DEI topics and activities.” It described the center as providing education and resources to the campus community with “a commitment to advocacy, equity, respect, and support for LGBTQ+ students, faculty, and staff.”