In a Sept. 17 Florida State University Faculty Senate meeting, the senate approved a proposal from the CoreFSU committee to rename the university’s “Diversity” requirement to “Exploring the Human Experience” by a vote of 67-7.
CoreFSU, or the university’s “modern approach to liberal studies,” fulfills the statewide courses requirements for General Education and university-wide requirements for graduation. It includes requirements such as ethics, oral communication and digital literacy courses.
Similar to the previous “Diversity” requirment, to fulfill the “Exploring the Human Experience” requirement, students must take two qualifying courses with learning objectives of “analyz[ing] some aspect of human experience within a culture, focusing on at least one source of diversity and explor[ing] one’s own cultural norms or values in relation [to] those of a different cultural group,” according to CoreFSU.
The change is said to have no impact on students’ graduation timelines or requirements.
“Courses that fulfilled the prior ‘Diversity’ requirement continue to fulfill the ‘Exploring the Human Experience’ requirement,” Senior Director of University Communications Amy Farnum-Patronis said to the FSView. “As is FSU’s long-standing practice, no student’s academic progress will be hindered by the realignment. Students who completed the prior ‘Diversity’ requirement are considered to have completed the ‘Exploring the Human Experience’ requirement.”
Farnum-Patronis also added that the change was not in response to legislative action.
“This realignment has been in the works for about two years. This action did not stem from any legislative and regulatory change,” Farnum-Patronis said. “Rather, the modification addressed the varied nature of the courses that fulfilled the prior ‘Diversity’ requirement.”
In 2023, FL Senate Bill 266 passed, which directed the Florida Board of Governors (FL BOG) to enhance review of curricula and prohibit state-funded institutions from using state or federal funds for any expenditure that “advocate[s] for diversity, equity, and inclusion, or promote[s] or engage[s] in political or social activism.”
To comply with the bill, the FL BOG adopted Regulation 8.005, which approves General Education course offerings, and Regulation 9.016, outlining the definition for “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” or “DEI,” as “any program, campus activity, or policy that classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation and promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals on the basis of such classification.”
In response to these regulations, the Faculty Senate of FSU issued two resolutions in 2023, expressing that Regulation 9.016 “threatens constraints on academic and civil discourse that will isolate Florida universities from nationwide norms and deny our students the high-quality education they deserve.”
The Faculty Senate also noted the ambiguous definitions, including that of DEI, are so broad that “the regulation places a burden on faculty so sweeping that we can never execute it with confidence that we are in compliance.”
These resolutions were presented at the Faculty Senate’s Nov. 19, 2023, meeting. At the following meeting on Jan. 17, 2024, Senator Jim Fadool, of the now entitled CoreFSU committee, proposed a rebranding of “Liberal Studies in the 21st century” to “CoreFSU,” which the senate passed.
Fadool stated, as recorded in the minutes, the rebrand was to broaden the concepts of the requirement and was not associated with recent legislation, but rather a continuation of a “5 or 6” year discussion regarding the name of the diversity requirement.
Changes in ‘Diversity’ verbiage draw mixed reactions
The CoreFSU committee again indicated that the choice to rename the “Diversity” requirement was not in reference to SB 266, although faculty raised questions again about the motivations regarding the change at the Sept. 17 meeting.
Many faculty senators showed support for the measure, calling the new title more reflective of the variety of courses. This includes Senator Kathryn Jones, who was described in the minutes as “stating that she supported the name change if the action would help remove any negative preconceived notions about the CoreFSU requirement. Jones felt that the school did not promote the kinds of ideas that are politically associated with the term ‘diversity.’”
Senator Tarez Graban also said the name change “would help the Board of Governors recognize the importance of keeping the category as a graduation requirement,” as summarized in the meeting minutes.
However, not all faculty were in support of the motion.
“A number of faculty spoke up in support of this view. The word ‘diversity’ was kept in the course objectives for that requirement, even under the new name. I voted “no” with six others, so the motion passed,” Faculty Senator and the president of United Faculty of Florida at FSU Robin Goodman said to the FSView.
Some students expressed concern about what the removal of the diversity title communicates and how it may come to impact what is taught across the university and for whom.
“By relabeling — and therefore simplifying — our course identifications, we are creating a space in education for the experiences of particular humans to be celebrated and normalized while others are silenced and forgotten,” English major Bailey Underwood said to the FSView in an interview. “There is no longer an adequate protection in place for diverse voices to have an equitable space in curricula.”
Adalyn Pickett is the Deputy News Editor for the FSView & Florida Flambeau, the student-run, independent online news service for the FSU community. Email our staff at contact@fsview.com.
This article originally appeared on FSU News: FSU’s ‘Diversity’ requirement renamed to ‘Exploring the Human Experience’
Reporting by Adalyn Pickett, Deputy News Editor, FSView / FSU News
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