Teachers hopeful about Stop Woke trial

College professors who challenged the Florida law that Gov. Ron DeSantis dubbed the “Stop WOKE Act” are hopeful they will succeed in overturning the measure that limits race-related discussions in higher education.

A federal appeals court heard arguments Friday in the ongoing case against the 2022 law.

Faculty and student groups challenged the law just months after it was signed, saying it violated their First Amendment rights. Business groups did so, too, because the law also limited the types of employee training programs they could organize.

Sharon Austin, a University of Florida professor who is suing the state, called the law an “assault on democracy” Monday during a news conference with the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the groups defense representing teachers.

She said she was “optimistic” that the court would rule in their favor.

DeSantis defended the “first-of-its-kind” law as a way to provide “tools to combat discrimination and woke indoctrination” in public schools, universities and private businesses. he said.

The law faced almost immediate legal challenges. The courts have blocked the entry into force of the law since 2022.

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit County of Appeals ruled in March that the law violated the First Amendment in the case of workplace diversity training.

The state and the professors’ attorneys presented closing arguments Friday before a panel of the same court. The justices appeared divided, sometimes agreeing with the state and sometimes agreeing with the professors, Politico reported.

LeRoy Pernell, a law professor at Florida A&M University and a plaintiff in the case, said Monday that he was hesitant to predict where a court would rule on a case, but he “felt good” about its chances.

The law prohibits programs that “espouse, promote, advance, instill, or impose” the idea that a person is inherently superior simply because of their race or ethnicity. It also states that people should not be “discriminated against or receive unfavorable treatment to achieve diversity, equity or inclusion.”

The lawsuit claimed the law was unconstitutional and censored important classroom conversations about race.

“Students often ask me for my personal opinion,” said Austin, a political science professor at UF. “When I give it under this law, I now risk being told that I am not objective enough. This is one of the many confusing aspects of this law.

Charles Cooper, the state’s attorney, argued that the state can dictate the content of college courses, the News Service of Florida reported.

“There are plenty of cases where the government can have a point of view,” Cooper said.

Because “Stop WOKE” is vaguely worded, some professors have started changing their curriculum to avoid accidentally violating it, said Jennifer Sandoval, a communications professor at the University of Central Florida, another plaintiff in the lawsuit.

“There are certain things here that we can talk about as long as they are popular with certain people in power in the state,” she said. “And that’s not at all why I became a teacher.”

No court has so far ruled that classroom instruction is the same as government speech — one of the state’s main arguments for the law — said Leah Watson, an attorney for the ACLU representing teachers.

“The 11th Circuit is free to decide as it can,” she said. “But this is not a position that any court has taken so far.”