A federal judge has stopped Florida from enforcing its Individual Freedom Act, also known as the “Stop W.O.K.E.” Act, on the state’s public colleges and universities.
In a lawsuit filed by a University of South Florida professor and student, the court ruled the “positively dystopian” act bans professors “from expressing disfavored viewpoints in university classrooms while permitting unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints.”
Earlier this year, the Florida Legislature passed the “Individual Freedom Act” to prohibit training or instruction that “espouses, promotes, advances, inculcates, or compels” students or employees to believe in eight concepts surrounding race and gender.
The lawsuit argued that the provisions of the act surrounding higher education unconstitutionally limit free expression and mandate faculty censorship.
