The first round of state-mandated surveys of Florida college faculty and students produced a meager response and indicated students and faculty tend to view their campuses as equally tolerant of both conservative and liberal political viewpoints.
The surveys of students and faculty were mandated by House Bill 233, which the state Legislature passed in 2021. The legislation was supported by lawmakers concerned about a lack of tolerance for conservative views on Florida higher-education campuses.
For the campuses in the State University System of Florida, the number of surveys sent to employees was 98,704, but only 9,238, or 9.4%, responded. The response rate was even lower for students in the system, with only 8,835 out of 368,120 students responding, or 2.4%.
In the Florida College System, only 2,245 out of 20,817 employees sent in survey answers, reflecting a 10.8% response rate. Among college students, only 7,213 out of 1,361,521 responded, or 0.5%.
Generally, instructors in the college system seemed content with the status quo among the campuses on the question of whether a tolerant atmosphere exists for the expression of different political views. More than six in 10 of the instructional employees agreed that students have equal opportunities to pursue topics of either liberal or conservative viewpoints, a summary of the responses indicated, with about 32% of respondents neither agreeing nor disagreeing and 7 percent disagreeing.
David Price, a political science professor at Santa Fe College and a plaintiff in a lawsuit that attempted to put an end to the surveys, told the Florida Record that the survey results indicated support for the status quo among colleges and universities in the state.
“It was such a non-issue that hardly anyone took the time to engage the survey, students or FCS and SUS employees,” Price said in an email. “Of the few who responded, few of those seemed displeased with the status quo. Anecdotally at least, I know many of the faculty who responded were junior faculty, not yet tenured, largely on annual contracts or adjunct faculty on semester-by-semester contract. They responded out of fear that their non-response might affect them negatively or invite retaliation.”
There were also concerns among faculty that the email data of respondents was retained by state officials overseeing the survey results to prevent duplicate responses, meaning it may be possible to match up responses with individuals being surveyed, he said. Thus, the anonymity of those surveyed was not guaranteed, according to Price.
In addition, the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) opposed the surveys as a threat to academic freedom.
“In short, these surveys are a weapon designed to benefit the political party in power and to punish those who do not hold ‘correct’ or ‘acceptable’ beliefs,” the UFF said in its previous criticisms of HB 233.