A microcosm of a significantly larger problem in the state, colleges and universities in Florida are experiencing a significant increase in faculty turnover due to the ongoing campaign of hate and intolerance led by Republican Florida Governor and man in need of a stepladder Ron DeSantis, the New York Times reports.

Between DeSantis targeting academics, the LGBTQ community and non-white citizens with edicts banning the discussion of race, gender, sexuality and other topics in classrooms to protect the frail egos of conservative white (primarily) men; and various detrimental economic conditions plaguing the state like unaffordable housing and unaffordable insurance; and using children’s education as a political cudgel to set people against each other, the pool of potential replacements for those leaving academic positions is shallow, both in numbers and in academic reputation.

Professors are leaving highly-sought-after tenured positions because they believe they will either be targetted for their areas of academic expertise by conservative Karens looking to censor teaching subjects that they don’t like or because they are (or they support) LGBTQ or people of color who fear the oppressive regime in Tallahassee.

“It just felt very dystopian all the way around,” Hope Wilson, who taught education at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville before resigning, commented.  The mother of a trans child, Wilson noted the current climate in Florida is a dangerous one for someone who is not straight, white and “Christian” enough for DeSantis’s posse of hate.  “Florida isn’t a state where I can raise my family or do my job,” she said.  Wilson is now employed at Northern Illinois University.

At the University of Florida, the number of professors who voluntarily left their jobs increased by about 20%, according to numbers provided by the state-run college; the university claims its faculty turnover is below the 10.5% national average.  (Note that on a number of occasions–from coronavirus infections to violent crime statistics–Florida under DeSantis has changed the way statistics are calculated, so statements from DeSantis-overseen spokespeople should be viewed with skepticism.)

The University of Florida acknowledged its departure rate jump from 7% to 9.3% in one year after DeSantis started targeting the same demographics as those at risk in 1930s Germany.  The number was fueled by non-retiring faculty voluntarily leaving jumping by 50%, when compared to the average rate over the last five years, while DeSantis was governor.  “If the academic job market was more robust, then a lot more people would be leaving,” Dr. Paul Ortiz, a 15-year professor at Florida, said.

But even in a tight job market, Florida universities cannot attract quality talent to fill the newly-vacant academic positions.  A report from the faculty senate at the University of Florida said the school “struggles to hire or retain good faculty and graduate students in the current political climate.”