Anonymous wrote:Nothing says "welcoming to all students" like this...

Anonymous wrote:A small minority of liberals are avoiding FL, probably not in numbers that would move the needle much.

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Anonymous wrote:This is what I’m hearing, but I’m not sure if it’s wishful thinking or a real thing.

Any insight?

From what I’m seeing, plenty of northerners are flocking to southern schools—including SEC universities.

What are you seeing in the latest round of applications and admissions?

Whackjob MAGA thinking. Instead of worrying about woke libs, worry about what kind of fu--edup, snowflake mentality causes you to navel gaze about sh-- like this.

Anonymous wrote:This is what I’m hearing, but I’m not sure if it’s wishful thinking or a real thing.

Any insight?

From what I’m seeing, plenty of northerners are flocking to southern schools—including SEC universities.

What are you seeing in the latest round of applications and admissions?

Anonymous wrote:Nothing says "welcoming to all students" like this...

Anonymous wrote:The most liberal family on our block just sent a kid to Florida this year. They are thrilled with the school and community culture.

Anonymous wrote:I think opposite - seems more flocking to the south.

Anonymous wrote:Conversely, an equal number of people are likely becoming fed up with the whole DEI/woke/increasingly antisemitic bent of the leftist-controlled schools, which would balance any possible application effect.

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Anonymous wrote:The peer group one year behind DD is applying for college now. Between DD’s year and this year, there are several kids I know from moderately liberal families who are attending or are applying to SEC/Southern ACC schools for sun and fun, sports and Greek, good academics, reasonable cost. Alabama and UGA seem very popular, plus GT, NC State and Clemson engineering and CS. (UNC also, but it’s an almost impossible admit). App State in NC is fun without the sun and also popular. Red states (or purple for NC) per se aren’t scaring them away.

But, these families are steering clear of FL state colleges (and would normally have considered U of FL/ Miami a few years ago) because of concerns over what DeSantis did at New College and because he is acively directing policy, eliminating tenure, limiting what can be taught Etc. And faculty are starting to leave U of FL over DeSantis’s policies.

But, the big concern is not only what things look like in 2024, but where U if FL will be 3-5 years from now if DeSantis keeps interfering with the FL State college system or if Matt Gaetz runs for governor. And what the ROI will look like in 5-10 years if he continues to make social and academic policy at U FL and Miami.

These are parents who are pretty savvy about college admissions.

My kids looked at smaller schools. But FL state schools would concern me. My personal opinion is that governors should be more hands off with state colleges and let the Board of Governors do their jobs. State colleges should have stability and make decisions are free from politics and the culture wars as possible. It isn’t good for a college to have big policy changes every 4 years as administrations come and go. Not a Youngkin fan, but I’m very glad he hasn’t pulled a DeSantis with VA state colleges. VA has excellent state colleges and I will begrudgingly give him credit for not fixing what isn’t broken. DeSantis is actively breaking things. Maybe you like the direction he’s going. But if DeSantis can make huge changes on things like majors and classes feared and tenure, so can the next Governor.

This is how my family views it too. We will always pause with allowing our daughters to go to red states with restrictive abortion laws, but won't rule them out entirely. But the way FL's politicians can't keep their politics out of college policy gives me pause and we would not consider any FL schools. And I can't imagine it is much fun for professors, which has to translate into how they teach. And we could use the FL grandparents waiver. We spend as little money as possible in FL when we have to visit family, but don't have that same view of other southern red states. And while I am liberal, I am not any sane person's definition of a whacky liberal.

Consciously not spending money in a state you disagree with is absolutely something a “whacky liberal” would do. It’s petulant, weird, and representative of extreme behavior. You may not glue yourself to I-95 but normal/moderate people don’t respond so emotionally to perceived political blasphemy. That stems from you self-righteous attitude and your false sense of moral superiority. Just be a proud “whacky liberal” and own it.

Similar to the "whacky righties" who don't want to spend money in communist CA, right? Those exist too.

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Anonymous wrote:For as many of you who loathe DeSantis, there are two more who love him.

Apparently not in Iowa. But ok.

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Anonymous wrote:Don’t Say Gay is ludicrous.

A Don’t Say Gay law at the college level? Come on.

So you support pre-school and kindergarten teachers talking with their kids about the kids gender identity and sexual orientation? Interestingly, when the actual content of the law is described to people, over 70% approve.

That might make sense if any preschool or kindergarten teachers were actually talking with kids about those topics. They aren't and weren't, not even in Florida. Just another example of a crisis created to panic those who aren't aware of reality but are gullible enough to believe such crap.

But they are. Not all teachers and not everywhere, but it does happen. The bill was to pre-empt that happening in Florida. If parents want to cover that, then fine. But it didn’t belong in schools for little kids coming from a position of authority/teaching.

One Massachusetts kindergarten teacher gives children lessons on pronouns, including gender-neutral pronouns “they” and “ze,” and introduces them to concepts including trans identities and “gender queer,” he told The Washington Post. He doesn’t fully define the terms because it would be “too much” for kindergarteners.
“We don’t say a penis belongs to a man,” he told The Washington Post. He instead teaches that a penis belongs to a human, and that doctors sometimes get it wrong when determining a newborn baby’s gender.
Kara Haug, a sex-ed teacher in the Sacramento area, claimed she didn’t bring up gender identity in her classes but would simply answer students’ questions when they arose, she told The Washington Post. When one student asked her if she could stop her period if she felt like a boy, for example, she explained how hormones work.
Several states require that school curricula include LGBT topics, and multiple curriculum plans addressing transgender and gender ideology have come into use in schools, according to The Washington Post.
One of these lessons, titled “Pink, Blue and Purple,” instructs teachers to ask first graders how they know what gender they are and then explain that gender identity is a feeling and is not based on one’s body parts. It was developed by Advocates for Youth, a youth-oriented sexual health group.

Good for those teachers. I am so happy to hear we are familiarizing our youngest children with these concepts so they are accepting and inclusive when they get older. It’s useful antidote to the indoctrination some of them receive on Sundays in buildings where they are taught about a man from 2,000 years ago being a zombie.

In other words, you are happy your religious mystical beliefs are being taught instead of another group’s religious mystical beliefs.