{"id":26100,"date":"2023-03-06T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/news\/aha-statement-opposing-florida-house-bill-999-march-2023\/"},"modified":"2024-06-19T21:31:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T01:31:29","slug":"aha-statement-opposing-florida-house-bill-999","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.historians.org\/news\/aha-statement-opposing-florida-house-bill-999\/","title":{"rendered":"AHA Statement Opposing Florida House Bill 999"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AHA has released a statement on Florida House Bill 999<\/a>, \u201cexpress[ing] horror . . . at the assumptions that lie at the heart of this bill and its blatant and frontal attack on principles of academic freedom and shared governance central to higher education in the United States.\u201d \u201cWhat has previously best been characterized as unwarranted political intervention into public education has now escalated to an attempt at a hostile takeover of a state\u2019s system of higher education,\u201d the AHA writes. \u201cThis is not only about Florida. It is about the heart and soul of public higher education in the United States and about the role of history, historians, and historical thinking in the lives of the next generation of Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, 84 organizations have signed onto the statement.<\/p>\n

\n

AHA Statement Opposing Florida House Bill 999<\/strong><\/p>\n

Approved by AHA Council, March 3, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n

HB 999, filed in the Florida House of Representatives on February 21, 2023, merits attention and comment.<\/p>\n

The American Historical Association has been monitoring the genre of legislation commonly referred to as \u201cdivisive concepts\u201d bills for two years. Normally we do not engage with what gets fed into the hopper; we wait until legislation is viable, generally when a bill emerges from committee. But HB 999 is different, and we consider it imperative to speak out immediately and forcefully. What has previously best been characterized as unwarranted political intervention into public education has now escalated to an attempt at a hostile takeover of a state\u2019s system of higher education.<\/p>\n

We express horror (not our usual \u201cconcern\u201d) at the assumptions that lie at the heart of this bill and its blatant and frontal attack on principles of academic freedom and shared governance central to higher education in the United States. Florida\u2019s legislature has on its agenda a dagger to the heart of an American institutional framework that has long been the envy of the world (and a source of billions of dollars in revenue from international students).<\/p>\n

What would implementation of this legislation look like? Consider history education.<\/p>\n

HB 999 allows political appointees unprecedented oversight of day-to-day educational decisions. Universities and departments will face consequences should unelected partisan actors decide that any \u201cgeneral education core courses\u201d somehow \u201csuppress or distort significant historical events.\u201d All history teachers \u201csuppress\u201d some events; everything has a history, and no course can include all histories. It is up to the teacher, within reasonable state guidelines, to select what is most important and most useful to students in a particular class. All else is \u201csuppressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill also gives to boards of trustees the authority to determine if and when teachers of a mandated set of core courses have \u201cdefine[d] American history as contrary to the creation of a new nation based on the universal principles stated in the Declaration of Independence.\u201d Is it illegal for a faculty member to suggest that the US Constitution, rather than the Declaration of Independence, created the political framework for the new nation? Given that HB 999 would empower boards of regents to review the tenure status of any faculty member, such legitimate (and pedagogically useful) interpretive disagreements could have dire implications for all instructors, even faculty best protected by traditional norms of governance and procedure.<\/p>\n

This is not merely an escalation of the \u201chistory wars\u201d that have ebbed and flowed across the American landscape\u2014and indeed, in other nations as well; the United States is hardly exceptional in this regard. Like the proponents of more conventional \u201cdivisive concepts\u201d legislation, advocates of this particular assault especially fear the implications of the state\u2019s youth learning that slavery and racism have enduring legacies. The idea that racism is a central aspect of American historical development\u2014and its enduring presence in institutions, cultures, and practices\u2014is well within the mainstream of historical scholarship, however much we might disagree about dynamics, relationships, and models of change. Notably, HB 999 mentions \u201ccritical race theory\u201d more often than the words \u201cdemocracy,\u201d \u201cfreedom,\u201d and \u201cliberty\u201d combined. This legislation aims to incite and divide, rather than to establish a healthy foundation for civic understanding.<\/p>\n

The AHA does not disagree with HB 999\u2019s premise that the mission of the state university system should be \u201ceducation for citizenship of the constitutional republic [and] . . . the state\u2019s existing and emerging workforce needs.\u201d Employers look for applicants who have learned how<\/em> to think, rather than what<\/em> to think. Using evidence and deciding what facts matter is vital to being a successful engineer, doctor, or teacher. Would we want heart surgeons whose coursework or choice of tools had been dictated by political appointees? As for the viability of our constitutional republic, it is neither possible nor desirable to forge unity by refusing to acknowledge and understand division; instead, the very language of this legislation sows and perpetuates division. An informed citizenry requires the skills of historical literacy and the ability to test ideas, which is the core of history education.<\/p>\n

This is not only about Florida. It is about the heart and soul of public higher education in the United States and about the role of history, historians, and historical thinking in the lives of the next generation of Americans.<\/p>\n

The following organizations have signed on to this statement:<\/p>\n

African American Intellectual History Society
\nAfrican Studies Association
\nAgricultural History Society
\nAmerican Anthropological Association
\nAmerican Association for the History of Medicine
\nAmerican Association of University Professors
\nAmerican Folklore Society
\nAmerican Philosophical Association
\nAmerican Political Science Association
\nAmerican Society for Environmental History
\nAmerican Society for Ethnohistory
\nAmerican Sociological Association
\nAssociation for Jewish Studies Executive Committee
\nAssociation for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
\nAssociation for the Study of African American Life and History
\nAssociation for Women in Slavic Studies
\nAssociation of Ancient Historians
\nAssociation of University Presses
\nBerkshire Conference of Women Historians
\nBlack Heritage Trail of New Hampshire
\nCentral European History Society
\nCollege Art Association
\nCollege Sport Research Institute
\nCommittee on LGBT History
\nConference on Latin American History
\nCoordinating Council for Women in History
\nDrake Group
\nExecutive Committee of the Czechoslovak Studies Association
\nExecutive Council of the North American Society for Sport History
\nFlorida Freedom To Read Project
\nFlorida Historical Society
\nFrench Colonial Historical Society
\nGerman Studies Association
\nH-France
\nHistorians for Peace and Democracy
\nHistory of Science Society
\nImmigration and Ethnic History Society
\nInternational Labor and Working-Class History<\/em> Editorial Board
\nKurt Vonnegut Museum and Library
\nLabor and Working-Class History Association
\nLehman College Senate
\nLGBTQ History Museum of Central Florida
\nLinguistic Society of America
\nLouisiana Historical Association
\nMedieval Academy of America
\nNational Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education
\nNational Collaborative for Women’s History Sites
\nNational Council for the Social Studies
\nNational Council on Family Relations
\nNational Council on Public History
\nNational Council of Teachers of English
\nNCF Students for Educational Freedom
\nNetwork of Concerned Historians
\nNew England Historical Association
\nNew England History Teachers Association
\nNorth American Conference on British Studies
\nNorth American Society for Oceanic History
\nNorth American Society for Sport Management
\nOrganization of American Historians
\nPeace History Society
\nPEN America
\nPolish American Historical Association
\nRadical History Review
\nRoy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
\nShakespeare Association of America
\nSlovak Studies Association
\nSport Marketing Association
\nSocial Welfare History Group
\nSociety for Austrian and Habsburg History
\nSociety for French Historical Studies
\nSociety for Historians of the Early American Republic
\nSociety for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
\nSociety for Textual Scholarship
\nSociety for the History of Technology
\nSociety for US Intellectual History
\nSouthern Association for Women Historians
\nSouthern Historical Association
\nSt. Augustine Historical Society
\nTexas Institute of Letters
\nTully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University
\nUrban History Association
\nWestern Historical Association
\nWestern Society for French History
\nWoodhull Freedom Foundation
\nWorld History Association<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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