Florida professors challenge changes to tenure as unconstitutional

UF was named a "New Ivie" by Forbes.

Three Florida professors are suing Florida over a new law abolishing tenure.

A suit filed in Leon County circuit court is backed by NCF Freedom, a group formed after Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced the majority of the New College of Florida (NCF) Board of Trustees with conservative appointees.

“We must challenge this threat to academic freedom and shared governance as it violates Article IX, section 7 of the state’s Constitution, which guarantees the political independence of the Board of Governors from legislation that meddles in the management and operation of the State University System,” said Jono Millier, NCF Freedom President.

The lawsuit, from tenured professors Sarah Hernandez, Adriana Novoa and Steven Willis, challenges an overhaul of Florida’s higher education system passed in 2023. Among the changes was a transformation of the tenure track for professors at all of Florida’s universities.

Hernandez is a Sociology professor at New College, Willis teaches graduate-level tax classes at University of Florida’s College of Law and Novoa instructs social science classes at the University of South Florida.

But a release from NCF Freedom makes clear the plaintiffs have the future of all Florida faculty in mind.

“Without the protections of tenure, a professor’s free speech is at risk of being chilled, the progress of intellectual inquiry will be threatened, and students may no longer be exposed to cutting-edge or novel thoughts and ideas,” said University of Florida Emeritus Professor Joseph W. Little, lead counsel on the lawsuit.

Professors and state officials have run crossways before. The University of Florida in 2021 prohibited three faculty members from serving as paid experts in a lawsuit challenging a change to state voting rights. Courts later ruled the school could not censor testimony based on claims of conflicts of interest.

The new complaint touches on concerns that eliminating tenure makes professors susceptible to political pressure.

“The award of tenure to Plaintiffs protects them against political and ideological pressures, including termination, and afford them significant procedural protections under the policies of their respective universities,” the lawsuit states.

Plaintiffs want the court to put an injunction of enforcement of the change in tenure law.

DeSantis notably signed the legislation at New College against a backdrop of student protests at the Sarasota campus.

The suit lists the Florida Board of Governors, as well as House Speaker Paul Renner and Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.