JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – General education courses at Florida colleges and universities are going to be significantly reduced.

The Board of Governors voted Thursday to approve a new course list that it believes is not based on theories of systemic racism and privilege, among others.

The board meeting, held in the student union building at the University of North Florida, got some pushback.

About 30 minutes before the six-hour meeting started, a group of professors and students protested the changes and wanted the board of governors to reconsider before voting.

The change to the course list dates back to 2023 when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law changes that allow the Board of Governors to have the authority to remove courses from the general education track that they find to be based on “theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United State and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequalities.”

During Thursday’s meeting, State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues mentioned a poll that was recently taken that asked if people had confidence in higher education and pointed out why a large number of people said they did not have confidence.

“If you did not have confidence, why did you not have confidence in higher education? There were three main reasons,” Rodrigues said. “The No. 1 reason was political agenda, a belief that higher education has turned into indoctrination and faculty members were pushing their own personal liberal agendas.

Rodrigues also mentioned the other two reasons in the poll, including people believing higher education had the wrong purpose. Some polled said graduates cannot find jobs and the degrees they are earning are meaningless. The other reasons were cost and debt.

Before Thursday’s meeting started, more than a dozen UNF professors and students gathered along the walkway of the student union building to express that they feel like they are being limited in what they can teach and learn.

Dr. Matthew Leon, a business professor, said he has already had to make a drastic change in one of his courses.

“I teach a bunch of human resources courses,” Leon said. “Right now, I have a disclaimer in my syllabus that students do not have to believe what I say, which is insane for me to say, ‘there is federal law that has been established for 60 years, but if you don’t like it, don’t let it stress you out.’ The world is a challenging place. We are doing our students a disservice by not giving them an education that allows them to navigate it.”

Leon said he attended the organized news conference to plead with the Board of Governors to rethink the choice it was bound to make.

“What I am here to do is really to ask the board to allow the experts and the people on the ground to give the education to our students in our workforce that they need to remain world-class,” he said.

During the meeting, Rodrigues also said the board is not prohibiting colleges or universities from offering all of the courses on those topics.

But none of the classes can be included as a part of any general education requirements in order to graduate from a state college or university.