Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Hunter Crenian
A professor who claims he cannot find research assistants and two Chinese graduate students whose studies were suspended filed a lawsuit against Florida education officials on Monday, attempting to prevent the implementation of a new state law that restricts research exchanges between state universities and scholars from seven banned nations.
The goal of the measure that the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature approved and Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law last year was to prevent outside influence on the state’s public colleges and institutions, particularly from the Chinese Communist government. The nations that are barred are North Korea, China, Russia, Iran, Cuba, Syria, and Venezuela.
The case filed in federal court in Miami claims that the rule is illegal, discriminatory, and evocative of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which imposed a 10-year ban on Chinese laborers immigration to the United States.
According to the lawsuit, the new law also usurps the federal government’s authority, which is the only one with jurisdiction over immigration, national security, and international affairs.
Two Chinese plaintiffs were denied admission into their research facilities and were forced by law to halt their graduate studies at Florida International University. According to the lawsuit, the University of Florida professor, who is also originally from China, claimed that the rule has prevented him from hiring the best postdoctoral applicants to help with his research, which has delayed his output of publications and research projects.
The plaintiffs claimed in their case that they are not affiliated with the Communist Party or the Chinese government.
The law states that hiring foreign students from the banned nations is permitted on an individual basis with permission from the state Board of Education or the Board of Governors, which is in charge of state universities. However, the lawsuit claimed that the law’s “vagueness and lack of adequate guidance empowers and encourages arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement across Florida.”
The legislation “is having and will have far-reaching stigmatizing effects against individuals from China and of Asian descent who are seeking academic employment in Florida public universities and colleges, including plaintiffs, as Florida law now presumptively deems them a danger to the United States,” the complaint stated.
Emails for response were not answered by the state Department of Education or the governor’s office.
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Melissa’s career in writing started more than 20 years ago. Today, she lives in South Florida with her husband and two boys.
