POLITICS: Ron DeSantis gave Yale one humiliating reality check about Florida universities – USSA News

Elite universities spent decades lecturing Americans about diversity and excellence.

Now one of their own graduates is exposing their failures.

And Ron DeSantis gave Yale one humiliating reality check about Florida universities.

DeSantis tells Yale it’s gotten worse since he left

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis returned to his alma mater Yale University on November 14 to deliver the keynote address at the Buckley Institute’s 15th annual conference.

The 2001 Yale graduate didn’t mince words about what happened to the university in the decades since he left.

“The Great Awokening was a disaster for higher education,” DeSantis told the packed room at the Omni New Haven Hotel.¹

When asked if Yale’s political climate had improved since his time there, DeSantis said it had gotten “worse.”¹

The Florida Governor recounted arriving on campus in 1997 and being shocked by Yale’s cultural difference from his home state.

DeSantis graduated magna cum laude with a history degree in 2001 after serving as captain of the varsity baseball team.

He’s since described his Ivy League education as “years of indoctrination” and called his Yale and Harvard degrees a “political scarlet letter” in his 2023 memoir.

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Now he’s proving the elite institutions wrong by showing them Florida’s alternative path.

Florida eliminated what Yale still embraces

DeSantis used his speech to contrast Florida’s higher education reforms with Yale’s current approach.

“We were the first state to eliminate DEI from our public higher education institutions,” DeSantis said. “We don’t need discrimination, exclusion, and indoctrination in Florida, and we don’t need it anywhere in the country.”²

DeSantis signed legislation in May 2023 pulling the plug on state funding for DEI programs at Florida’s public colleges and universities.

The University of Florida didn’t waste time. The school eliminated 13 full-time DEI positions in March 2024 and canceled every contract with outside diversity consultants.

UF took that $5 million previously earmarked for DEI initiatives and put it toward recruiting professors based on merit instead of ideology.

Florida also replaced sociology courses with American history courses at state colleges to provide students with “an accurate and factual account of the nation’s past, rather than exposing them to radical woke ideologies.”

Meanwhile, Yale employs approximately 16 DEI staff per 1,000 students according to recent data.

The university joined several elite institutions in defending affirmative action through an amicus brief to the Supreme Court in 2023.

Yale hasn’t taken any steps to eliminate the DEI bureaucracy that DeSantis argues undermines academic excellence.

Florida’s approach is working while Yale falls behind

The conference drew record attendance, which Buckley Institute founder Lauren Noble called a “testament to the energy and enthusiasm around supporting free speech at Yale and across the country.”¹

DeSantis highlighted Florida’s economic success and its universities’ improved rankings under his leadership.

“We’re ranked the number one economy in all fifty states three years in a row,” DeSantis told the crowd.²

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The University of Florida was recently recognized among the top public institutions for academic excellence and free expression.

UF acted expeditiously to dismantle pro-Hamas encampments and was commended for cultivating an affirming climate for Jewish students.

The University of Central Florida spent $46,548 per degree in fiscal year 2024, making it Florida’s most financially efficient institution.

Florida universities are positioning themselves as alternatives to Ivy League schools by focusing on affordability, merit-based admissions, and viewpoint diversity rather than DEI quotas.

DeSantis argued that Florida’s rejection of “woke” ideology has positioned its universities to outperform elite institutions that remain captured by leftist politics.

“If you’re a student of a place like Yale and it’s not kosher to be talking about conservative ideas but you’re willing to stand up and take scorn from some of your classmates and stand firm for what’s right, you’re doing your part to keep it,” DeSantis said.¹

Yale students who attended the conference said DeSantis’s address sounded like a campaign speech but acknowledged the problems with viewpoint diversity on campus.

Steven McGuire from the American Council of Trustees and Alumni said he found it notable that DeSantis described Yale as less accepting of intellectual diversity now than when he was a student.

The Florida Governor’s visit to Yale exposes the rot at the heart of elite higher education.

These institutions lecture Americans about excellence and diversity while enforcing rigid ideological conformity and discriminating based on race.

Florida proved you can eliminate the DEI bureaucracy, focus on merit and academic freedom, and produce better outcomes at lower costs.

Now Yale and the rest of the Ivy League have to answer why they’re clinging to failed policies that Florida already moved past.

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¹ Vasant Bhatt, “DeSantis returns to Yale, blasts elite indoctrination and touts Florida’s higher ed overhaul,” Campus Reform, November 29, 2025.

² “DeSantis Reflects On Gubernatorial Record, Hails Conservative Leadership at Buckley Conference,” The Buckley Beacon, November 17, 2025.