FAMU president Marva Johnson said using the word “Black” doesn’t violate an anti-DEI state law.
Photo illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | Jemal Countess/Getty Images for NOBCO | JHVEPhoto/iStock/Getty Images
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a historically Black institution, said it mistakenly objected to its Black Law Students Association using the word “Black” in Black History Month fliers.
Law student Aaliyah Steward told Orlando’s News 6 she heard “we couldn’t use the word ‘Black’ in Black History Month; we needed to abbreviate it.” The news broadcast then showed a flier that conformed to this, abbreviating it as “BHM.”
After News 6 broke the story Friday, it reported that the artist SZA and others denounced the censorship on social media. This week, FAMU College of Law interim dean Cecil Howard emailed the college’s community that “the word ‘Black’ is not prohibited” and no such restriction “has been directed by university leadership,” according to a copy of the message that FAMU sent Inside Higher Ed.
Howard wrote that the university “quickly engaged a Florida higher education law expert,” who confirmed the word doesn’t violate Florida’s Senate Bill 266. That 2023 law banned public colleges and universities from spending state or federal money on activities that “advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism.”
“What occurred was a staff-level error—an overly cautious interpretation that went beyond what the law requires,” Howard wrote.
University president and law professor Marva Johnson—who has long-standing ties to Republican governor Ron DeSantis, an anti-DEI crusader—also released a statement saying FAMU “unequivocally confirms that the use of the word ‘Black,’ or the phrase ‘Black History Month,’ does not violate the letter, spirit, or intent of Florida Senate Bill 266, Board of Governors Regulation 9.016 [titled ‘Prohibited Expenditures’], or any relevant federal guidance.”
