\n<\/p>\n
FAMU president Marva Johnson said using the word \u201cBlack\u201d doesn\u2019t violate an anti-DEI state law.<\/p>\n
Photo illustration by Justin Morrison\/Inside Higher Ed | Jemal Countess\/Getty Images for NOBCO | JHVEPhoto\/iStock\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, a historically Black institution, said it mistakenly objected to its Black Law Students Association using the word \u201cBlack\u201d in Black History Month fliers.<\/p>\n
Law student Aaliyah Steward told Orlando\u2019s News 6 she heard \u201cwe couldn\u2019t use the word \u2018Black\u2019 in Black History Month; we needed to abbreviate it.\u201d The news broadcast then showed a flier that conformed to this, abbreviating it as \u201cBHM.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s community that \u201cthe word \u2018Black\u2019 is not prohibited\u201d and no such restriction \u201chas been directed by university leadership,\u201d according to a copy of the message that FAMU sent Inside Higher Ed<\/em>. <\/p>\n Howard wrote that the university \u201cquickly engaged a Florida higher education law expert,\u201d who confirmed the word doesn\u2019t violate Florida\u2019s Senate Bill 266. That 2023 law banned public colleges and universities from spending state or federal money on activities that \u201cadvocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, or promote or engage in political or social activism.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWhat occurred was a staff-level error\u2014an overly cautious interpretation that went beyond what the law requires,\u201d Howard wrote. <\/p>\n University president and law professor Marva Johnson\u2014who has long-standing ties to Republican governor Ron DeSantis, an anti-DEI crusader\u2014also released a statement saying FAMU \u201cunequivocally confirms that the use of the word \u2018Black,\u2019 or the phrase \u2018Black History Month,\u2019 does not violate the letter, spirit, or intent of Florida Senate Bill 266, Board of Governors Regulation 9.016 [titled \u2018Prohibited Expenditures\u2019], or any relevant federal guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FAMU president Marva Johnson said using the word \u201cBlack\u201d doesn\u2019t 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 \u201cBlack\u201d in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[706,22995,22994,8943,6447],"class_list":{"0":"post-44225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-black","9":"tag-censoring","10":"tag-famu","11":"tag-mistake","12":"tag-word"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}