NFL legend Emmitt Smith and the NAACP have made a stand against Ron DeSantis’ anti-DEI policies, but it might not have the desired consequences in college sports’ new world order
Emmitt Smith is the exceptional Florida man. The pride of Pensacola, Smith racked up the second-most running yards in US high school history and smashed a haul of records at the University of Florida before leading the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl titles in the 1990s and retiring in 2004 as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher. Now 54, Smith is hurtling head-first into the goalline stand that is Ron DeSantis’s war on wokeness.
Last year the Florida governor ratified a law prohibiting the state’s public universities and four-year community colleges from spending on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, as Texas and a handful of other states have taken aim at university DEI programs. In response the University of Florida eliminated 28 DEI positions earlier this month, vowing to shift the savings from those cuts – some $5m – into a faculty retirement fund. The school put on a diplomatic face after the fact; “we will continue to foster a community of trust and respect,” read the official statement. But DeSantis’s tone rang far more true. “Florida is where DEI goes to die,” he wrote in a triumphant social media post.
