NAACP Tells Student-Athletes to Avoid Florida’s Colleges After State Bans DEI Programs

The organization is calling Gov. DeSantis’s policies against using state and federal funds for diversity, equity, and inclusion programs ‘anti-Black.’

Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, speaks during a press conference in Washington on March 28, 2018. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Black student-athletes are being encouraged to avoid Florida’s public colleges and universities, says a letter sent by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) President Charlie Baker on March 11.

The recommendation came after the University of Florida (UF) announced on March 1 that it would remove all of its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, fire the staff, halt “DEI-focused contracts with outside vendors,” and reallocate the $5 million in its DEI fund.