Journalism of Courage
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Wednesday announced sweeping reforms to the state’s higher education system, beginning with a crackdown on H-1B visa hiring in public universities. Speaking at the University of South Florida, DeSantis said he has directed the Florida Board of Governors to immediately end the use of foreign work visas across state campuses
“It turns out these tech companies will fire Americans and hire H-1B at a discount,” DeSantis said. “They are basically indentured servants because they come in under brokers who make a fortune. It’s all become a total scam.”
According to a Fox News report the governor claimed that state audits uncovered several foreign nationals working in Florida universities under the H-1B programme — including professors, analysts, and even an assistant swim coach. “Are you kidding me? We can’t produce an assistant swim coach from this country?” he asked.
DeSantis argued that universities should prioritise hiring Florida residents. “We need to make sure our citizens here in Florida are first in line for job opportunities,” he said. “If universities can’t find qualified people locally, that’s a reflection of their own failure.”
Beyond the visa issue, DeSantis announced a new five-year performance review system for all tenured professors, saying faculty who underperform could lose their jobs. “You need to teach, you need to do research, you need to produce,” he said. “There have been a lot of unproductive professors who have been filtered out.”
The governor framed the move as a way to ensure universities “serve the best interests of Florida taxpayers” and deliver better value for public investment.
DeSantis also revealed that Florida has repurposed or cancelled over $33 million in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-related grants. “It’s basically hundreds of thousands of dollars focusing on race and ethnicity,” he said. “If you’re a Florida resident at a school, your opportunities shouldn’t depend on race or ethnicity.”
He added, “We’ve laid down the gauntlet on H1B visas. We’ve laid down the gauntlet on the woke grants — and that’s going to continue.”
The announcements are part of Florida’s ongoing “DOGE audit” initiative, an efficiency review examining financial, personnel, and student data to assess university productivity. Florida is the only US state with a performance-based funding model for its public universities.
Division of Bond Finance Director Ben Watkins said the study uses audited financial statements and performance ratios to evaluate efficiency across institutions. The findings will be presented next week at the University of South Florida.
DeSantis said the audits would continue regularly: “We’re making sure every dollar in higher education works for Floridians.”
