DEFY DESANTIS: DEFEND EDUCATIONAL FREEDOM

HELP DEFY DESANTIS:

We are raising funds to help grow DEFY (Defending Educational Freedom for Youth), a movement to help keep partisan politics out of our classrooms - starting at New College of Florida where Governor DeSantis has mounted a hostile takeover of higher education. DEFY is developing a series of programs to help fight back against these big government attacks on academic freedom.

$10K FUNDRAISING GOAL:

The first $10k will help us to continue setting up DEFY and launch our DEFY PROGRAMS (see below). Our first goal is to build capacity for our Charter Chapter of DEFY at New College.

More stretch goals will be announced soon...

DEFY INITIATIVES

Funds raised will help us launch our Programs & Initiatives to fight back!

• DEFY CHAPTERS

DEFY is building out student-led chapters at universities across Florida and then the US. Chapter One of DEFY is at New College of Florida, and is creating the governance model of the larger org to ensure that students set their agenda and build a student-led movement to defend educational freedom. Each Chapter will be supported by an advisory board of alumni, faculty, parents and allies. If interested in forming a DEFY Chapter at your university, please CONTACT US and we will let you know once we are ready to launch more Chapters.

• COLLEGE COURSES FOR NEW COLLEGE STUDENTS

DEFY has partnered with OSUN (Open Society University Network) to bring online college courses (including many on themes currently under threat of censorship) to all New College students over the summer, for a very low cost ($100 per course, with financial aid available). Some courses are offered by New College faculty. We are exploring ways to expand this program. For more info visit our OSUN Summer Course Program

• DEFY TALKS

DEFY Talks is a speaker series focused on defending educational freedom and building social movements. Produced for New College (and the world) in partnership with Bard College and Open Society University Network (OSUN) a network of 45 Academic Institutions dedicated to Academic Freedom. Watch our DEFY Talks and learn more HERE.

• DEFY FLORIDA SUMMIT

DEFY is planning to put together a DEFY DESANTIS Summit in Orlando, Florida to bring together students from Universities across Florida to organize and fight back against Governor DeSantis's attacks on educational freedom. If you are a Florida University Student interested in attending, please Contact Us

• ACTS OF DEFIANCE

DEFY will support a variety of non-violent acts of civil disobedience to protect faculty tenure and educational freedom in Florida and in America.

• VOTER MOBILIZATION

DEFY will partner with organizations and hopes to help register 1 MILLION young voters before the 2024 election. What is happening in Florida is a reminder that we need to mobilize an army of educated voters to fight back.

• LEGAL DEFENSE FUND

We are coordinating with a coalition of New College alumni lawyers to help raise funds for Legal Defense Work and will be fundraising to support those efforts.

• DEI LEADERSHIP SCHOLARSHIP

This Scholarship will support exceptional current and future LGBTQ+ and BIPOC leaders who would like to continue going to New College as an act of defiance. We hope to raise funds for full scholarships, that include DEFY Leadership Internships. The Scholarship hopes to help defend against extreme drops in admissions and retention while working to keep New College’s culture diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

• LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY GOALS

As we build our movement, we will be working with advisors to identify specific legislative and policy goals. We will be keeping an eye on local school boards and elections, as well as state and national legislative overreach, to keep partisan politicians and their politics out of our public schools and classrooms.

Thank you for being an early supporter of DEFY!

Please JOIN OUR FIGHT by donating if you can, and also signing up to JOIN DEFY as a student, alumni, faculty, parent or allie on our website:

WE-DEFY.org

AND PLEASE SHARE DEFY and SAVENEWCOLLEGE.org so people know what is happening. THANK YOU!