Why is the Florida legislature surveying college professors and students on political beliefs?
John A. Tures  This is a column by John A. Tures, a professor of political science at LaGrange College. He is a regular contributor to the Savannah Morning News. Last week we learned the Florida government will require public colleges and universities to survey professors and students on "intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity." Ostensibly, the effort is meant to gauge in part how comfortable students, faculty and staff feel sharing their political beliefs in classrooms. As someone who sponsors talks for Victims of Communism and presents and publishes with the Cato Journal and the Association for Private Enterprise and the Journal of Private Enterprise, I should theoretically be safe. Because this North Korean, totalitarian-style politics is wrong, whether it targets liberals, moderates or conservatives. More from John Tures:Investigating Benghazi but ignoring the insurrection from Jan. 6  The law was signed June 22 by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. A study by the Tampa Bay Times of the legislations language does not support the belief that professors would not be punished for their responses. The Times also cast doubt on the anonymity of the survey, who will get the data, and what they will get to do with it. I know that in my 20-plus years of teaching, I have never been surveyed once about my political beliefs. I have never been in any room where anyone had to stand up for any ideology. Its because I teach about research methods, statistics, how to analyze data, how to construct an argument. If you surveyed my graduates, youll find just as many conservatives as liberals, if not more conservatives. They learn about ideologies, but they certainly arent told which ideology is the correct one. I doubt many of my colleagues do that. But I dont think thats the goal of the survey. Its more about scoring political points. Its about having politics dictate the ideology, with the power of money, hiring and firing. Of course it would be. More from John Tures:Dats shows states with tighter lockdowns had strong economies and fewer deaths  Thats perhaps just what those hopped up on political propaganda want: a two-state solution where North and South are divided into separate camps. Those adhering to such false arguments online are not particularly adept at determining whose fingerprints are really all over them, whether they are ex-KGBs Putins Russia, or Communist China, both of which have flooded Americas online world with divisive material designed to promote in-fighting in the United States  Its clear from any reading of the Founding Fathers and what they stood for that they opposed such ideological conformity, especially when it claims to support ideological diversity. Lets reject these political power grabs, and pray Floridians hold their elected officials responsible for this awful legislation that could gut Americas colleges and universities. Contact Tures at jtures@lagrange.edu. His Twitter account is JohnTures2.