‘Go to Berkeley’: Ron DeSantis said students seeking ‘woke’ classes should study elsewhere

[durangodawood]

For Berkeley
Arts & Humanities:

• The division offers more than 30 undergraduate and 27 graduate degree programs, enrolling almost 18,000 undergraduate students in courses each semester

Engineering:

• There are approximately 4,100 undergraduates in their College of Engineering courses each semester

Arts & Humanities

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley Are collectively, and in their parts, recognized as among the best in the country and the world. Our faculty and students are shaping discourse and society, improving our understanding of human experience, and gaining new insight into the individual

sites.google.com

Berkeley is definitely more "arts & humanities focused" than many other high profile colleges out there.

That's not to say they don't have a great engineering department. But I think their "artsy" stuff and progressive campus culture is the thing they're known for.

In the same way that OSU has perfectly respectable STEM departments, but they're known for Division 1 athletics.

Thats not a comparison to other schools.

And for your comparison look at how many are enrolled in what majors, not taking an elective. Almost everybody takes a humanities elective at any college. Who takes an engineering elective? And just generally, Berkeley is one of the most renown engineering /science schools out there.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Thats not a comparison to other schools.

And for your comparison look at how many are enrolled in what majors, not taking an elective. Almost everybody takes a humanities elective at any college. Who takes an engineering elective?

Did you take a gander at BYU's "Code of Honor" that I linked earlier?

Given those strict rules they have about what can and can't be said, shown, and done, I think we can form a pretty rock solid conclusion that they wouldn't have much in the way of a robust Arts or Humanities department there.

While getting precise enrollment numbers may be a tad tricky

We can make some inferences.
UC Berkeley offers over 150 different majors and minors, including several in the arts. The Division of Arts & Humanities provides almost 30 majors

So out of the 150 different programs (major and minors), 30 are majors in the Arts & Humanities department.

 

[durangodawood]

Did you take a gander at BYU's "Code of Honor" that I linked earlier?

Given those strict rules they have about what can and can't be said, shown, and done, I think we can form a pretty rock solid conclusion that they wouldn't have much in the way of a robust Arts or Humanities department there.

While getting precise enrollment numbers may be a tad tricky

We can make some inferences.
UC Berkeley offers over 150 different majors and minors, including several in the arts. The Division of Arts & Humanities provides almost 30 majors

So out of the 150 different programs (major and minors), 30 are majors in the Arts & Humanities department.

Wow still no actual comparison of U's to back up your imaginary comparison!

There are numbers out there for how many graduates get what degrees from various U's. Its instructive. Youll see Berkeley is not what you think it is - when you compare.

 

[BCP1928]

Did you take a gander at BYU's "Code of Honor" that I linked earlier?

Yes, and rejected it as a comparison of superficialities.

 

[keith99]

For Berkeley
Arts & Humanities:

• The division offers more than 30 undergraduate and 27 graduate degree programs, enrolling almost 18,000 undergraduate students in courses each semester

Engineering:

• There are approximately 4,100 undergraduates in their College of Engineering courses each semester

Arts & Humanities

The Division of Arts & Humanities at UC Berkeley Are collectively, and in their parts, recognized as among the best in the country and the world. Our faculty and students are shaping discourse and society, improving our understanding of human experience, and gaining new insight into the individual

sites.google.com

Berkeley is definitely more "arts & humanities focused" than many other high profile colleges out there.

That's not to say they don't have a great engineering department. But I think their "artsy" stuff and progressive campus culture is the thing they're known for.

In the same way that OSU has perfectly respectable STEM departments, but they're known for Division 1 athletics.

Which OSU?

Only one of the several OSUs actually has more NCAA national championships than Berkeley.

The school with the most? Stanford, whose image makes Berkeley seem boringly conservative.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Which OSU?

Only one of the several OSUs actually has more NCAA national championships than Berkeley.

The school with the most? Stanford, whose image makes Berkeley seem boringly conservative.

I was referring to Ohio State University.

 

[durangodawood]

.....
That's not to say they don't have a great engineering department. But I think their "artsy" stuff and progressive campus culture is the thing they're known for.

In the same way that OSU has perfectly respectable STEM departments, but they're known for Division 1 athletics.

How did I miss this part.

Cal actually has some of the very best STEM programs in the whole country. Across the board. It is widely known for those - unless your only source of knowledge in this world is recent culture wars axe grinders. Between faculty and alums, the list of Nobel prize winners is ridiculous.

For sure Berkeley (town and U) has a certain radical subculture. But the other 90+% is just doing normal college stuff at a high level.

 

[iluvatar5150]

How did I miss this part.

Cal actually has some of the very best STEM programs in the whole country. Across the board. It is widely known for those - unless your only source of knowledge in this world is recent culture wars axe grinders. Between faculty and alums, the list of Nobel prize winners is ridiculous.

For sure Berkeley (town and U) has a certain radical subculture. But the other 90+% is just doing normal college stuff at a high level.

I missed it, too. Berkeley not being really known for their engineering dept is... wow. It's a big part of why the Bay Area is such a huge tech hub.

 

[BCP1928]

How did I miss this part.

Cal actually has some of the very best STEM programs in the whole country. Across the board. It is widely known for those - unless your only source of knowledge in this world is recent culture wars axe grinders. Between faculty and alums, the list of Nobel prize winners is ridiculous.

For sure Berkeley (town and U) has a certain radical subculture. But the other 90+% is just doing normal college stuff at a high level.

It has always been that way. Marxist professors and all. I was there in the '60s, not at Cal, but another college nearby, took some courses there, and the whole time most of the students in Berkely were buckled down to the business of just getting degrees. I think that's true of all the universities that Trump accuses of woke activism. How many students of, say, Harvard Business School are really under the thumb of CRT? Or even Harvard Law where it originated?

 

[ThatRobGuy]

For sure Berkeley (town and U) has a certain radical subculture. But the other 90+% is just doing normal college stuff at a high level.

I think that's true of all the universities that Trump accuses of woke activism.

Is a little bit of that possibly their own fault for not reigning in their more radical portions of the student body just a little bit?

There have been a couple different high profile incidents involving protesting (some of which escalated past normal protesting) in order to get certain speakers cancelled and disinvited from booked events.

https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/30/living/bill-maher-commencement-speaker/index.html

Milo Yiannopoulos event canceled after violence erupts - Berkeley News

Safety concerns stop performance by Milo Yiannopoulos, guest of Berkeley College Republicans

news.berkeley.edu

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/04/26/ann-coulter-speech-canceled-at-uc-berkeley-amid-fears-for-safety/

Ben Shapiro spoke at Berkeley as protesters gathered outside

As conservative radio host Ben Shapiro spoke at the University of California Berkeley, protesters swarmed outside chanting various slogans.

www.wral.com

If Berkeley doesn't want to be "unfairly labelled" as the "woke school"...

Perhaps things like "Disinviting Bill Maher, because he said something mean about Islam on HBO", and "riots with a $100k worth of damage and banned weapons being brought on campus by protestors because Milo was invited to speak", and "phoning in bomb threats to prevent Ann Coulter from speaking", and "Ben Shapiro needing to be protected by 300 cops just to get him to the venue because protestors were trying to block it" is the sort of thing they'd want to curtail a bit.


When you boil that down, it's basically like saying:

"We're not woke, we just have a large subset of people who throw temper tantrums, light stuff on fire, and phone in bomb threats when the college republican group on our campus invites people to speak who we feel triggered by"

And that "bad look" is made even worse when, for a few of those, faculty actually participated in the protesting outside the venues.

The professors should've been the first ones volunteering to go up to mic to take on Shapiro head-on during the hour long "open mic" portion of his events, not screeching out in the parking lot with some of the students.

PR is 90% of the game with regards to perception.


Berkeley objecting to being labelled as "a woke school" is sorta like the Buffalo hat guy from J6 objecting to be labelled as "a wacky conspiracy theorist".

 

[BCP1928]

Is a little bit of that possibly their own fault for not reigning in their more radical portions of the student body just a little bit?

Yes, violence and vandalism are right out. The ideas themselves remain, as they should.

There have been a couple different high profile incidents involving protesting (some of which escalated past normal protesting) in order to get certain speakers cancelled and disinvited from booked events.

https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/30/living/bill-maher-commencement-speaker/index.html

Milo Yiannopoulos event canceled after violence erupts - Berkeley News

Safety concerns stop performance by Milo Yiannopoulos, guest of Berkeley College Republicans

news.berkeley.edu

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/04/26/ann-coulter-speech-canceled-at-uc-berkeley-amid-fears-for-safety/

Ben Shapiro spoke at Berkeley as protesters gathered outside

As conservative radio host Ben Shapiro spoke at the University of California Berkeley, protesters swarmed outside chanting various slogans.

www.wral.com

If Berkeley doesn't want to be "unfairly labelled" as the "woke school"...

Perhaps things like "Disinviting Bill Maher, because he said something mean about Islam on HBO", and "riots with a $100k worth of damage and banned weapons being brought on campus by protestors because Milo was invited to speak", and "phoning in bomb threats to prevent Ann Coulter from speaking", and "Ben Shapiro needing to be protected by 300 cops just to get him to the venue because protestors were trying to block it" is the sort of thing they'd want to curtail a bit.


When you boil that down, it's basically like saying:

"We're not woke, we just have a large subset of people who throw temper tantrums, light stuff on fire, and phone in bomb threats when the college republican group on our campus invites people to speak who we feel triggered by"

And that "bad look" is made even worse when, for a few of those, faculty actually participated in the protesting outside the venues.

The professors should've been the first ones volunteering to go up to mic to take on Shapiro head-on during the hour long "open mic" portion of his events, not screeching out in the parking lot with some of the students.

PR is 90% of the game with regards to perception.

 

[keith99]

I was referring to Ohio State University.

Sorry, that OSU has 11 fewer national championships than Cal.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Sorry, that OSU has 11 fewer national championships than Cal.

I wasn't necessarily looking to do a trophy comparison, although for the recent years, OSU has made a decent showing in football

(and have made it to the Final Four in NCAA mens basketball 11 times, and made the sweet sixteen 27 times)

I was more referring to what a university is "known for"

Despite having decent law, medical, and science programs, OSU is known for their athletic programs and being a respected Division 1 sporting school more than any of their other academic programs.

 

[keith99]

I wasn't necessarily looking to do a trophy comparison, although for the recent years, OSU has made a decent showing in football
View attachment 373922

(and have made it to the Final Four in NCAA mens basketball 11 times, and made the sweet sixteen 27 times)

I was more referring to what a university is "known for"

Despite having decent law, medical, and science programs, OSU is known for their athletic programs and being a respected Division 1 sporting school more than any of their other academic programs.

Yes, what a school is known for often is a grossly inadequate reflection of what the school is.

Going into football and the student body, if one watched the Stanford/Cal game they would have noticed the activities around the Axe, as politically incorrect trophy as one can imagine actually being contested. And the super serious way a vanishingly small percentage of both student bodies takes it. More what one would expect from Texas A&M or a military academy.

 

[Hans Blaster]

I was referring to Ohio State University.

You must not be an alum. You left out the "The".

 

[Ellesmere]

“If you want to do things like gender ideology, go to (the University of California) Berkeley,” DeSantis added. “There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, but for us with our tax dollars, we want to focus on the classical mission of what a university is supposed to be.”

“What this does is reorient our universities back to their traditional mission and part of that traditional mission is to treat people as individuals, not to try to divvy them up based on any type of superficial characteristics,” DeSantis said.

US Rank 2026	WUR Rank 2026	University	Overall	Teaching	Research Environment	Research Quality	Industry	International Outlook
1	2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	97.7	99.2	95.3	99.6	100	91.9
2	=3	Princeton University	97.2	98.2	97.3	99	98	85.4
=3	=5	Harvard University	97.1	95.9	100	98.9	86.7	88.3
=3	=5	Stanford University	97.1	97.5	97.4	99.5	100	83.9
5	7	California Institute of Technology	96.3	96.4	97.4	96.8	100	87.9
6	9	University of California, Berkeley	94.4	87.3	99	98.9	99.5	83.9
7	10	Yale University	94.1	94.6	94.5	97.2	87.6	81.4

1) According to the TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS, the University of California (Berkeley) ranks 6th among US universities and 9th in the world!

2) Two other California universities actually rank ahead of Berkeley, the California Institute of Technology and Stan ford (tied with Harvard) rank 5th and 3rd for US universities - 7th and 6th worldwide!

3) A total of 9 universities in California were slotted ahead of the University of Florida (44th) - the highest ranked university in that state!

3rd - Stanford University (5th worldwide)
5th - California Institute of Technology (7th worldwide)
6th - University of California Berkeley (9th worldwide)
11th - University of California Los Angeles ranks (18th worldwide)
22nd - University of California San Diego ranks 22nd (47th worldwide)
25th - University of California Davis 25th (64th worldwide)28th - University of California Santa Barbara (72nd worldwide)
29th - University of Southern California (73rd worldwide)
35th - University of California Irvine (97th worldwide)

44th - University of Florida (134th worldwide)

4) Apparently Governor DeSantis has decided to start his 2028 Presidental Campaign early but he's finally learned the hard way not to renew his fight with Disney!

5) Now he's decided to take a page out of President Trump's playbook, he's picking a fight with the universities - threatening to establish his own accreditation board as a means of forcing Florida's institutions to comply!

6) Florida's Governor has assumed the role of determining what can/can't be taught in that state's institutions for the express purpose "to focus on the classical mission of what a university is supposed you be!"

7) Someone should inform the Governor that try as he might, he can't recapture his idyllic version of "THE GOOD OLD DAYS" and that the 1950's are not about to make a comeback anytime soon!

8) DeSantis' comments directed at Berkeley, that supposed "bastion of woke," are all the more misguided, given that the Governor has unintentionally issued an open invitation to compare Florida's public universities with those of California - a state where the Governor has made no attempt to impose his will on what is being taught!

9) As previously stated, the "Times Higher Education World University Rankings"
places the University of California Berkeley as the 6th best university in America and 9th in the World - in fact, California has currently placed 3 universities in the Top 10 in the world (2 public, 1 private)!

10) California also has 9 universities (7 public, 2 private) that rank in the Top 35 nationally and all are included within the Top 100 internationally!

11) Compare "woke" California where all 9 universities are ranked ahead of the highest placed university in Florida, where no institution of higher learning, public or private, managed to be included among the Top 100 worldwide!

44th - University of Florida (134th worldwide)
56th - University of Miami (private)(201-250 worldwide)
66th - Florida State University (301-350 worldwide)
74th - University of South Florida (351-400 worldwide)
80th - Florida International University (401-500 worldwide)

12) Many of Florida's universities, both private and public, are better known for their football program than academics!

13) In 2023, Governor DeSantis set aside $1 million in pubic funds to finance a Florida State University's (FSU) legal challenge directed at the College Football Playoff Committee when FSU wasn't included as one of the playoff teams that year!

Top Universities in the US 2026 - US College Rankings

Discover the best colleges in the US according to the Times Higher Education’s trusted World University Rankings. This list highlights the which universities in the US excel in teaching, research, and global influence. The Times Higher Education US college rankings are based on a trusted...

www.timeshighereducation.com

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Sets Aside $1 Million For FSU's Legal Battles Against CFP

The outrage in Tallahassee isn't limited to just supporters and fans of the program.

www.si.com

‘Go to Berkeley’: Ron DeSantis said students seeking ‘woke’ classes should study elsewhere

'We want to focus on the classical mission of what a university is supposed to be.'

floridapolitics.com

TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS, the University of California (Ber

“If you want to do things like gender ideology, go to (the University of California) Berkeley,” DeSantis added. “There’s nothing wrong with that, per se, but for us with our tax dollars, we want to focus on the classical mission of what a university is supposed to be.”

“What this does is reorient our universities back to their traditional mission and part of that traditional mission is to treat people as individuals, not to try to divvy them up based on any type of superficial characteristics,” DeSantis said.

 

[durangodawood]

I wasn't necessarily looking to do a trophy comparison, although for the recent years, OSU has made a decent showing in football
View attachment 373922

(and have made it to the Final Four in NCAA mens basketball 11 times, and made the sweet sixteen 27 times)

I was more referring to what a university is "known for"

Despite having decent law, medical, and science programs, OSU is known for their athletic programs and being a respected Division 1 sporting school more than any of their other academic programs.

Berkeley makes it to a significant bowl game maybe 4 times a century. If football is a priority, by all means stay in Florida!

Its all those other sports no one watches, like swimming, where Cal accumulates titles and send out olympic competitors

 

[durangodawood]

Is a little bit of that possibly their own fault for not reigning in their more radical portions of the student body just a little bit?

There have been a couple different high profile incidents involving protesting (some of which escalated past normal protesting) in order to get certain speakers cancelled and disinvited from booked events.

https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/30/living/bill-maher-commencement-speaker/index.html

Milo Yiannopoulos event canceled after violence erupts - Berkeley News

Safety concerns stop performance by Milo Yiannopoulos, guest of Berkeley College Republicans

news.berkeley.edu

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/04/26/ann-coulter-speech-canceled-at-uc-berkeley-amid-fears-for-safety/

Ben Shapiro spoke at Berkeley as protesters gathered outside

As conservative radio host Ben Shapiro spoke at the University of California Berkeley, protesters swarmed outside chanting various slogans.

www.wral.com

If Berkeley doesn't want to be "unfairly labelled" as the "woke school"...

Perhaps things like "Disinviting Bill Maher, because he said something mean about Islam on HBO", and "riots with a $100k worth of damage and banned weapons being brought on campus by protestors because Milo was invited to speak", and "phoning in bomb threats to prevent Ann Coulter from speaking", and "Ben Shapiro needing to be protected by 300 cops just to get him to the venue because protestors were trying to block it" is the sort of thing they'd want to curtail a bit.


When you boil that down, it's basically like saying:

"We're not woke, we just have a large subset of people who throw temper tantrums, light stuff on fire, and phone in bomb threats when the college republican group on our campus invites people to speak who we feel triggered by"

And that "bad look" is made even worse when, for a few of those, faculty actually participated in the protesting outside the venues.

The professors should've been the first ones volunteering to go up to mic to take on Shapiro head-on during the hour long "open mic" portion of his events, not screeching out in the parking lot with some of the students.

PR is 90% of the game with regards to perception.


Berkeley objecting to being labelled as "a woke school" is sorta like the Buffalo hat guy from J6 objecting to be labelled as "a wacky conspiracy theorist".

Yes, theres an anti-liberal minority who will shut down various "objectionable" speakers. This is a problem.

But this does not interfere with anyone getting an absolutely top tier education in all of those "non-fluff" majors we're so keen on these days. So its an ironic choice from Desantis.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

Yes, theres an anti-liberal minority who will shut down various "objectionable" speakers. This is a problem.

But this does not interfere with anyone getting an absolutely top tier education in all of those "non-fluff" majors we're so keen on these days. So its an ironic choice from Desantis.

While it may not interfere with someone learning STEM. It does interfere with "the normal college experience" for some of the students.

And while it may only be a minority who would actually light a dumpster on fire to prevent an Ann Coulter speech from taking place...

Overall, attitudes toward "squashing free speech that I don't like" are more than just a small minority.

UC Berkeley students, faculty evaluate campus free speech climate

While the topic of free speech is intertwined with UC Berkeley’s legacy, it has recently become a particular source of concern on campus and across the nation.

www.dailycal.org

UC Berkeley’s Free Speech Identity Crisis | Berkeley Political Review

“Speech is not violence. The Left conflates the two in order to justify its own violent reactions to differing points of view.” Michael Knowles “I go to UC Berkeley…” Usually, when a Berkeley student utters these words to those who aren’t lucky enough to attend our university, they are met with...

bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu

A campus culture of more than just a few outliers being intolerant of "anything but the most progressive viewpoint" was evidently enough of a problem, and some Senior faculty recognized it was something that needed to be addressed in the form of a brand new course called "Openness to Opposing Views"

 

[durangodawood]

While it may not interfere with someone learning STEM. It does interfere with "the normal college experience" for some of the students.

And while it may only be a minority who would actually light a dumpster on fire to prevent an Ann Coulter speech from taking place...

Overall, attitudes toward "squashing free speech that I don't like" are more than just a small minority.

UC Berkeley students, faculty evaluate campus free speech climate

While the topic of free speech is intertwined with UC Berkeley’s legacy, it has recently become a particular source of concern on campus and across the nation.

www.dailycal.org

UC Berkeley’s Free Speech Identity Crisis | Berkeley Political Review

“Speech is not violence. The Left conflates the two in order to justify its own violent reactions to differing points of view.” Michael Knowles “I go to UC Berkeley…” Usually, when a Berkeley student utters these words to those who aren’t lucky enough to attend our university, they are met with...

bpr.studentorg.berkeley.edu

A campus culture of more than just a few outliers being intolerant of "anything but the most progressive viewpoint" was evidently enough of a problem, and some Senior faculty recognized it was something that needed to be addressed in the form of a brand new course called "Openness to Opposing Views"

Yes it needed to be addressed. And they are addressing it, like at a lot of colleges.

I get that Milo and Ann types should be allowed their speech. But why are they even invited in the first place? Its mainly for pot stirring. Actual bigots and people who behave disrespectfully should not be the test case. They are there just to stir the spot and create a "told you so" scene. Its disingenuous.

The test case should be speakers who can present an unpopular opinion without being jerks about it. I'm not saying they would fare much better. But at least the free speech issue would be crystal clear.

Anyway all this is beside the point I was making, which is that for the type of study Desantis considers valuable, Berkeley would make a terrific choice for a student. Actually I think most public U's are pretty great, the main difference among them being not the education on offer, but how much you as a student are pushed by fellow students and the academic environment they create. Highly selective colleges are good for this, but I think a motivated student can get a great ed at most places.