The College Board has offered one of US higher education’s most forceful pushbacks to Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ campaign of race-based interference in academia, accusing him of “slander” over its planned new course in African American studies.

More than a week after the board added the course to its Advanced Placement series, the non-profit creator of curricula and testing said it regretted not having immediately and forcefully rejected Mr DeSantis’ extensive criticisms of it.

“Our failure to raise our voice betrayed black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field,” the board said in a detailed  to Mr DeSantis and his government.

The College Board’s several dozen AP courses are taken at high school level for college-level credit. The new course in African American studies was created during a year-long process involving hundreds of African American studies professors.

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Mr DeSantis spent that same period honing his national reputation as a leading conservative critic of teaching students about racial equity. His administration warned in advance of the new AP course’s formal unveiling that it “lacks educational value” and would violate state law restricting such teachings. That fuelled allegations of political interference when the course’s final version was seen to have omitted several leading authors and themes found in earlier drafts.

When the College Board announced that final version, it minimised the extent of the revisions and insisted that Mr DeSantis’ complaining had little effect either way. In its new rebuttal, however, the board listed a string of regrets over the tone and substance of its response to the DeSantis criticisms, including its failure to address suggestions that it had been “in frequent dialogue with Florida” about the content of AP African American studies course.

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“This is a false and politically motivated charge,” the College Board said. “Our exchanges with them are actually transactional emails about the filing of paperwork to request a pilot course code and our response to their request that the College Board explain why we believe the course is not in violation of Florida laws.”

The College Board also said it was “naïve” for not speaking out publicly in September when Florida officials wrote to it to reject the course, and included the letter’s misspelled title: “CB Letter AP Africain [sic] Studies.”

Mr DeSantis is widely regarded as a leading US presidential contender for 2024, and his repeated challenges of academic freedom have left higher education leaders in his state and beyond struggling to respond. Major recent examples include the heads of all 28 state colleges in Florida endorsing Mr DeSantis’ restrictions on race-based teachings, and the governor’s appointment of new trustees at the New College of Florida who then forced out its president in a bid to convert the liberal arts institution into a haven for conservative political thought.

The College Board expressed disgust over the tone of the criticisms in Florida of experts in African American studies. “The vitriol aimed at these scholars is repulsive,” it said, “and must stop.”

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DeSantis administration complaints that the new AP course lacks educational value amounted to “slander”, the board said.

paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com