Editors note: the UCF students cited in this article were granted anonymity on a conditional basis due to fear of being targeted or feeling unsafe. The editor-in-chief of this Her Campus chapter confirmed the identities of these students with the author of this article.
For some students at the University of Central Florida, changes made to policies based on initiatives by Gov. Ron DeSantis have been detrimental to their college experience. As more restrictions have been placed on public education, students in Florida especially have faced the brunt of these policies. Some of those in the education system subjected to the effects of enforcement are attempting to fight against it, suing the state of Florida, while others express their silent protests out of fears and concerns about being able to speak out.
Taking the perspectives of three UCF students, two of whom are actively enrolled in the university and one recent graduate, here are three pressing issues regarding UCF in Florida.
the shrinking of UCF Global
In 2016, UCF opened the UCF Global Building. Intended to be an international hub on campus, the building is a $16 million state-of-the-art facility equipped with classrooms, meeting rooms, and technology to help students grow into global citizens. For years to come, this building would be essential in acting both as a designated workspace for international students and as a resource center for those seeking study abroad opportunities. However, the building will no longer be UCF’s international hub, and UCF Global will be reduced to one floor of the College of Sciences building. The previous home of UCF Global will now become another research facility.
An international student, who will be referred to as Student A for the purposes of this article, is majoring in environmental science and is set to graduate in 2027. She expressed her sadness and confusion over this recent news. “My orientation was there, and I went there every day for a whole year because we had class there. How are they gonna fit all international students on one floor? Our orientation was two hundred students,” she said.
Student B, a recent Fall 2024 graduate from the Advertising and Public Relations program, is not an international student but believes the lack of an established place for international students to be a disservice. “It’s entirely unacceptable. Part of a world-class education is having global perspectives, and when students are not allowed to interact with people on a global level and are just learning an environment they already know and aren’t seeing other perspectives, they aren’t really learning,” she said. Student B also emphasized the dangers of removing a global hub on campus.
“I believe that a closure of UCF Global will have negative long term impacts on the standing of the university, and by deterring international students from attending Florida state universities.”
Taken from perspective of recent UCF graduate, Student B, on UCF Global closure.
Initially, UCF Global was the university’s attempt to harness “the power of what international students add to the university — cultural, racial and religious diversity — to enhance the educational experience and sense of community.” Still, as diversity has become a controversial topic within the government, students have begun to suffer.
Student C, a comparative politics major set to graduate in 2025, highlighted this. Emphasizing the importance of upholding the UCF Global building’s original mission statement, Student C called the change “an utter travesty,” continuing to add, “They should be ashamed of themselves for letting such a thing occur. It’s absolutely horrendous for them to do this to students who have contributed so much.”
Scholarships and university sponsoring
Student B and Student C are Bright Futures scholarship recipients, and both reported that they were unconcerned about the status of their scholarship funding. However, Student A initially committed to UCF under the agreement that she would have a scholarship through UCF Global. For her and many other international students, that has completely changed.
“They changed my scholarship to end this semester. Global was going to sponsor all students for all four years if they kept a certain GPA. They changed it to only last until a year after you left Global. Then it’s given to your college, and you have to see if they can sponsor you, but the only college that sponsors is the College of Sciences,” she said. “Once you get accepted, they’re like, ‘We sponsor all students for all four years,’ then change it once you’re here.”
She continued to say that as of February 2025, students haven’t been provided with any resources or assistance in seeking other scholarship opportunities. At the University of Central Florida, approximately 81% of students receive some form of financial aid, making this limitation for international students stand out in comparison.
classroom censorship
DeSantis’ 2023 ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has resulted in many programs being adjusted to remove content deemed inappropriate by the Florida state government. This includes adjustment of history education to remove critical race theory and the general inclusion of DEI practices. The adjustments and restrictions on public education come as no surprise considering DeSantis’ efforts to control what is being taught in Floridian schools. But, it wasn’t widely anticipated that the conversation would expand into college. When discussing in-class censorship of offending topics, Student C touched on a few specific experiences involving censorship and fear of retaliation from professors.
When asked if he had ever encountered any course content impacted by DeSantis’ adjustment to history education, he responded, “Definitively, without a doubt, yes. To further explain, I took a class and in which, my professor attempted to argue in favor of slavery being a worthwhile experience for the enslaved party.” Student C continued to discuss fear of retaliation from professors if he didn’t replicate their political views.
While Student A had not experienced anything as direct as Student C, she did confirm that she noticed a certain amount of cautiousness from her professors. Student B, however, also had experiences with her classes being adjusted, explaining that censorship “limited research opportunities” and resulted in “sections of textbooks being redacted out of fear.”
the state of UCF
Demonizing and weaponizing education has always been cause for concern in politics. Limiting not only DEI-based programs but also what once crowned UCF’s campus global hub is a potent political statement, especially in a state becoming more strict on what is deemed acceptable on college campuses.
If these experiences have been shared by people in different major programs, they are likely more widespread than initially thought. The politicized state of education is not always positive for all, and at least from the perspective of these three students, it has proven to have taken its toll on UCF.