{"id":154173,"date":"2026-02-13T10:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T10:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154173\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T10:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T10:03:10","slug":"famu-college-of-law-black-history-month-flyer-ban-was-a-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/154173\/","title":{"rendered":"FAMU College of Law Black History Month Flyer Ban Was a Mistake"},"content":{"rendered":"

FAMU<\/a> says banning the word \u201cBlack\u201d from a student\u2019s Black History Month flyer was a mistake.<\/p>\n

Leaders at Florida A&M University acknowledged that staff at its College of Law in Orlando made an \u201coverly cautious interpretation\u201d of Florida law during the event approval process. According to university officials, that interpretation went beyond what the law actually requires.<\/p>\n

Interim Dean Cecil Howard<\/a> said the language was flagged in error and confirmed that the word \u201cBlack\u201d and the phrase \u201cBlack History Month\u201d are not prohibited under state regulations. University officials clarified that no Florida law bans the use of the word \u201cBlack\u201d in student programming or promotional materials.<\/p>\n

The controversy began when a law student organizing a Black History<\/a> Month event said she was instructed to remove or abbreviate the word \u201cBlack\u201d from her flyer. She was also reportedly advised to avoid terms such as \u201caffirmative action\u201d and \u201cwomen.\u201d The guidance was tied to concerns about compliance with Florida Senate Bill 266, which restricts public universities from using state or federal funds for certain Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.<\/p>\n

However, the university later clarified that Senate Bill 266 does not ban specific words. It also does not prohibit student organizations from using terms related to race, gender, or civil rights in their materials.<\/p>\n

FAMU<\/a> President Marva Johnson emphasized that Black History Month celebrations remain permitted and supported. The university said it has corrected the issue and is taking steps to ensure similar misunderstandings do not happen again.<\/p>\n

The incident sparked concern among students, particularly given FAMU\u2019s identity as a historically Black university. Now, administrators say the record is clear: the restriction should not have happened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FAMU says banning the word \u201cBlack\u201d from a student\u2019s Black History Month flyer was a mistake. Leaders at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":{"0":"post-154173","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tallahassee","8":"tag-tallahassee","9":"tag-tallahassee-headlines","10":"tag-tallahassee-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}