| Abstract: Self-censoring faculty behaviors such as scrubbing syllabi, email, and speech to remove words like diversity, equity, inclusion, critical race theory, and intersectionality, help define the “chill” that many higher education faculty and administrators experience currently. This paper uses a well-established typology of rule-governed behavior to discuss how Florida’s “Anti-Woke” legislative agenda (self-described as such by advocates) functions to influence the behavior of university faculty and administrators without actual enforcement of contingencies. This paper explores behavioral mechanisms involved with enactments of Florida’s wide ranging Senate Bill 7044 (2022), House Bill 7 (2022) , and Senate Bill 266 (2023) that include the following stipulations (among others): (a) proscribe discussing, lecturing, or assigning reading any content that has to do with “race, color, national origin or sex” if any student feels uncomfortable with that content; (b) prohibit expending any funds for programs that “advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion”; and (c) essentially eliminate tenure. The first two laws (SB 7044 and HB 7) currently have an injunction placed on them by a federal district court judge. Their power to shape behavior via rules given, even when under injunction, serves to make the point that the enactment of suppression does not always require enforcement. |