NCF Freedom says a higher education law that Florida legislators recently passed amounts to academic censorship. HOSTILE TAKEOVER. At New College, she found an oasis where she feels safe and accepted. Students and faculty have built an impressive alternative model of education that should be an inspiration for others, not one that is attacked and disparaged by the governor and the new board of trustees. How can we reach out to more conservative high schools and not assume theyre not interested in sending us students just because they havent in the past? Nothing is likelier to trigger conflict with the many students who take pride in their communitys acceptance of queer people than anyone seen as threatening that oasis. Is New College of Florida Headed for a Hostile Takeover? The disintegration of New College's small DEI office is the latest domino to fall in the governor's efforts to transform public education in Florida. She wants to create an area of concentration that fuels her love of learning, but worries that the new trustees dont intend to conserve the features of academic life at New College that make it intellectually rigorous and unusually invigorating. Some of the criticisms and proposals put forth by the new trustees are reasonable. Months later, Rufo (who says DeSantis appointees should be obeyed for the sake of democracy) arrived at New College and lambasted the very DEI bureaucracy another DeSantis appointee had helped create, talking as if it had been imposed by leftist radicals. Zac Anderson USA TODAY BRADENTON, Fla. - The board of trustees of New College of Florida fired its president on Tuesday, replacing her with a former Republican House speaker as Gov. ideological discrimination or bias in hiring. Diane Roberts: Most important, we must not upset DeSantis. Ron DeSantis hostile takeover of New College of Florida is offering up a case study of what Republican governance looks like. If they dont know anybody who is conservative, someone that they really know and love and trust, thats not going to serve them well in the workplace, or even at the holiday dinner table, where most encounter people with different views.. These appointments stunned students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni of New College, and sent shock waves through the local community of Sarasota. She added that, for Rufo, a reconstructed New College would serve as a model for conservatives all over the country to copy. What about our freedom to continue learning these subjects without government suppression?, Rufos response, which we found demeaning and rude, reinforces that he is unsuited to working in higher education. In 1975, facing financial difficulties and declining enrollment, the institution joined Floridas public system of higher education, at first merging with the University of South Florida. Subsequent social media posts and interviews have demonstrated that these new trustees are here to rule rather than help us thrive in our existing environment, where all fields of study are open to debate and discussion. Many value independence and flexibility in their teaching and research more than the different benefits of life at a larger, better resourced, and more bureaucratic institution. Jan 26 Floridas Board of Governors appoints seventh new trustee, Ryan Anderson, president of Ethic and Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank. Okkers fans felt she was focused on making the institution more friendly to conservatives even before the new trustees arrived. "We need your continued support and commitment," Corcoran wrote. "I feel both sad and angry about the recent events at New College," the donor wrote. Lenger served on the New College Foundation board for 35 years, helping to bring in donors, and has been a longtime donor herself. Jono Miller, a retired New College professor, is the group's president. Oh, but New College is getting bigger despite the departures. Yarvin suggested that if DeSantis really wanted a Hillsdale of the South, he would go about it differently. A college in upheaval: War on 'woke' sparks fear in Florida Some students say they havent been notified when classes they were enrolled in were canceled. Perhaps no single action by the trustees has alienated the faculty and students more than firing her and replacing her with Richard Corcoran. New College isnt it. Students, faculty demonstrate at New College amid conservative takeover Sydney Gruters, a former GOP congressional aide, named as executive director of the New College of Florida Foundation. Ron DeSantis for cultural transformation. New College of Florida hostile takeover shows the future of education Of course, many moderate and conservative teenagers today are tolerant of gay and trans people. Lenger began keeping a list of canceled contributions. Dropping knowledge for the next generation of creatives of color! The opportunity to help students tailor a custom course of study and research, in accordance with their curiosity and passions, attracts professors who like classroom instruction, academic mentoring, independent studies, and frequent shifts in the material that they are discussing, lecturing on, and evaluating. Plenty of us would welcome more ideological diversity at New College, he told me. All so athletes can get the best New College has to offer. And we must ensure that people from all sides of the political spectrum are welcome herenot as visitors, but as valuable, respected, and necessary members of our community. 'Hostile takeover': the tiny Florida university targeted by Ron DeSantis. Students cross a bridge linking different sections of the campus, at New College of Florida, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. For years, students have come to this public liberal arts college on the western coast of Florida because they were self-described free thinkers. We are here to defend the freedom of students to learn in their chosen environment, with programs and classes that align with the school in which they enrolled. But a donor who canceled a planned gift of $1.5 million sent the Herald-Tribune an anonymous statement through an intermediary mentioning Corcoran's compensation package as among the reasons for holding back the money. As it turns out, the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, where almost all DEI work was housed, had four staffers and a total annual budget of $440,000. On some level, Rufo seemed to grasp the dissonance between his initial rhetoric about DEI at New College and its reality. In Reids telling, the gender-studies program at New College has a budget of just $7,000 or so for programs and expenses, plus a 15-hour-a-week office-manager position. New College admitted 100 student athletes for this fall despite having no real athletic facilities and not being a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. 1. SPECIAL TO THE ORACLE/FLICKR And when it hired its first dean of diversity, equity, and inclusion in 2022, it wasnt surrendering to the woke left. Florida New College students organize alternative graduation after Before this year, life at New College of Florida could feel like a retreat into a pleasantly forgotten corner of the country. State of play: Pursley, 20, took an offer from Hampshire College, a small liberal arts school in Massachusetts. Time and time again, the College Board has caved after criticism from Republican politicians. Our campus is undergoing a hostile takeover. After DeSantis installed six partisan trustees to remake the liberal arts college in his image, they replaced the colleges president with an interim president at double the salary. Those are, I think, good changes that should be cheered by everyone who values the independence of faculty or objects to the politicization of hiring scholars. The trustees will decide if he gets the bonus. An Edward R. Murrow Award-winning series explores the high costs of the pandemic for children and young adults. Deteriorating dorms and spartan amenities are repellents. A number shared their intentions to remove New College from their estate plans and stop other contributions. For some reason, 70 of the athletes are baseball players. Ron DeSantis began transforming the. New College was founded as a private institution in the 1960s. The $29 million in canceled contributions would be big money for a small school with just 700 students and a relatively small donor base. We are here to defend the freedom of faculty members to teach what we have spent lifetimes studying and were hired to help students understand. Florida New College students organize alternative graduation after Now they find themselves caught in the crosshairs of Americas culture war. Lenger's informal tally doesn't include many lost donations. In short, a banker appointed by DeSantis led an aggressive top-down push for sweeping new DEI initiatives in all of Floridas public colleges, compelling every campus, including New College, to put more emphasis on DEI. DeSantis packing the New College board of trustees is a targeted effort to dismantle a 60-year-old experiment that, by all accounts, has produced a successful model ofeducation. New College of Florida' s trustees voted to begin the process of abolishing the college's nearly 30-year-old gender studies program. Returning students . They approve a base salary of $699,000 for Corcoran, more than double Okkers salary. Faculty also took initiative, engaging in the struggles of the day. Exactly . New College of Florida hostile takeover shows the future of education under DeSantis OPINION New College of Florida hostile takeover shows the future of education under DeSantis Lev Funkhouser, CORRESPONDENT February 13, 2023 Higher education should not be forced to comply with the state's political theater. Amy Reid, a professor of French language and literature at New College, was among the faculty members whom I most wanted to interview. The interim presidents goals include increasing attendance and building an athletics program, and hes doing both at once by bringing in a large number of new athletes. As detailed in Furman C. Arthur's book about the history of New College,just a few years after its founding, three students traveled to Alabama in 1965 to join the Selma to Montgomery march. (When I asked him for examples, Rufo revised his claim, charging instead that the DEI bureaucracy turned a blind eye to harassment and bullying of conservative, white, and Christian students.) But regardless, the campus climate is among the obstacles to recruiting and retaining more diverse students: Social stigma is hard anywhere, but especially intense on a tiny residential campus. Governor DeSantis begins takeover of New College of Florida - FSView News had broken that Gov. I reached out to conservative business organizations and conservative alumni, who felt, to be honest, really pissed off with the college. And we are here to defend the freedom of staffers to organize in support of the diversity, equity, and inclusion that stand as a central community agreement one that we desperately need in this state and country. Does Florida have some shortage of land, or of builders? Goldberg added. What Is Ron DeSantis Doing to Florida's Public Liberal-Arts College Ron DeSantis of Florida is expected to enter the race for the Republican presidential nomination this week. Rufo is correct to flag that dynamic. You and him are targeting fields of study that are critical of capitalism, racism, imperialism, misogyny, etc. "Its no longer donating to the traditional New College, so it will have to be a whole new donor base. When Gov. We are the first university in America to abolish its DEI bureaucracy and restore the principle of colorblind equality, he wrote. Students walked on paths that wound past wisps of Spanish moss and a stately banyan tree to a park on Sarasota Bay, where the outside world often felt as distant as the sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico. Reids account of the value of gender studies was anything but radical, and she struck me as diligent about refraining from indoctrination. She is married to State Sen. Joe Gruters, former chair of Florida Republican Party. And Rufo, DeSantis, and their gang will continue to talk about how theyre trying to elevate learning and remove ideology from Florida colleges and universities. Faculty fled. If a few behave like jerks, they resemble bullies on every social-media platform. For example, Manuel Lopez Zafra, a professor of religion, teaches a class called Growing Up Amish in Sarasota and might be willing to work with a student whose concentration is gender studies to focus their assignments on topics related to gender. Also in the news: Florida Gov. e4d71c01adb243419b6873c8f337f063_3000.jpeg (3000x2000, AR: 1.50), Florida ethics commission chair cant work simultaneously for Disney World governing district, Olympic champ Tori Bowies mental health struggles were no secret inside tracks tight-knit family, Execution set for Florida man convicted of killing two women he met at beach bars in 1996.
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