SARASOTA, Fla. — As changes reshape New College of Florida in Sarasota, hundreds who support the school say they'll do anything to keep it the same.
Just hours before the first Board of Trustees meeting involving new, more conservative trustees appointed by Governor DeSantis, students, alumni, faculty, and parents protested the new direction the school is headed in.
"I think that these people think that they're capable of much more damage than they actually are. Because we have an entire student body that is already here, an entire group of faculty that is already here. And we're not planning on leaving. So they're gonna have to put up with us while they try to do what they're trying to do," said Libby Harrity, a protest organizer and student.
Before the protest, Governor DeSantis spoke about his plans for higher education in the state, using what's already happening at New College as an example of what's yet to come.
"The dominant view is the use of higher education, under this view is to impose ideological conformity to try to provoke political activism, and that is not what a university should be. That's not what we believe is appropriate in the state of Florida," he said.
The governor recently appointed seven of the 13 New College of Florida Board of Trustees.
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"This was a college that the legislature thought about just mothballing or folding into UF or USF or something like that. It's not been able to have the enrollment that you would want, the test scores," he said.
We looked into enrollment at the school; 859 students enrolled in the Fall of 2017. By fall 2021, it was down to 660, according to the State University System of Florida. Enrollment for all 12 universities in the state increased by 2,000 in the same time frame.
But students said the governor is focusing on the wrong elements within New College.
"What we need to focus on is telling these trustees that this idea of destroying diversity in order to fix numbers that are already low is just pointless and unproductive. This focus on DEI when they could be focusing on funding for scholarships, on repairing things within dorms," Harrity said. "These are students that are already suffering in other ways. And I think it's bullying to be putting a target on their back this way."
Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Tuesday he plans to funnel $15 million into the school for recruiting new faculty, staff, and students.
"You're going to have a situation where you're going to be able to go out recruit people to come say, 'Hey, here's the mission, here's what we're looking to do, is this something that appeals to you?'" DeSantis said. "What's going to end up happening in the budget is there's going to be recurring $10 million every year for New College; for faculty recruitment and for faculty salaries."
DeSantis points to the school's focus on DEI and the focus on race and gender as reasons he wanted to overhaul the Board of Trustees.
New Trustee Chris Rufo joined DeSantis Tuesday morning. Rufo is a conservative activist, focusing on following how race and gender are taught and handled in schools nationwide.
"I've spent the last few weeks as a new trustee here at New College, talking to students, faculty, and staff. And they won't say it publicly, but that's because they're intimidated by their colleagues and by these bureaucrats. But privately, they'll say these DEI bureaucracies add nothing to the kid's education," he said.
Rufo claimed New College previously made people sign a DEI pledge just to be considered for employment. We requested any pledges they may require, but the school did not respond to our requests.
"Conservatives, for many decades, have been too scared to deal with the problems in the universities," he said.
But there are parents who disagree. Mark and Frances said New College is the perfect fit for their daughter. They fear these changes will drastically change her experience.
"Our daughter has some needs that the school can uniquely meet. She was adopted from another country. The school has been outstanding in meeting her needs. We're all very sad, fearful and angry about what's happening," she said.
The parents decided they would speak out at the Board of Trustees meeting.
"I think it's important, obviously, for parents to support the kids and what their kids are going through. And we just happened to be able to do that. I flew in from Colorado, where we're from," said Mark.
The couple said these changes are putting a bad mark on higher education. Governor DeSantis calls the teachings indoctrination. They said they haven't seen that.
"You say you're coming to save a school when actually you're coming to destroy it. That's doublespeak. So indoctrination is what they do at lots and lots of schools. They do the opposite here. They encourage the children and young people in the students to think for themselves to question critical thinking as well as critical feeling that it is all about learning how to use your own mind and think for yourself," she said.
"It's ironic that this is an idea that the Governor is pushing about New College because the entire point of our academic tradition is to avoid indoctrination, to promote discussion, the bringing of diverse viewpoints, critical thinking to the table. New College is built on anti-indoctrination," said Harrity.
DeSantis said he supports the students who are against the changes in finding other alternatives.
"We've also said that if there are students who were there who maybe don't like the direction, you know, they should be able to transfer soon," he added.
I reached out to New College of Florida to see how much the school was spending on DEI training, what was included in the DEI pledge, as well as if college applications have increased in recent months like the Governor claimed. The school hasn’t answered any of those questions. We’ll continue to press for the answers.
