CURRENTS Conservatives Take Over New College of Florida

Allyson Greenberg Currents Editor

The New College of Florida has for years been a public liberal arts college located in Sarasota, Florida. With a student body that is over one half female, and a prominent LGBTQ+ community, it has been a paradise of acceptance and open mindedness. Different from most other institutions, they do not give out letter grades; the majority of the curriculum is self-directed. This college that was once deemed a sanctuary for progressive and freethinkers is now being revised due to the conservative plans of Governor Ron DeSantis.

This is all in efforts to revamp this institution and prevent the takeover of the “woke.” The Governor and his staff are looking past intervention of the extreme progressivism of the college, and focusing more on trans- forming the school into Hillsdale College (Christian conservative college located in Michigan).

They are hoping to restructure both the school’s curriculum and culture through a top-down approach. As of January, DeSantis and his supporters have rammed through the college with full force. To start, he has completely disrupted the board members and replaced trustees with more conservative figures. Not long after the new board members took their seats, replaced President Dr. Patricia Okker with Republican politician Richard Corcoran, serving as interim President.

This is all in alignment with a bill proposed by DeSantis that is aimed to ban gender studies, abolish diversity programs, weaken tenure protections, and leave faulty staffing to the opinions and judgment of the board. DeSantis wants to change curric- ulums, police literature, and dictate the extent to which certain subjects are spoken. This leaves many students of The New College of Florida feeling distraught as their institution will no longer provide their major. Some of the new board members have even said that if students and faculty could not follow the changes, then they must leave the institution.

As the rising senior class prepares to begin their college search, it will be interesting to see the impact this will make on applications. According to CollegeTuitionCompare.com, 1,650 students applied last year, with a 74% acceptance rate.