Despite some controversy, a Florida Senate committee has recommended the confirmation of seven trustees recently appointed to guide New College. But those trustees didn’t receive broad support from parents and students who spoke during the hearing.
Gov. Ron DeSantis made clear his thoughts about New College in a March interview with Glenn Beck.
“And it is left of the left,” he said of the college. “I mean, it is basically about ideology and about leftism. That’s what the school’s about. And so, I’m like, ‘You know what? No.’ So, I put six conservatives on the board of trustees. They fired the president; they brought in a conservative president. They said, ‘The mission of this university is going to be to be the number-one public classical liberal arts college in America. It’s going to be like our Hillsdale College.’”
But when the Senate Committee on Ethics and Elections held confirmation hearings on Monday, several alumni and parents of New College students took issue.
Grant Balfour is a graduate of New College, and his son was accepted there but has chosen to attend the Air Force Academy instead. Balfour said he’s afraid New College …
“…is about to lose its accreditation, its reputation and its unique academic culture because of many questionable trustee actions,” he said. “They’ve changed the college’s mission and curriculum without consulting the college accreditors and without fulfilling the shared governance requirements laid out by the SASCCOC [Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges] or any other accrediting body.”
Jennifer Wright is the mother of a New College student. She had researched the school carefully and was unhappy that it was being portrayed as an inferior institution.
“It had led all public universities in the U.S. for the percentage of students that go on to earn PhDs,” said Wright. “Over its history, NCF has graduated 6,500 students, over-weighted in the ranks of executives, entrepreneurs and academics who teach at leading institutions such as Oxford, Harvard and Princeton.”
Eddie Speir is one of the trustees appointed by DeSantis. He says he’s been “thrown into a whirlwind” and even received a death threat since the governor announced his appointment. He says it’s important to ensure the state’s education institutions support a culture of free speech.
“Yeah, I’m definitely concerned about that,” Speir said. "I believe that there’s been a dominant ideology of wokeness in academic institutions."
The committee is recommending that all seven trustees be confirmed. That sets up a heated meeting on Wednesday, when the trustees will meet on the New College campus to take up the tenure of five faculty members, which they’re expected to defer or deny. Students and community members are expected to rally on campus.
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