New College of Florida

Calling it "a bad deal which makes no sense," signatories include campus board members as well as donors and former leaders of the school.

John Horne talked about the value of training college students in hospitality and management as well as having those students get jobs locally after graduation.

His letter of dismissal said his country of origin made him ineligible for employment at New College.

Said New College trustee Ron Christaldi, a prominent Tampa lawyer and GOP political donor: "New College’s vision is to continue to grow and expand … and it needs more space to do that.”

An emergency meeting of faculty and administrators was held Thursday, but it did not assuage fears among some USF professors.

Ben Brown said he was forced to step down from his post of two years after alumni concerns over mismanaged funds were repeatedly ignored.

Florida State University currently pours vast resources into the maintenance of The Ringling, including managing the museum’s endowment of more than $50 million to employing more than 200 staff.

The documents said, in part, that “there is little offered at USF-SM that regional/local students couldn’t access more easily at other regional options or by USF in Tampa, St. Petersburg, or online.”

Sarasota state Sen. Joe Gruters told the Tampa Bay Times the leading scenario is New College "ruling the day."

People gathered at the New College of Florida as border czar Tom Homan appeared with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to discuss immigration policy.

Tom Homan talked about plans to continue tackling illegal immigration during a sit-down at New College. With him were Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf.

A community grassroots organization is pushing back against a proposal that would strip the Ringling Museum of Art of its partnership with FSU and give it to New College of Florida.