#new college of florida

[odinsblog]

The right wing radicalization of education in Florida:

👉🏿 https://www.aclufl.org/en/press-releases/civil-rights-organizations-condemn-signing-bill-stifles-academic-freedom-higher

#politics #republicans #ron desantis #new college of florida #education #sb 266 #whitewashing history #white supremacy

[contemplatingoutlander]

The above is a gift link 🎁 for this excellent report/commentary by Michelle Goldberg about what is happening at the New College of Florida under Ron DeSantis. If you click on the link, you can read the entire article, even if you do not subscribe to The New York Times.

DeSantis has replaced the president of the college and the board of governors with right-wing partisans (including the far right culture warrior Chris Rufo), who want to remake this small, highly-ranked, public liberal arts college into a copy of the private, Christian, conservative Hillsdale College. 

Given the above, one of my primary questions is how can a state college be allowed to be turned into a “Christian” college? 

It’s like DeSantis thinks it is fine to just completely ignore the First Amendment’s Establishment clause, not to mention ignoring the First Amendment’s free speech protections (by attempting to limit what can be discussed/ taught at public colleges and universities).

Below are some excerpts from the article:

When I spoke to [Chris] Rufo in early January, he said that New College would look very different in the following 120 days. Nearly four months later, that hasn’t entirely come to pass, but it’s clear where things are headed.

The new trustees fired the school’s president, replacing her with Richard Corcoran, the Republican former speaker of the Florida House. They fired its chief diversity officer and dismantled the diversity, equity and inclusion office. As I was writing this on Friday, several people sent me photographs of gender-neutral signage scraped off school bathrooms. [...] Whatever New College’s administration does, this will likely be the last year classes like the ones [student Sam] Sharf is taking are offered, because a bill making its way through the Florida Legislature requires the review of curriculums “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.” The sense of dread on campus, however, goes beyond what’s happening in Tallahassee.

Eliana Salzhauer, whose 17-year-old son is a New College economics student, compared the seemingly inexorable transformation of the school to Twitter under Elon Musk: It looked the same at first, even as it gradually degraded into a completely different experience. “They are turning a top-rated academic institution into a third-rate athletic facility,” she said.

Salzhauer was referring, in part, to the hiring of Mariano Jimenez, who previously worked at Speir’s Inspiration Academy, as athletic director and head baseball coach, even though there’s no baseball diamond on campus. In the past, New College hasn’t had traditional sports teams, but the administration is now recruiting student athletes, and Corcoran has said he wants to establish fraternities and sororities, likely creating a culture clash with New College’s artsy queer kids, activists and autodidacts. Before Wednesday’s board meeting, about 75 people held a protest outside. “We’re Nerds & Geeks, not Jocks & Greeks,” said one sign.

[See more under the cut.]

For many, the board of trustees meeting was the clearest sign yet that this is the last semester of New College as they know it. The pivot point was the trustees’ decision to override the typical tenure process. New College hired a large number of new faculty five years ago, and this year was the first that any of them could apply for tenure. [...] Corcoran, however, had asked all the professors up for tenure this year to withdraw their applications because of the tumult at the school. Two of the seven agreed. The rest — three of them professors in the hard sciences — held out for the board’s vote. This was widely seen as a referendum not just on the individual candidates, but on faculty independence.

Fifty-four people registered to speak at the meeting. All but one of them either implored the trustees to grant the professors tenure or lambasted them for their designs on the school. Parents were particularly impassioned; many of them had been profoundly relieved to find an affordable school where their eccentric kids could thrive. Some tried to speak the language of conservatism: “You’re violating my parental rights regarding our school choice,” said Pam Pare, the mother of a biology major. One student, a second-year wrapped in a pink and blue trans flag, was escorted out of the meeting after cursing at Corcoran, but most tried to earnestly and calmly convey how much the professors up for tenure had taught them.

It was all futile. A majority of the trustees voted down each of the candidates in turn as the crowd chanted, “Shame on you!” That’s when [faculty chair Matthew] Lepinski quit, walking out of the room to cheers. [...] “Some faculty members have started to leave already, and obviously some students are thinking about what their future looks like,” Lepinski said right after quitting. A few days later, we spoke again. “There’s a grieving process for the New College that was, which is passing away,” he said. “I really loved the New College that was, but I am at peace that it’s gone now.”

Rufo couldn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting in person, because he’d been delayed coming home from Hungary, where he had a fellowship at a right-wing think tank closely tied to Viktor Orban’s government. (This seemed fitting, since Orban’s Hungary created the template for Rufo and Desantis’s educational crusade.) Instead, he Zoomed in, his face projected on a movie screen behind the other trustees.

After Lepinski quit, Rufo tweeted that “any faculty that prefer the old system of unfettered left-wing activism and a rubber-stamp board are free to self-select out.” Turnover, he added, “is to be expected — even welcomed. But we are making rapid, significant progress.” He and his allies haven’t built anything new at New College yet. They are succeeding, however, in tearing something down.

It makes sense that Chris Rufo, the activist who spearheaded the right-wing anti-CRT crusade, has recently been taking notes on how to create a very conservative college based on a “template” from the neofascist Viktor Orban’s Hungary.

I hope that lawsuits will be filed against DeSantis and the New College president and board of governors for their assault on First Amendment freedom of speech protections and the Establishment clause by Florida’s attempts to turn New College into a state funded conservative “Christian” liberal arts college.

#new college of florida #ron desantis #christopher rufo #gop takeover of higher education #separation of church and state #academic freedom #freedom of speech #michelle goldberg #the new york times #gift link

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Last week, K.C. Casey stood on a small stage dressed in gold Rocky Horror Picture Show shorts and a see-through blouse to give their college commencement speech. It was a speech that wasn’t supposed to happen, and it almost didn’t. The ceremony, which took place in front of hundreds of the New College of Florida’s graduating students and their family members on May 18 at the Sarasota Art Museum, wasn't the school’s official commencement event, but an alternative graduation, organized by students as an act of exuberant defiance.

This alternative event was a way for students to take a stand against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his plan to make New College the latest target of his public education culture war.

For the last few months, students at the small college in Sarasota have been locked in battle against the Governor and the DeSantis-appointed right-wing board of trustees who have been working to transform the liberal school into a conservative campus in what was called a “hostile takeover” by the college’s former president. The new board closed the Office of Diversity and Equity at the college, and promised to make the school more like Michigan’s Hillsdale College, a private Christian college that doesn’t take any public funds or accept students who need government aid so that it can circumvent federal rules, including Title IX policies against sex discrimination. And while students and faculty fought back against their machinations, DeSantis continued waging his offensive, recently culminating in the Governor’s signing of three education-related anti-LGBTQ bills on New College’s campus.

These changes inspired Casey and their peers to organize the alternative commencement, an event that is the latest example of ways students on campus, including a large group of LGBTQ students, have pushed back against efforts to restrict their rights and educational freedom across Florida.

“It's as simple as I didn't wanna shake hands with someone who is trying to destroy our school,” they said. “The inspiration was a middle school field trip [because of] that sense of innocence and joy that is really hard to find at a time like this.”

Other students wanted graduation to emulate their years on campus. “It's the goal to graduate on our terms,” said Kacie, a student at New College whose last name has been withheld for safety reasons. “The school they want to create is not the one students have been going to.”

In spite of everything, the alternative graduation was also a moment to celebrate. “I am in awe of the freedom and strength that can be found through community and self-expression,” Casey told the crowd during their speech. “At an event like this, it’s just a bit easier to remember that we deserve to feel joy and love, and we deserve to be celebrated.”

Because DeSantis has been targeting LGBTQ people in Florida and at the college, the event was explicitly about queer joy, and organizers went out of their way to make sure LGBTQ students would feel safe and celebrated. There weren’t any caps and gowns at the graduation, but a whole lot of rainbow and pink and blue flags. The event was an undeniable success: Of 119 graduating New College students, 90 showed up, Casey said, adding that about 60 professors also attended. Upon arrival, students, encouraged to wear whatever they wanted, were greeted with piles of pronoun pins and white t-shirts for their peers to sign. The event included college bands and a series of speeches, including a keynote speech from Maya Wiley, the president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Organizers and Attendees said the event highlighted how queer joy is the ultimate act of resistance.

"That meant celebrating art, celebrating our identity, fighting for our values, fighting for what we believe is the truth and what we believe to be free and educational freedom," Casey said.

While DeSantis' efforts would make New College less tolerant, students at the school have defied himn by hosting inclusive chess tournaments, dances, garage sales, rallies, and, of course, protests. In February, about 300 students and parents, some dressed in Handmaid's Tale outfits, protested a board meeting held by the new right-wing administration, the Associated Press reported. Students say it all amounts to the same thing: a commitment to maintaining the New College's reputation for being a safe, alternative space.

Though the tiny New College may not seem like a likely battle ground for LGBTQ and civil rights, the school was once known as a safe haven. DeSantis previously said he “rejects woke ideology” and will “fight the woke in the schools.” So it’s not surprising he targeted New College, a school where three quarters of students identified as liberal or very liberal, according to a 2019 survey. The school also boasts the slogan “educating free thinkers, risk takers, and trailblazers,” and Casey described it as “a place that allowed [students] to explore themselves and a vast range of identities and perspectives.”

Right now, Florida is one of the most politically hostile states towards LGBTQ people in the country: Republican lawmakers have introduced an onslaught of anti-trans bills, including major restrictions on education. Last year, DeSantis ushered in the “Don’t Say Gay” bill that prohibits discussion of LGBTQ issues and gender identity. This year, it’s been hard to keep track of the sheer number of anti-trans policies introduced in the state and together the bills restrict gender affirming care, criminalize healthcare providers who provide gender-affirming care, threaten gender affirming parental custody, and ban the use of public funds for gender-affirming care for people of all ages.

Last week, when DeSantis signed the bills on New College’s campus, he also signed SB 266, which increases the power and duties of the board, adds more reviews for tenured professors, and updates the core curriculum to restrict courses that teach “identity politics” or are “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.”

When word got out that DeSantis was on campus, New College students quickly mobilized. Kacie said around 70 students showed up at the school’s administration building, where DeSantis was holding a live streamed press conference. In the livestream, audible chants for academic freedom can be heard in the background.

“It was a beautiful moment of collective solidarity and action. Our actions were made communally, and it felt like they opened up the cracks of possibility and hope,” Ellie, a graduating student who was present, told VICE News.

“We are fighting as hard as we can to keep our dignity,” said Kacie. “We won't back down and let it be taken away from us easily.”

Now, students like Kacie fear that the school they love is being destroyed, and wonder if they should leave.

“It's been really, really difficult because like, even if I do leave New College, my grandparents are here. I’m five minutes away from one and 30 minutes away from the other,” Kacie said. “I'm really connected with my family. And so it's really difficult trying to make this hard decision of leaving.”

No matter what, though, Kacie said they will keep protesting on behalf of the college.

“Joy is a form of resistance,” they said, adding that politicians are “doing all of these things to make us lose our motivation and to make us lose our drive. And the fact is we are incredibly resilient students. We are queer students living in Florida…We have survived through this before and we're going to continue surviving through it.”

#us politics #news #vice news #2023 #florida #gov. ron desantis #republican homophobia #republicans #conservatives #gop #gop policy #gop platform #New College of Florida #graduation ceremony #Sarasota Art Museum #Title IX #LGBTQIA+ students #lgbtqia+ rights #lgbtqia+ #SB 266

[catalystrelay]

Petition for Emory University to reconsider the tenure of Mark Bauerlein, one of the DeSantis appointed Board of Trustees members of New College. The details on why his tenure should be reconsidered are contained in the letter.

Please consider signing it, it is a chance to strike back at one of the people aiding in the destruction of academic freedom in Florida.

#florida politics #educational freedom #us politics #desantis #new college of florida

[pummelos]

THE INVENTOR OF THE TROLL FACE WENT TO NCF???

sorry for the late reply!! @weirdmageddon

YES and the catalyst did an absolutely bonkers interview with him after he got trespassed from campus for harassing SA victims

the craziest part was at the end:

#new college of florida #trollface #weirdmageddon #ncf

[tomorrowusa]

If you were an academic, would you remain in a state which is willing to prosecute you if you deviate from the governor's political line?

With the start of the 2023-24 academic year only six weeks away, senior officials at New College of Florida (NCF) made a startling announcement in mid-July: 36 of the small honors college’s approximately 100 full-time teaching positions were vacant. The provost, Bradley Thiessen, described the number of faculty openings as “ridiculously high”, and the disclosure was the latest evidence of a brain drain afflicting colleges and universities throughout the Sunshine state. Governor Ron DeSantis opened 2023 with the appointment of six political allies to the college’s 13-member board of trustees who vowed to drastically alter the supposedly “woke”-friendly learning environment on its Sarasota campus. At its first meeting in late January, the revamped panel voted to fire the college president, Patricia Okker, without cause and appoint a former Republican state legislator and education commissioner in her place. Over the ensuing weeks, board members have dismissed the college’s head librarian and director of diversity programs and denied tenure to five professors who had been recommended for approval.

Essentially, the DeSantis education gestapo is killing off the institution — or at least making it very unattractive to students to the left of Mussolini. Of course it's not just NCF that's been affected.

The new laws have introduced a ban on the funding of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at Florida’s public colleges and universities, withdrawn a right to arbitration formerly guaranteed to faculty members who have been denied tenure or face dismissal, and prohibited the teaching of critical race theory, which contends that inherent racial bias pervades many laws and institutions in western society, among other changes. In the face of that and other legislation backed by DeSantis and Republican lawmakers that has rolled back the rights of Florida’s LGBTQ+ community, many scholars across the state are taking early retirement, voting with their feet by accepting job offers outside Florida or simply throwing in the towel with a letter of resignation. [ ... ]

The prevailing political climate in Florida has complicated efforts to recruit qualified scholars from outside the state to fill some vacancies. Kenneth Nunn served on a number of appointment committees during the more than 30 years he spent on the faculty of the University of Florida’s law school. He said the task of persuading highly qualified applicants of color to move to Gainesville has never been more difficult under a governor who, earlier this year, prohibited a new advanced placement course in African American studies from being taught in high schools. DeSantis came under renewed criticism this month when the state department of education issued guidelines recommending that middle school students be taught about the skills slaves acquired “for their personal benefit” during their lifetimes in bondage.

DeSantis is so fond of slavery that every public college and university in Florida is now an anti-woke plantation run by a DeSantis overseer.

Degrees from public educational institutions in the state may henceforth be looked upon like those from Trump University.

#florida brain drain #ron desantis #florida #state colleges and universities #new college of florida #ncf #political indoctrination in florida colleges #degradation of higher education #republican censorship of academia #republicans #republican nomination for president #election 2024

[188533241]

New College of Florida was a safe haven for me as a transgender student. I spent 19 years growing up in the conservative Midwest, constantly being reminded of how my differences made me less than others. My high school teachers would start class discussions about the legitimacy of transgender lives and bodies, almost always met by the students around me with disrespect for queer people. My doctor had come to my doorstep, my own home, telling me that I was wrong and sinful for trying to seek out gender-affirming care through him, which would be the catalyst for my suicide attempt at 16 years old. In the year of my high school German teacher's retirement, he targeted my trans peers by giving them letters explaining why they were Godless for their decision to transition, with each letter including candy and a DVD about religion. I knew two trans kids in school who would end up killing themselves from bullying. Throughout all of these injustices I've experienced, no one has faced repercussions.

When I finally graduated high school, I was excited about the possibility of leaving the state for somewhere more accepting. I found a sense of actual community at New College of Florida, where I was looked at and treated as an equal despite my gender identity. New College is known for its openly queer and outspoken student body, and after years of having no friends, New College is the place where I finally developed a friend group that I felt understood me.

Just as soon as I had found some semblance of community, it was ripped from me. Towards the tail end of my first year, the governor of Florida had begun to specifically target New College in hopes of changing the culture of the student body, both scared of Florida's honors college being associated with leftist ideas and wanting a college takeover as a chip to gamble in the upcoming presidential election. Ron Desantis has passed multiple anti-LGBTQ laws in Florida, has banned gender studies and critical race theory, and has openly made it clear that we -- queer students -- are no longer welcome on campus. From tossing dozens of books out of our campus library to painting over student-made murals, Desantis' team as our new administration is actively trying to push out queer students from New College.

New College offered both queer and non-queer students an alternative and accepting education that is hard to find anywhere else. Even with offers being made to help New College students such as the Hampshire tuition match program, many students can not afford to leave Florida, especially without the amazing scholarships, financial aid, and other general opportunities that New College has provided its students in the past. These types of anti-LGBTQ laws aren't just happening in Florida. Without active resistance to conservative education reform, there will be fewer and fewer spaces for transgender students to feel welcome and safe.

If you are interested in learning more about the disadvantages affecting transgender students pursuing education, please visit #TransgenderFirst.

If you're interested in learning more about New College and how you can help, visit Save New College.

#transgenderfirst #ncf #new college of florida #ron desantis #lgbt #trans activism #activism

[vietnyamese]

. . . what former president Bernie Machen of the University of Florida referred to as a “little jewel in the state of Florida”—was no more. What remained uncertain was what would replace it.

#ncf #new college of florida #color scribbles #newcollegeoffl #color.txt #did you know you can put photoshop files in canva?

[girlhorse]

help new college. donate here

we can't let desantis have this win

#new college of Florida #uspol

[bethanythebogwitch]

My Alma Mater has been the subject of a government-sponsored hostile takeover by christofascists and the town it's in is now having a malaria outbreak. I'm so glad I'm not in Florida anymore

#florida #new college of florida #sarasota

[ncfcatalyst]

NCSA Senate Meeting recap

The New College Student Alliance (NCSA) functions as a three-branch student government. All New College students are automatically part of the Senate, where campus-wide voting and announcements take place. The first Senate meeting of the 2023-24 school year was held on Wednesday, Sept. 13. The meeting opened with a vote to approve fourth-year Cynthia Lucas as Senate President Pro Tempore. She…

View On WordPress

#coup #fairies and dryads #ncsa #NCSA elections #ncsa president #ncsa senate #New College of Florida #new college student alliance #new college student government

[yarnnerd]

Not the usual genre of arts and crafts that I post about, but I was having a nostalgia/ angst moment today. It’s not about the current goings-on...but also, it is.

#new college of florida #savenewcollege #there's a new building where I am now that reminds me of going to UTC by bus at night #and when the weather is nice it makes me sad #also fun fact for the followers who don't know me irl I have written approximately 200 sets of angsty song lyrics over the course of my life

[transformers-incorrectquotes]

If you've heard anything about what's going on right now at New College or just want tell help stop facism, look at this and make your voice heard!

Stop DeSantis and his puppets' attempts to crush LGBTQ+ safe spaces!

#new college of florida #fuck facists

[catalystrelay]

After dissolving the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence and quietly firing the Dean of Diversity Yoleidy Rosario-Hernandez, the NCF Board of Trustees’ next major move was to deny tenure to the five faculty who had applied, having each reached the end of the tenure track.

In doing this, they undermined the five years of hard work that each faculty member dedicated, and their willingness to devote them selves to a low-paying, difficult job. Untenured faculty have been one of the most at risk parties since the DeSantis’ first new appointees arrived, and so those rejected on April 26th are left with insecure positions. Two of the faculty are a part of the chemistry AOC, which was already in a shaky position. Other AOCs rely on chemistry, and yet it is unclear how the required courses will be taught next year.

BOT members claim to work in the interest of the institution, and yet they threaten its foundations, because they are here only to control higher education.

#us politics #new college of florida #educational freedom #florida politics

[gwydionmisha]

This stuff terrifies me.

#Ron DeSantis #Florida #Academia #New College of Florida #News

[vietnyamese]

#new college of florida #lol #Youtube