OPINION
Hundreds of news articles chronicled what the left deemed a hostile takeover of New College in Florida several years ago.
But despite all the hand wringing about Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s changes starting in 2023, more and more people on the ground there — even progressives — say the public institution is actually faring quite well.
Earlier this year, The College Fix chronicled how a progressive professor there begrudgingly admitted college leaders allow academic freedom to flourish; an article in The Free Press published last week reports much the same.
One centrist student said it’s not the political battlefield people claimed. The article reports leftist worries over what was billed as the new “Hillsdale of the South” were overblown:
The professors who spoke to me said that new president Richard Corcoran’s administration does not police what they teach, though some students said they have noticed fewer course offerings about feminism and race. …
New College also hardly looks like a place being “destroyed,” as Oliver claimed. On the balmy Wednesday when I walked around the lush, palm tree–lined campus, I saw students playing pickup soccer and beach volleyball on fields overlooking Sarasota Bay. …
Over 40 percent of its 105 faculty members left by the fall of 2023, though the college says that about three-quarters of the departures were previously planned retirements or sabbaticals. At least a dozen more left within the next year. Since then, New College has hired about 45 new professors, many from elite institutions, increasing the overall size of its faculty to 125.
“Most of the ideological warriors have left,” Corcoran told me. “They’ve left because they don’t want balance. . . . The people we’ve been hiring are a who’s who of faculty in the history of the college.” …
The new New College has broadened its offerings of Great Books–based courses called “Enduring Human Questions” to fulfill a new state requirement for public colleges that includes teaching the Western canon. …
Students can no longer earn a degree in gender studies because “it’s not a real discipline,” Corcoran said, adding that the subject “should be taught” in other classes as a component of intellectual history. …
Some of the liberal students who stayed at New College said they feel like the supposed political divide on campus has been exaggerated by the media. No student substantiated the narrative that the college is in the grip of a right-wing censorship apparatus, though there were complaints about a crackdown on “balcony culture.” …
The most divisive change at New College is an influx of over 400 student athletes, many of them recruited and awarded scholarships to play on one of more than 15 varsity sports teams, which the college never had before. …
During my visit, I asked Corcoran if he believed there is still a place in higher education for students who want the old New College, an ideological and educational experiment that endured for over 60 years. “One hundred percent,” he said. “But not with public tax dollars. You want to use public tax dollars, it should appeal to the masses.”
Read the full article at The Free Press.
MORE: Professor is surprised. New College conservative leaders do respect academic freedom.
