The New College of Florida was always an oasis for non-traditional students who rejected the party and football atmosphere at Florida’s other public universities. Students could pursue a self-directed course of study based in liberal arts that conformed to their individual passions and work on projects designed to make an impact on society and the planet. It was a welcoming, inclusive place that attracted many members of the LGBTQ community.
The emphasis on diversity and inclusion at the New School has been anathema to Governor DeSantis and his”anti-woke” agenda. DeSantis fired the president of the school and replaced the members of the board of trustees with “anti-woke” ideologues. The goal is to create a Florida replicate of Hillsdale College — a Christian Nationalist school in MIchigan.
The changes have resulted in an existentialist crisis for many students at the New College:
“They want to replace the student body with a new conservative student body, and if everyone leaves because they’re afraid of that, then they’re going to accomplish that,” said Basil Pursley, a second-year student at New College. “I also completely understand, because for queer people and for people of color, it is a lot more dangerous and hostile” in Florida.
Ed Wingenbach, the president of Hampshire College — a small, progressive school in Massachusetts, sees an opportunity to recruit disaffected students in Florida and will match the New School’s tuition price:
“With all of those elements are under threat [in Florida], it’s an opportunity where we can give a lifeline to the students who went to New College for an education that is quite similar to what Hampshire provides,” Wingenbach said in a phone interview. “It’s being taken away from them as part of a larger political agenda to tamp down on liberty and democracy.”
It is very sad indeed to watch how DeSantis is destroying public education in Florida to create a kind of Christo-Fascist dystopia.
