Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has spent over a year transforming the Sarasota-based New College of Florida into a prototype for conservative-governed, "anti-woke" higher education — but according to independent investigative reporter Jason Garcia, the GOP-backed legislature may be sending him a warning that he needs to stop messing around.
"Florida lawmakers may be growing skeptical of Ron DeSantis' attempt to turn New College of Florida into an explicitly conservative institution (and an easy landing spot for DeSantis administration allies in need of high-paying jobs)," wrote Garcia, who runs the "Seeking Rents" newsletter.
"Yesterday evening, lawmakers negotiating a final state budget proposed giving an extra $382 million to fund operations at Florida's 12 public universities," he continued. "Each university would get some of that extra operations cash – including New College, which would get $15 million. But the other 11 schools would all get permanent funding boosts (aka 'recurring' revenue). New College's extra cash would be for one year only ('non-recurring')."
Not only that, unlike all the other universities, New College is explicitly required to submit a "business plan" with "detailed descriptions" of the institution's finances, and quarterly status reports, in order to receive the money.
This comes after a number of reports on troubles with New College since DeSantis stacked its board with political allies, including Christopher Rufo, a right-wing Twitter influencer who engineered GOP messaging against "critical race theory" and has ties to armed extremists.
Under the new management, New College saw a third of its faculty purged, including the school's only American History professor after he criticized DeSantis, and the merit-based tenure system was dismantled, with almost half a dozen qualified professors denied promotions intended to safeguard free speech. Students enrolling in New College last year discovered some courses critical to their majors wouldn't even be offered because of the ensuing staff shortages.
New College also faced a housing crisis as DeSantis' allies tried to enroll a huge influx of new student athletes to build out a sports program. Students who had signed a contract for campus housing suddenly found there was no room, and the university had to rent out the Home2 Suites hotel near Bradenton Airport to accommodate them.
While New College has been most heavily affected, DeSantis and his allies have interfered in other public higher education institutions around Florida. Last year, reports indicated he sabotaged the hiring process at Florida Atlantic University to install an unqualified associate. And at the University of Florida, former Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) has taken over as president, where he just oversaw a mass purge of the school's entire diversity department.
