Summary
New College of Florida, once a liberal arts institution, has undergone a conservative overhaul driven by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and allies, who installed a right-leaning board and administration.
Led by Richard Corcoran, the college has hired faculty with connections to rightwing media and think tanks, sidelining traditional hiring protocols, according to an internal letter.
This transformation, viewed by some Republicans as a model for conservative reform in higher education, has sparked controversy, faculty pushback, and a significant drop in national rankings amidst a shift in curriculum and institutional focus.
I went to a public college in Florida, and New College was known to be full of the state’s smartest hippies. My Spring semester bed in the honors dorm, after my first foray to Texas, was freed up because the former occupant transferred from UF to New College.
It’s a travesty what’s happening to it. Students with means or a favorable FAFSA might find some joy at a place like Reed or Oberlin. Evergreen seems like a good option on a similar model. New College being public with that traditionally low in-state tuition was such an important option for some and symbol for others, though.
The real advantage for him at New College, and I know Evergreen is like this, is that he was able to completely structure his education to suit the non-standard way he learned. He did terribly in grade school but really well at New College.
Are Reed and Oberlin like that too? And you’re right, New College being public, unlike those three, made it far more affordable.
DeSantis killed it. Asshole.
Reed may be somewhere on that path; they emphasize interdisciplinary programs and narrative grading. I think Oberlin is more of a traditional curriculum, but it’s been a progressive community since the days of the Underground Railroad. I pretty exhaustively researched colleges in the mid 90s (then promptly chose the one that offered the biggest scholarship and three months later fell back on the best in-state option still available), but my mental data is pretty stale by this point.
My daughter is neurodivergent, but she’s only eleven and so far still claims she wants to attend the nearest physical campus to our house and never move out, which sounds alright to me because she’s fun and cool. We will see how the teen years affect this mindset, LOL.
My 14-year-old kid is also ND but she wants to go to art school. That sounds like a decent fit for a ND person if they have those skills (which she does).