New College of Florida--other schools will be targeted

[Timeflyer]

Regarding the takeover of New College of Florida by DeSantis--because I grew up in Sarasota and care about education, and still care about this place I often hate but still consider home, I’ve attended two rallies and the most recent Board of Trustees meeting, 2/28/23. I only stayed at the Board meeting to hear the public comments. The pain and anguish expressed by students, parents, teachers and community members was searing.

Many New College students thought they’d found a place where they could flourish academically and explore their identities fully without the adolescent societal pressures of high school. Now they can’t sleep, not because of the normal pressures of coursework, but because they’re being crushed by the weight of government authoritarianism. Parents are traveling back and forth to the school, and some parents are living in hotels near the campus, so they can support their child while trying to stop the wreckage of a school they thought would be the place their student would find acceptance and success.

The destruction of New College is taking place taking place both with blitzkrieg speed and by a death of a thousand cuts. Almost overnight handpicked political sycophants of DeSantis are appointed to the Board of Trustees, and the President is kicked out and a high-dollar replacement inserted. Meanwhile public meetings are held, to maintain a pretense of transparency, to discuss the pre-arranged dismantling of aspects of the college.

The students of New College of Florida are getting an education they never expected or wanted, in the power of authoritarianism and the influence of dark money, cronyism, and the use of religion as a disguise for the lust for power and money.