Well, Well, Did They Think Anything Differently?

New College is going down the tubes after DeSantis took it over, did anyone expect differently?

Chaos at New College of Florida
With the start of the semester two weeks away, students are grappling with absent professors, canceled classes and severe housing woes.
Inside Higher Ed
By  Johanna Alonso
August 16, 2023


When a committee of the New College of Florida Board of Trustees met in July, a whopping 36 faculty members had already left since Florida Governor Ron DeSantis initiated a conservative restructuring of the institution in January. That number has subsequently grown to more than 40, Amy Reid, the sole faculty member on the board, told Inside Higher Ed.

Now, as students prepare for the fall semester, the impact of the faculty exodus is becoming apparent: many classes won’t be offered at New College this term.

The course catalogue was already sparse when students first began looking at classes last spring. Dani Delaney, the mother of one former New College student who is transferring to Hampshire College in Massachusetts—which guaranteed admission to all New College students in good standing—said her son could only find two classes that counted toward his “area of concentration” (which is what New College calls majors). When he contacted the institution about the lack of relevant courses, she said, he was told the course catalogue was “in flux” and to “choose something else.”

Okay suppose you spent three years at the college and this will be the year you were suppose to graduate but they did away with your classes! What do you do? You spent $60,000 - $80,000 so far and now you are back at square one, you are hoping you can get your credits transferred to another college otherwise you are SOL. For those sticking it out…

The shrinking course catalogue isn’t their only worry. With just under two weeks until the academic year starts, students are also reckoning with last-minute class cancellations, poorly communicated housing changes and concerns about their ability to complete their mandatory senior capstone projects.

Professors and adjuncts are abandoning the college leaving everyone wondering what’s next?

But about two months later, she got word from NCF that she would not be allowed to teach the class, for reasons that were not explained. She suspects it may have something to do with her outspoken opposition to the direction DeSantis and the board are taking the institution, which has included speaking to the media about her decision to leave and reposting criticisms of the administration on X.

According to Leininger, the neurobiology course was listed in the course catalogue with her as the professor earlier in the summer but has since been removed. At least 11 students had already registered for the course, which is an elective for multiple majors, when it was unlisted, she said.

Sorry Charlie. But all that tuition you paid you can say bye, bye.

They want to fill those opening for professors with people who toe the ideological line.

“The division chairs have made a heroic effort this summer to fill in the gaps in our academic programs,” she said. “Sadly, their efforts are being hampered by an ideological litmus test imposed by the administration.”

DeSantis dream of making it a Christian Sports college is being steamrolled.

Students first heard in June that there was a chance their housing contracts, which were finalized in April, could change, according to a Tampa Bay Times article from July. Apartments typically reserved for juniors and seniors would now house the more than 100 new student athletes New College had admitted for the fall.

[…]

“I thought, ‘Oh my god, how many other people might have gotten that same email of, hey, basically, you’re on your own, kid,” Delaney said. “It just shows that they have not committed to what’s in the best interest of the student body. It’s so wrong, the way they’ve gone about it. The disorganization—I can’t wrap my brain around it. This is not how you run a college.”

But, and it is a big but the feds are looking into Civil Rights violations.

After conservative overhaul, New College of Florida faces federal civil rights investigation

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

By Steven Walker

September 9, 2023

The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into New College of Florida’s trustees and administration following a civil rights complaint filed on Aug. 22, according to a letter sent Friday from the agency to college's president.

The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights said it plans to investigate New College on the basis of disability discrimination to determine whether it "excluded qualified persons with disabilities from participation in, denied them the benefits of, or otherwise subjected them to discrimination in its programs, activities, aids, benefits, or services.."

[…]

The civil rights complaint filed against New College's leadership also alleged an ongoing trend of discrimination against "protected groups" such as LGBTQ students, and the creation of a hostile environment toward those students. It requested that federal agencies launch a formal investigation into the college's leadership and compel action to remedy damages the complaint claims leaders have caused.

"The ultimate goal is for (marginalized) students... (to) be welcomed and to be able to get a good education because they are not being subjected to ridicule or exclusion or policies which disproportionately burden them and interfere with their ability to get an education," Granick said.

DeSantis crew have raked LGBTQ+ students and non-Christians over the coals and the feds will be investigating that also,

The filing also claims the Board of Trustees abolished the college's diversity program with no plan to support minority students. With the abolishment of the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, Muslim students were left without access to food during Ramadan last spring, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. The outreach office's funding historically provided meals for Muslim students, since meal plan hours ended before they were allowed to eat.

The actions requested in the complaint include the federal departments ordering New College to implement mandatory training for staff, administration, and the Board of Trustees on supporting LGBTQ and minority students.

As the world turns the next chapter stay tuned for  the never ending story of DeSantis goons and the college.