Current Events > Conservatives takeover New College of Florida: immediately descends into chaos

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://kesq.com/news/national-world/cnn-national/2023/08/26/students-professors-report-chaos-as-semester-begins-at-new-college-of-florida/

I'm shocked that the party that has vehemently and reprehensibly ruined K-12 would ruin college too!

TheHoldSteady posted...

I'm shocked that the party that has vehemently and reprehensibly ruined K-12 would ruin college too!

That's their intention.

Conservatives can't run anything, at best they pillage it for their own profits and it takes longer to destroy it.

itcheyness posted...

That's their intention.

Conservatives can't run anything, at best they pillage it for their own profits and it takes longer to destroy it.

Conservatives hate intelligence.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

The title, but in full wording.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

There's an option to continue without disabling.

if you don't want to click the link

Sarasota, Florida (CNN) Months after what critics have decried as a conservative takeover at New College of Florida, students and professors say a sense of confusion and anxiety looms over the start of fall semester in Sarasota, Florida.

Amy Reid, a member of the schools Board of Trustees, said course options have dwindled after nearly 40% of faculty members have resigned.
Reid said the situation is quickly becoming untenable.
Just before I came to this meeting, I received word that one more faculty member in biology is leaving, she told CNN. Thats going to make a challenge for students to complete their areas of studies here.

Classes are scheduled to begin on August 28, but Chai Leffler is already struggling to navigate his fourth year at the school.
Leffler is an urban studies major, but he said most of his professors have resigned.
In order to graduate, Leffler said he has asked faculty in other subject areas to sponsor his thesis.

Its a little messy, kind of like a dumpster fire right now in terms of administration, Leffler said. At the end of the day, I want to get my degree.
Once heralded as a progressive liberal arts school, New College of Florida has found itself at the center of the states culture war over education.
In January, Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced six of the 13 members on the colleges Board of Trustees. New members include Christopher Rufo, who who has been at the forefront of the conservative movement against critical race theory.

In May, Gov. DeSantis signed a series of higher education bills on the campus of New College, aimed at ending critical race theory and curbing diversity spending in higher education.
At a press conference following the bill signing, Rufo called the changes the most significant higher education reform in a half-century.
The new board has since voted to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and replaced the colleges former president with Richard Corcoran, the states former education commissioner.
The New College Board of Trustees is succeeding in its mission to eliminate indoctrination and re-focus higher education on its classical mission, DeSantis said earlier this month in a press release.
The governor also pointed to concerns about enrollment numbers and test scores at the school.
If it was a private school making those choices, then fine, I mean what are you going to do? DeSantis said. But this is being paid for by your tax dollars.
Earlier this year, Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz said state officials wanted New College of Florida to become Floridas classical college, more along the lines of a Hillsdale of the South.
Hillsdale College is a private conservative Christian college in southern Michigan.
Some students told CNN they chose to attend New College for its progressive values and because the school offered an environment where LGBTQ+ students could freely express themselves.
Earlier this month, the Board of Trustees began the process to eliminate the schools gender studies program. The move prompted one gender studies professor, Nicholas Clarkson, to quit.
In his resignation letter, Clarkson described Florida as the state where learning goes to die.
When you start banning terms and banning fields of study and arguing that the state has the right to tell faculty what they can and cant say in the classroom that really hampers the learning environment, Clarkson told CNN.
New College Trustee Matthew Spalding, who is also a dean at Hillsdale College in Michigan, disagreed. At a board meeting earlier this month Spalding said the gender studies program was more of an ideological movement than academic discipline.
A challenge for the students
In February, Florida legislators approved $15 million in funding for New College to increase faculty recruiting and fund new scholarships. Officials at New College said recruitment efforts are ongoing and more classes could soon be offered.
Ryan Terry, a spokesperson for the college, pointed to an increase in fall enrollment as a sign the school is appealing to more students.
Terry confirmed that there are 341 incoming freshman this year compared to 277 in the fall of 2022. The school has a total enrollment of about 800 students, he said.
Its not just administrative issues complicating the return to school, students are also struggling to find on-campus housing. New College said in a press release that it is currently housing some students in Sarasota-area hotels after a recent engineering report cited air quality concerns in the Pei residential complex.
Out of an abundance of caution, and for the health and safety of the NCF community, Interim President Corcoran has made the decision to shutter all of the Pei dorms, the press release said.
Terry confirmed the school is now using other dorms to house the incoming class of freshmen, while returning students are being housed in hotels.
New College senior Galen Rydzik said the move to hotels was poorly planned.
Its more of a challenge for the students that were told last minute because a lot of them are not being housed here, Rydzik said.
Despite the chaos, Leffler said he is determined to try to preserve the unique student culture at New College. Last year, students organized their own graduation ceremony to protest the governors changes at the school. Leffler said he is hopeful students will be able to do the same in the spring.
Were willing to do what it takes to keep the culture alive at this school, Leffler said. We are really focusing on just the students, the administration is out of my control.

yeah it was pretty obvious every professor who could leave would do so

no one wants to teach under those conditions.

F-F-F-F-Fascism

Chaos is exactly what they wanted. Their goal is to dismantle liberal education

Bump

404'd

They fucked quite a few.professors out of tenure.
This is old news though.

VFalcone posted...

Chaos is exactly what they wanted. Their goal is to dismantle education

Fixed that for you.

Questionmarktarius posted...

404'd

It *is* a Fox affiliate.

Why is the governor micromanaging a school of 800 students when his state is in the middle of an economic crisis

DipDipDiver posted...

Why is the governor micromanaging a school of 800 students when his state is in the middle of an economic crisis

Because Republicans have zero leadership skills

wow that is sad :(

imagine working 3 years to get your degree and this happens

WingsOfGood posted...

wow that is sad :(

imagine working 3 years to get your degree and this happens

That 4th year is going to be "yeah, just show up and you pass - I don't know this shit", so that may work out.

desantis wants to destroy education by making it right wing propaganda only

I went there for two years. It must be one of the most liberal colleges in the country.
They had great science and math departments, but were really focused on liberal arts.
Every Friday was a differently themed party including body art, BDSM, and a naked potluck.
It's hard to overstate how anti-Conservative and anti-fascist that college is.

Meanwhile, my elementary school in Sarasota had a credible shooting threat last week by a student with access to guns.
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/local/2023/08/23/sarasota-student-suspended-held-as-potential-threat-against-school/70658288007/
Sarasota is crazy central.

New members include Christopher Rufo, who who has been at the forefront of the conservative movement against critical race theory.

Because of course DeSantis would appoint this guy to the board.

In May, Gov. DeSantis signed a series of higher education bills on the campus of New College, aimed at ending critical race theory

I thought they just wanted to prevent children from indoctrination? Are Republicans now arguing college students are children?

Gotta keep the voterbase dumb as rocks!

This shit's so shortsighted. A lot of major companies like to operate in places where there are good colleges because it means they have a pool of smart, well educated people to hire from. Sabotage your own state's education system and you're hurting the state's economy in the long term.

UnsteadyOwl posted...

This shit's so shortsighted. A lot of major companies like to operate in places where there are good colleges because it means they have a pool of smart, well educated people to hire from. Sabotage your own state's education system and you're hurting the state's economy in the long term.

Its not really short sighted at all for them. They realize that educated voters are far less likely to vote republican. So they are doing everything in their power to sabotage education and take over it.

UnsteadyOwl posted...

This shit's so shortsighted. A lot of major companies like to operate in places where there are good colleges because it means they have a pool of smart, well educated people to hire from. Sabotage your own state's education system and you're hurting the state's economy in the long term.

BRAIN DRAIN

VFalcone posted...

Chaos is exactly what they wanted. Their goal is to dismantle liberal education

That's Rufo in a nutshell. Anything he can do to nazi up a place, he's trying. From his CRT lies to his anti-trans lies, he's head of the ministry of propaganda for conservatives these days, spearheading their movements.

LightHawKnight posted...

Its not really short sighted at all for them. They realize that educated voters are far less likely to vote republican. So they are doing everything in their power to sabotage education and take over it.

No, it is. Money is power, so without money, it doesn't matter if you took over the state and idiots vote you in. The place is a dump.

If it's not stacking up in terms of economy, no one will bother moving there.

ArtiRock posted...

No, it is. Money is power, so without money, it doesn't matter if you took over the state and idiots vote you in. The place is a dump.

If it's not stacking up in terms of economy, no one will bother moving there.

You see, you fail to realize that if they make it a "success" where they control the idiot population, other southern states will copy and a lot of them are copying already. When more and more of the voting population gets stupider, the easier for them to win elections and keep holding power. They have been playing the long game for a while now and no one has stopped them for some reason. For the past few decades, every single fucking time they win the presidency and take power, they destroy our economy and blame it on democrats. Democrats take back power and repair some of it and then republicans take power again. Rinse and repeat. Not hard for them to do the same for education.

it seems like they just need time to find their right-wing, boot licking instructors then the college will work like the shitstains in office want it to.

Reagan was successful with this back in the 70s in California. Before him, college tuition was free for any state resident with the grades. California used to have the highest number of STEM college grads of any state, which is why most of the aerospace industry was located here. Reagan took that away to weaken the Black Panthers and the anti-Vietnam War students. He actually used these two groups as boogeymen to scare California residents into voting for it.

Republicans would literally rather let the country burn than improve socioeconomic conditions in this country

RchHomieQuanChi posted...

Republicans would literally rather let the country burn than improve socioeconomic conditions in this country

Its the only way they can hold on to power.

They wanna rule the ashes like libertarian robber barons.

BB_mofo posted...

Reagan was successful with this back in the 70s in California. Before him, college tuition was free for any state resident with the grades. California used to have the highest number of STEM college grads of any state, which is why most of the aerospace industry was located here. Reagan took that away to weaken the Black Panthers and the anti-Vietnam War students. He actually used these two groups as boogeymen to scare California residents into voting for it.

Facts.

"The General Plan for Higher Education" had been set up by Governor Pat Brown. His son, Governor Jerry Brown restored some things, but Reagan had become president by then and set up the current student loan system to finish the job he started in CA.

LightHawKnight posted...

You see, you fail to realize that if they make it a "success" where they control the idiot population, other southern states will copy and a lot of them are copying already. When more and more of the voting population gets stupider, the easier for them to win elections and keep holding power. They have been playing the long game for a while now and no one has stopped them for some reason. For the past few decades, every single fucking time they win the presidency and take power, they destroy our economy and blame it on democrats. Democrats take back power and repair some of it and then republicans take power again. Rinse and repeat. Not hard for them to do the same for education.

Which just puts the country further behind overall. It's just a net loss. It's still shortsighted.

ArtiRock posted...

Which just puts the country further behind overall. It's just a net loss. It's still shortsighted.

You fail to realize that they dont care about the country. They are losing regardless and whatever they can do to hold onto power is a net win for them.

LightHawKnight posted...

You fail to realize that they dont care about the country. They are losing regardless and whatever they can do to hold onto power is a net win for them.

It's not failing to realize anything. It's just acknowledging that it's a downhill slope that doesn't particularly work.

ArtiRock posted...

It's not failing to realize anything. It's just acknowledging that it's a downhill slope that doesn't particularly work.

But it does work for them. You still dont get it. They literally do not care about anything other than themselves. If they are going to lose power anyways, cause educated voters will most likely not vote for them, they will destroy education. Doesnt matter if it will lead to their ruin, so long as it delays it, it is good for them since they are already heading to ruin.

LightHawKnight posted...

But it does work for them. You still dont get it. They literally do not care about anything other than themselves. If they are going to lose power anyways, cause educated voters will most likely not vote for them, they will destroy education. Doesnt matter if it will lead to their ruin, so long as it delays it, it is good for them since they are already heading to ruin.

Unfortunately true.

One of the legitimately great things about America is that we do have a lot of the best universities in the world. That should be a source of national pride. But assholes like DeSantis are perfectly willing to tear that down if it means keeping themselves in power a little longer.

Avirosb posted...

They wanna rule the ashes like libertarian robber barons.

And they've been pissed since the New Deal that we managed to dig ourselves out of the Great Depression. If not longer.

But maybe not much longer, because Hoovervilles were perfect for them. If you can't force them into a company town, a tent city will do just fine, in their estimation.

UnsteadyOwl posted...

Unfortunately true.

One of the legitimately great things about America is that we do have a lot of the best universities in the world. That should be a source of national pride. But assholes like DeSantis are perfectly willing to tear that down if it means keeping themselves in power a little longer.

Yea Florida State, University of Florida, University of Miami, and University of Tampa are great schools. They will bounce back from this bullshit. It's not like the students like it.

Robot2600 posted...

Yea Florida State, University of Florida, University of Miami, and University of Tampa are great schools. They will bounce back from this bullshit. It's not like the students like it.

I hope so but a lot of the changes appear to be at the state level above them...

ArtiRock posted...

If it's not stacking up in terms of economy, no one will bother moving there.

abstinence-only sex ed + abortion ban = plenty of poor, uneducated people being born to fill the vacuum created by the brain drain

darkace77450 posted...

abstinence-only sex ed + abortion ban = plenty of poor, uneducated people being born to fill the vacuum created by the brain drain

Sure, but they have 0 benefit to "the economy" that is hyped up so much.

ArtiRock posted...

Sure, but they have 0 benefit to "the economy" that is hyped up so much.

They'll work for peanuts in Florida's agricultural and tourism industries.

LightHawKnight posted...

Its not really short sighted at all for them. They realize that educated voters are far less likely to vote republican. So they are doing everything in their power to sabotage education and take over it.

Yep.

there are more red states than blue states, so the more a disproportionate amount of people move from red states to blue states the easier it becomes for them to maintain power at a federal level in the senate and house

It won't be long until degrees from Florida will be utterly useless.

Cemith posted...

Conservatives hate intelligence.

They're basically the Khmer Rouge at this point, with Trump as Pol Pot.

The Killing Fields just haven't started up yet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide#Massacres

The Khmer Rouge regime frequently arrested and executed anyone whom it suspected of having connections with the former Cambodian government along with anyone whom it suspected of having connections with foreign governments, as well as professionals, intellectuals, the Buddhist monkhood, and ethnic minorities. Even those people who were stereotypically thought of as having intellectual qualities, such as wearing glasses or speaking multiple languages, were executed out of fear that they would rebel against the Khmer Rouge.