DeSantis overhaul reshapes New College of Florida

In early 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis carried out what many viewed as a conservative takeover of New College of Florida in Sarasota, installing a new board and president and remaking the small state liberal arts college’s curriculum and campus culture. The changes have included a required seven-week course on Homer’s The Odyssey as a foundational text, the elimination of D.E.I.

initiatives and gender studies, the creation of traditional athletic teams and recruitment of athletes, and the hiring of dozens of new professors, several with conservative backgrounds. The college announced that a statue of Charlie Kirk, described in the report as “the assassinated conservative activist,” would be placed on campus, and was among the first to say it would sign the Trump administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.

About 20 faculty members and 200 students left within the first six months of the makeover, and enrollment this year is over 900 students, up from under 700 in 2022. Administrators say state investment and new hires have stabilized the college, and officials defend high per-student spending as largely a one-time investment to fix deferred maintenance.

Longtime faculty such as Dr. April Flakne say they are reserving judgment and worry their futures may depend on politics, while some newer hires and students describe a campus where conservatives and liberals coexist.

Key Topics

Politics, New College, Ron Desantis, Sarasota, The Odyssey, Charlie Kirk