SARASOTA, Fla. – When I first met Matthew Lepinski, the dean of the New College of Florida, he was willing to give the opportunity to rightists sent to renovate his struggling progressive public school. .
That was in January, a few weeks after Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida appointed six conservative activists, including culture war strategist Chris Rufo, to New College’s board of trustees. Rufo, the ideological businessman who turned the key race theory into the Republican boggart, is open about its ambition to turn the quirky, LGBTQ-friendly liberal arts school into an overt version of Hillsdale, a conservative Christian college in Michigan with close ties to the two. DeSantis And Donald Trump. He hopes the transformation will be proof of concept for his dream: a conservative takeover of higher education across the country.
So when Rufo and another new trustee, Eddie Speir, co-founder of a private Christian school called Inspiration Academy, went to New College to meet students and faculty, they were picked up. accepted with skepticism and hostility. But Lepinski, a computer science professor and faculty member on the board, hopes that they can find a way to work together, and he has appealed to the school community to listen. theirs.
In the months that followed, Lepinski’s colleagues feared that he was not doing enough against their new lords. Amy Reid, a French professor and head of New College’s gender studies program, told me: “Some of us were a bit disappointed with his willingness to try to play nice. But Lepinski believes in dialogue and compromise. “I think there might be a way forward with this board where we can focus on the things that unite us instead of the things that divide us,” he said.
That’s why it was so impressive when, at the end of a three-hour meeting on Wednesday in which the commissioners rejected five term applications, Lepinski resigned. Not only did he leave the board, but he also left New College. “I no longer see how I can be productive here, with the current board,” he said in an impromptu press conference afterward.
When I talk to Rufo In early January, he said that New College would look very different in the next 120 days. Nearly four months later, that still hasn’t quite happened, but it’s clear where things are headed.
The new trustees fired the school’s principal, replacing her with Richard Corcoran, a former Republican speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. Surname Fired its diversity director and dismantling the office of diversity, equity and inclusion. As I was writing this on Friday, several people sent me pictures of sexist signs scraped off school bathrooms.
But every day, students, parents, and professors tell me that life at New College is pretty much the same. Faculty are mostly left alone to do their work. Corcoran, some professors said, is rarely on campus. Sam Sharf, who chose New College in part because she feels safe there as a transgender woman, says classroom discussions in African diaspora Politics classes and Alternatives to Capitalism haven’t changed, though she’s always been aware that such disciplines may soon be changing. taboo, and are planning to transfer.
No matter what New College administrators do, these will likely be senior classes like the ones Sharf is taking, because a bill To pass the Florida Legislature requiring review of curricula “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in institutions of the United States.” However, the sense of fear on campus goes beyond what is happening in Tallahassee.
Eliana Salzhauer, whose 17-year-old son is an economics student at New College, compared school’s seemingly unshakable transformation to Twitter under Elon Musk: At first, it looked the same. , even as it gradually turns into a completely different experience. “They are turning a top rated academic institution into a third-rate sports facility,” she said.
Salzhauer partially addressed the hiring of Mariano Jimenez, who previously worked at Speir’s Inspiration Academy, as athletic director and head coach of the baseball team, even though there are no baseball diamonds in the field. school member. Previously, New College did not have traditional sports teams, but management is now recruiting student athletes, and Corcoran has said he wants to form fraternities and sororities. New College’s ability to create cultural conflict with New College’s kids, activists, and self-taught art. . Before Wednesday’s board meeting, about 75 people held a rally outside. “We are Nerds & Geeks, not Jocks & Greeks,” one sign reads.
For many, the board meeting is the clearest sign that this is the last semester of New College as they know it. The bottom line is the trustees’ decision to override the typical tenure process. New College hired a large number of new faculty five years ago, and this year is the first year any of them can apply for the appointment. Seven did, each overcoming the necessary hurdles, including getting approval from the former president of New College. In the past, trustee approval was a ceremonial matter, and term candidates would bring family and friends to celebrate.
However, Corcoran has asked all professors undertaking this year’s term to withdraw their applications because of the turmoil at the school. Two out of seven agreed. The rest – three of them professors in the hard sciences – held a vote on the board. This is seen by many as a referendum not only on individual candidates, but also on faculty independence.
Fifty-four people registered to speak at the meeting. All but one of them either begged the trustees to give tenure to the professors or criticized them for their designs for the school. Parents are especially passionate; Many of them were extremely relieved to find a pocket-friendly home where their eccentric kids could thrive. Some tried to say in the language of conservatism: “You are violating my parents’ right to choose our schools,” said Pam Pare, mother of a biology student . One student, a sophomore wearing a pink and blue convertible flag, was escorted out of the meeting after cursing Corcoran, but most tried to convey seriously and calmly what that their tenured professors taught them.
All to no avail. The majority of the commissioners voted to reject each candidate one by one as the crowd chanted, “Shame on you!” That’s when Lepinski gave up, stepping out of the room to cheer.
Trustees frame their objections in terms of time; professors who applied after five years at New College instead of the more customary six years, and will have the opportunity to reapply the following year. But, given Rufo’s plans, this explanation seems like an excuse for an administration that wants to attract teaching staff that fit its own ideology. And once denied tenure, it’s unclear how many professors will stay to try again.
“Some faculty members have started leaving, and it is clear that some students are thinking about their futures,” Lepinski said shortly after leaving. A few days later, we talked again. “There has been a grieving process for the dying New College,” he said. “I really loved New College, but I feel reassured that it’s gone now.”
Rufo was unable to attend Wednesday’s meeting in person, as he was postponed home from Hungary, where he had a fellowship at a right-wing think tank tied to Viktor Orban’s government. (This seems appropriate, since Orban’s Hungary created template for Rufo and Desantis’ educational campaign.) Instead, he Zoomed in, his face projected on the movie screen behind the other trustees.
After Lepinski quit his job, Rufo tweeted that “any faculty member who prefers the old system of unfettered left-wing activism and a rubber stamped board is free to choose.” Revenue, he added, “is to be expected – even welcomed. But we are making rapid and significant progress.” He and his allies have yet to build anything new at New College. However, they are succeeding in breaking something.
