Since its founding, New College of Florida has represented excellence in liberal arts education. As the New College Alumni Association (NCAA), we are charged with representing New College’s largest constituent community: its 7,500+ alumnae/i. We are also charged with supporting the exceptional college and educational mission that produced those alumnae/i.
For more than 60 years, New College has stood as a bastion of academic freedom and rigor: a place where a wide diversity of ideas are fiercely debated by independent scholars from all walks of life. New College students are empowered and encouraged to self-direct their education and to conduct bold, original research. They are supported by world-class faculty who celebrate differences of background and opinion and who reward real-world contributions over rote recitations.
As a result, New College enjoys a formidable reputation as a top-five public liberal arts college and as the public college with the single highest proportion of students who go on to earn PhDs (including in STEM fields). Our alumnae/i include 86 Fulbright scholars, a Fields Medalist, a Federal Reserve Bank president, elected Republican and Democratic officials and luminaries in virtually every field in which New College has granted a degree. New College accomplishes all of this while graduating students with the second-lowest average federal loan debt of any public liberal arts college.
The rapid and drastic actions undertaken by the Governor and the new Board of Trustees – and the promises of more such actions to come – threaten New College’s long-standing tradition of academic freedom, undermine its history of excellence, and flout basic principles of good governance and community consultation.
Namely, we cite: the sudden firing of President Okker and installation of Interim President Corcoran without consultation with – let alone endorsement from – the campus community; attempts to dissolve the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence; and suggestions by trustees that they intend ideologically-motivated overhauls of the school’s faculty and academic programs, such as the termination of tenured faculty or the elimination of entire departments.
These extreme actions and statements have been predicated on a mischaracterization of New College as a politicized institution that enforces left-wing ideologies and indoctrinates students. We strongly reject this ill-founded caricature of our school, students and faculty. New College teaches students how to think, not what to think; impassioned, informed academic debate is a hallmark of the New College experience, and that debate relies on a diversity of views and experiences.
In keeping with New College’s emphasis on the importance of open discourse, we strongly object to the exclusion of the New College community in planning and executing these extreme changes. New College is a prestigious institution with a long track record of excellence. Any and all changes intended to address New College’s challenges should rely on deep and careful consultation with the students, faculty and alumnae/i who have earned the school its many successes.
In stark contrast to its long-standing reputation, New College is now receiving a different kind of attention from the academic community: concern. Dozens of major academic organizations have issued or signed statements denouncing attempts to undermine New College’s academic freedom and integrity. We thank those organizations for their understanding and support. New College’s alumnae/i are similarly concerned about the future of their alma mater’s reputation and legitimacy.
New College’s students and faculty have been resolute in affirming their commitment to a superb academic experience replete with freedom – academic and otherwise. Today, as representatives of New College’s thousands of alumnae/i, we formally join that chorus. We ask the Board of Trustees to avoid preconceptions; to listen; to learn; to ask questions; to truly seek to understand New College’s unique excellence – and to do all of that before seeking drastic changes to an irreplaceable school.
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Action Item: Sign Petition against turning New College into DeSantis propaganda machine
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New board member says his assignment is 'to lead New College of Florida out of wokeness'
SEIDMAN SAYS: What qualifies Richard Corcoran to make up to $1 million at New College?
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