Posted on 01/30/2023 8:14:00 AM PST by Jacquerie
One of New College of Florida’s trustees plans Tuesday to suggest replacing the school’s President and firing all faculty.
Eddie Speir, one of six new trustees appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to the New College board this month, wrote a blog post about his intentions for his first trustee meeting. Among his first orders of business is beginning a search for a new college President and demoting Dr. Patricia Okker, the school’s leader since January 2022, to interim President.
But he doesn’t want the changes to stop with a new President. He also wants to dismiss and replace the General Counsel for the school, and then shift into a wholesale change in personnel.
“I move that we as a board approve a letter to the new counsel of this board to ask for a legal opinion regarding our ability to declare a financial emergency and employ a zero-based budgeting policy of terminating all contracts for faculty, staff and administration and immediately rehiring those faculty, staff and administration who fit in the new financial and business model,” Speir wrote.
Many of the new trustees hail from outside of Florida and hold credentials with politically conservative movements, including Anderson and Manhattan Institute senior fellow Christopher Rufo.
Speir, though, holds one of the spots reserved by state statute for residents of Manatee County. He’s the co-founder of Inspiration Academy, a private faith-based school in Bradenton.
(Excerpt) Read more at floridapolitics.com ...
I was familiar with New College from the 80s. A more liberal school you will never find. Heads will explode.
Start a policy that anybody who disrupts a conservative speaker gets expelled with no refund
This is definitely a hill to die on; if they can “break” the wokehold on ultraleftist New College, then it can happen anywhere.
Another source cited enrollment of 808, with women outnumbering men (probably sissies) 2:1.
It is indeed a Leftist haven where trannies go to feel comfortable.
This taxpayer supported school needs a thorough fumigation.
It seems odd that a Governor would have so much direct control - aren’t most state college/uni systems administered by a board of regents or such? This should be fun to watch but it seems a bit like DeSantis is jumping over a few layers of bureaucrat.
Ping
I had a full scholarship to New College when I graduated from Venice High School back in 1979.
I bailed it to enlist in the USN as a corpsman. Never looked back.
You made the right decision.
Yes. I suppose today it is just woke land.
From the lead up articles I’ve read, DeSantis is lawfully empowered to make these changes.
Public universities need to understand for whom they work. Their employers get to set the curriculum. No 1st Amendment right to teach students to hate America.
Back from when I remember it was part of the USF system.
Do it.
Personally I'd be inclined to extend that little purge to the student body, but one thing at a time...
“””Mary Ruiz, a New College graduate and a trustee since 2011, currently serves as Chair. My concern is that Chair Ruiz will not resign and/or delay resignation. Thereby halting and/or delaying the necessary clarity that NCF needs as soon as possible”””
I have known Mary Ruiz for a long time. She is one of the ‘good old girls’ in Manatee County politics who has ‘left-of-center tendencies.
Mary Ruiz, who joined Manatee Glens in 1987 and was Centerstone of Florida’s CEO for 20 years-—Manatee Glens and Centerstone are the local mental treatment centers in Manatee County.
“The Long March Through The Institutions must not falter...”
Yes, the left won’t take this lying down. The takeover of the institutions has been by far their most successful strategy for taking over the country - they will fight this tooth and nail.
Hope DeSantis succeeds.
He can’t fire the tenured people, but he can certainly fire non-tenured radical Marxists for starters.
Some Suggestions For Christopher Rufo And Company To Fix New College Of FloridaOne of the big problems we face in these radical colleges is the proselytization of marxism and communism and Mr. Menton doesn't go far enough to eradicate that from the school. I would add to Mr. Menton's list making a couple of courses in basis economics and the foundations of western thought a requirement. In other words, begin re-introducing what used to be called "Western Civilization." You need to have these students learn where our lives of abundance and liberty come from, how fragile they truly are, how thin the veneer of civilization is, and what civic obligations are required of citizens.Here is a condensed version of his recommended changes:
- Replace the President.
- Replace the “diversity, equity and inclusion” bureaucracy with one person of a known conservative bent and a title something like “Dean of Students.” That frees up an enormous amount of the budget.
- Promptly institute a clear and definitive “free speech” policy that defines freedom of speech as a core value of the community.
- Start a college-sponsored speakers program featuring prominent speakers of national reputation, from both left and right
- When a “controversial” speaker from the right comes, do not allow threats of protest to force cancelation under any circumstances.
- Impose swift and sure punishment on the disrupters.
- Institute one required course for all students, with a name something like “Current Issues In American Politics.”
- The tenured faculty should not be fired except perhaps in the most extreme cases. Tenure is actually important to protecting voices on the right at many universities, and the new trustees should be careful not to impose rules that they would not support if the shoe were on the other foot. However, radical tenured faculty do not need to be offered additional perks like plum committee assignments, or a prominent role in admissions.
Governors from across the country should be following this model.
All I remember thinking at the time was that even though I loved literature, writing and all the rest, the world didn’t need another starving philosopher. $:-) Plus I wanted to get outta town, see the world, just throw myself out there and serve my country. So that’s what I did. After my stint in the USN, I found myself good at computers just as they were taking off, and it’s been good ever since.
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