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Credit: inside the MagicA Florida college used by Governor Ron DeSantis to test out an anti-diversity, equity, and inclusive (DEI) mandate is facing harsh sanctions from a union at the same time as the politician himself is facing numerous lawsuits from the Walt Disney Company.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) has released a statement condemning New College of Florida, an institution formerly known for its liberal arts studies and now nationally famous for a conservative takeover of its academic governance, organized by Ron DeSantis.
Since Governor DeSantis was re-elected in 2022, he expanded his anti-woke agenda to specifically include schools in Florida. That most notoriously led to the Parental Rights in Education Act (better known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law), which triggered a huge feud with Disney that has spilled over into numerous lawsuits.
Related: Disney World Steals Multi-Billion Dollar Win From Ron DeSantis, Expansions on the Way
However, one of DeSantis’ first moves was to orchestrate a takeover of New College by appointing six new members to the school’s board (one of the far-right politician’s favorite strategies), who quickly restructured the school, canceled numerous DEI initiatives (specifically those for Muslim students), and eliminated gender studies, all without any meaningful discussion or engagement from the faculty.
It has also been noted that the board almost immediately ousted President Patricia Okker and replaced her with a DeSantis political ally, former Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, who was given a staggering new salary of $699,000 (per Daily Beast). That is over double his predecessor’s salary, and consistent with the enormous paychecks granted to DeSantis appointees.
The AAUP began investigating New College last year, calling the DeSantis takeover “aggressively ideological and politically motivated.” The report found that the takeover:
“reflects not only a blatant disregard for academic standards of governance and academic freedom but also a discriminatory and biased assault on the rights of racial minorities and LGBTQ communities.
[A]cademic freedom, tenure, and shared governance in Florida’s public colleges and universities currently face a politically and ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history, which, if sustained, threatens the very survival of meaningful higher education in the state, with dire implications for the entire country.”
The sanctions toward New College are primarily symbolic, being “for the purpose of informing association members, the profession at large, and the public that unsatisfactory conditions of academic government exist at the institutions in question.”
As such, New College spokesperson Nathan March called the sanctions (per Tampa Bay Times) a “headline grab, echoing the sensationalistic tone of their report. Their persistent targeting of New College for any change they disagree with is clear evidence that New College is at the forefront of reforming higher education.”
Related: Ron DeSantis Wins Big Against Disney, Lawsuit Dismissed
The DeSantis takeover of New College strongly parallels his dissolution of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, where most of the Walt Disney World Resort is located. The tax district was replaced with a new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, complete with a board of supervisors loaded with DeSantis allies and a district administrator with a huge salary.
Since then, DeSantis and Disney have been locked in a series of lawsuits, not to mention a huge overhaul of Disney World regulations and accusations of corruption back and forth. While these new sanctions might not reference Disney explicitly, the company is clearly fighting the same battle as the AAUP.
The full AAUP report on New College can be read here:
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