Opinion
By Christopher F. Rufo
09-03-24
A small public university on the coast of Sarasota, New College of Florida spent decades languishing as a left-wing activist haven. Its enrollment, test scores, and other measures steadily fell. Legislators in Tallahassee considered closing it.
Then suddenly, the school was in the news. In January 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis appointed a slate of new trustees, including me, to the New College board and tasked us with transforming the institution into a “classical liberal arts university.”
The media covered the event in dramatic style, with more than 1,000 stories targeting the college and its new leadership. We had drawn attention, but what was our plan for reform?
“Soldiers win battles,” an old military adage holds, “but logistics wins wars.” The same is true in universities. Political leaders can replace a board of trustees, select a new president, and unveil a vision for change. But the fate of any such project lies in the detailed work of administration: the thousands of small decisions that affect the culture of the university.
This is where we are now with New College. In the first year, we engineered our revolution: deposing the existing leadership, abolishing the DEI department, terminating the gender-studies program, and announcing a vision for transforming the institution. Now we are pursuing the hard work of reform. Under the leadership of President Richard Corcoran, we are making progress along three tracks: faculty hiring, curriculum design, and student recruiting.
First, faculty hiring. In year one, we witnessed unprecedented faculty turnover. Approximately 40 percent of existing faculty left the institution through resignation, nonrenewal, and other incentives. The press treated this as a failure— “exodus,” “chaos,” “brain drain,” read the headlines—but each departure created an opening for a better replacement.
This work is imminent. We expect soon to announce the hiring of up to 40 new professors, all sharing a commitment to the classical liberal arts. While we are careful to avoid partisan language, we freely admit that, in practice, this means that the faculty as a whole will shift rightward.
This should be celebrated. We will have the most balanced faculty of any state institution in Florida, with a wider range of opinion than our competitors. And we will have a strong contingent of faculty members who reflect the basic philosophical commitments of the people of Florida, who, it should be noted, generously fund our operation.
Read the full article here: https://christopherrufo.com/p/the-difficult-work-of-academic-reform?publication_id=1248321&post_id=148200226&isFreemail=false&r=r7965&triedRedirect=true
The views expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal Florida
