2023-04-28 05:43:09
A man cast his line in the calm, clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico that bathe the New College of Florida campus. He put his bike near the pontoon, in front of the main building of the university, inspired by the Italian Renaissance. The spring holidays will soon be over and the fisherman is enjoying the tranquility of the place. Under the Sarasota sun, the little breeze blowing and shaking the leaves of the palm trees is welcome.
Despite Florida’s taste for glitter, nothing shines at New College, the smallest of the state’s twelve public universities. The smallest, and the most original. Here, there is no giant stadium where the students cheer on the stars of the football team; no houses of associations with Greek names and uncouth evenings.
On the other hand, there are more professors per student than elsewhere, despite tuition fees on average for public universities in Florida (approximately $7,000 per year). They teach maths, chemistry, anthropology, philosophy, French, Chinese… Or even, in broader courses, LGBT movements, feminism and even, in philosophy, Hegel and Marx. And that does not please Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor…
“I love New College”. The sign, small and discreet, despite its red heart, planted in front of a flower bed not far from the fisherman’s bike, testifies that the university is in great need of affection these days. Because despite the apparent calm, the establishment has been in turmoil since the beginning of the year. He’s been the subject of what many describe as a “hostile takeover” by the Florida strongman, who has found himself growing since his easy re-election last November.
Governor’s men close to Viktor Orban
At the beginning of January, this rising star of the American right melted, to everyone’s surprise, on New College: taking advantage of the renewal of the board of directors, he appointed tough people responsible for chasing the “radical left” from the institution. Hardliners, like Christopher Rufo, who, at 38, has already worked in many right-wing organizations, starting with the Discovery Institute, which fights against the theory of evolution.
On Fox News, which welcomes him gladly, he regularly accuses “wokism” of “Destroy the United States”. Christopher Rufo is entitled to the good graces of Fox News, but not only: he has just spent a month in Hungary, at the invitation of Viktor Orban’s regime. On Twitter, he proudly appears with the “brightest of advisers” to the Hungarian Prime Minister.
Soon, these newcomers were turning heads at New College. Exit the president, replaced at the end of January by a former Republican deputy, appointed in 2018 to head Florida’s education services by Ron DeSantis. Exit also Yoleidy Rosario-Hernandez, who headed the service devoted to “diversity, equity and inclusion”, reviled by the governor.
“The service was removed, while we were doing a great job, and my three colleagues were offered another position. Not me “she confides today, between bitterness and anger, convinced that her transgender and African-American identity is at the origin of her dismissal.
“Free the campus from cultural hostage takers”
And this is only the beginning: the new board of directors wants to return to the traditional teachings, and in particular to get rid of the courses devoted to minorities, gender issues, etc. “We are going to liberate the campus, said Christopher Rufo at one of the first public meetings at New College. We will free him from the cultural hostage takers. »
A popular speech among Florida Republicans. Rodolfo Milani, an influential businessman within the party, appreciates the process underway in Sarasota: “New College is indoctrination, with taxpayers’ money. It was time for someone to have the courage to do something! »
Accusations that make Felice Schulaner, a member of the board of directors of New College from 2010 to 2020, jump after having led a full career in human resources: “It is simply false. It is true that this school attracts, by its nature, more students and professors from the left, or committed to progressive ideas. It is a very inclusive model, regardless of sexual orientation, very attached to the development of each, very respectful of differences. New College needs to do more to achieve greater ideological diversity, that’s for sure. Everything is not perfect! But this is by no means indoctrination. Only to think critically. We can defend all points of view at New College. »
New College students protest a bill that would ban gender studies and diversity programs at Florida universities in Sarasota on February 28. / Octavio Jones/Reuters
If Felice Schulaner is very attached to this institution, it is also because she flourished there during her studies in the late 1970s. “I came from New Jersey, and I found a model that suited me perfectly, she says. I, who was obsessed with my grades, was able to concentrate on what I was learning. At New College, there are no grades. The university operates on a “contract” model. If the contract, defined with the teacher at the beginning of the course, is fulfilled, it’s good. But be careful, it’s very demanding! The student cannot hide in an anonymous mass. »
New College, “easy prey”
To justify the takeover, the new management advances another argument: obsessed with ideology, the New College would have lost in quality. “Bullshit! storm Malcolm Lazin, who taught the history of LGBT movements before the pandemic. New College ranks high in the rankings. Another indicator is the number of students selected for the prestigious Fulbright scholarship – as many as at Stanford or Yale! »
In a column recently published in the Sarasota newspaper, this former Pennsylvania prosecutor, who divides his life as an active retiree between Florida and New Mexico, denounced the « Ron DeSantis’ Orwellian War on Education “, against a backdrop of lies and manipulation. “It’s an entirely ideological fight led by Governor DeSantis to bring him to the White House, he analyzes. New College is easy prey. »
Because in Sarasota, the 44-year-old governor is on conquered ground. The city on the west coast of Florida has very little in common with Miami, the Latin and effervescent city located some 350 kilometers away, on the other side of the Everglades. Here, Latinos and African Americans are rare, as at New College. Circulating on bicycles in their long blue or purple dresses, the women of the Amish communities leaving Ohio or Pennsylvania for a few months are much more visible.
It was the Midwestern countryside that historically irrigated Sarasota, connected to the rest of the United States by the I-75 highway, which descends from the Great Lakes, when Miami is connected to the mixed cities of the East Coast by Interstate 95 Here, we vote Republican, and more and more. In November, Ron DeSantis won the county hands down, with 61% of the vote.
The governor’s easy re-election in the fall, four years after a narrow win, was a thunderclap on a disappointing evening for Republicans. Ron DeSantis has become the most credible right-wing alternative to Donald Trump overnight, and everything indicates that the young governor is already dreaming of greater horizons.
If he has not yet announced his candidacy for the nomination of the Republican Party for the presidential election of 2024, the press reports the names of advisers already appointed to lead the maneuver. Not to mention that in February, the governor released a book that looked like a White House agenda, with the limpid subtitle: “Florida’s Plan for America’s Renewal.”
The “anti-woke” fight, a springboard for the White House?
To gallop towards the White House, Ron DeSantis has straddled the “anti-woke” fight as his hobby horse. He made himself the cantor at the national level. “Florida is where the woke goes to die”, he hammered in January, during his second inaugural speech. It’s not just talk: taking advantage of a clear majority in the two chambers writing the laws of the State, he passed several laws such as the “Stop Woke Act”, which prohibits any teaching placing “a student in a state of guilt or stress for acts committed in the past by people of the same sex or same race”.
How to teach slavery? And segregation? The vagueness of the texts encourages self-censorship. Especially since, as in authoritarian regimes, academic independence is called into question: from now on, the work of tenured university professors will be evaluated every five years. The goal of the reform? “Preserving teacher productivity” et “prevent them from engaging in indoctrination”. In Florida, as elsewhere in the United States, professors are evaluated regularly, from which follows the evolution of their careers and their salaries. But, except for serious misconduct, they could not be revoked. Until now.
Of these reforms, the New College is the most advanced laboratory. But the fear is broader. Concern is spreading to all public universities in the state. “From now on, we all feel threatened, testifies a professor of the Florida State University, in Tallahassee, capital of the State. New laws passed recently restrict the teaching of any subjects related to race or gender. In terms so vague that you no longer know what you can say, and what you can’t say. » For fear of sanctions, he prefers not to give his name.
——
Ron DeSantis, an ambitious young governor
September 14, 1978. Born in Jacksonville, Florida, to parents of Italian descent.
2001. Yale graduate.
2005. Graduated from Harvard Law School.
2007-2008. Joined US Navy, deployed to Iraq.
2012. Elected representative of Florida in Washington. He will be re-elected twice.
November 2018. Wins the election for governor of Florida, with 49.6% of the vote, against 49.2% for his Democratic opponent.
November 2022. Re-elected with 59.4% of the vote, against a former Republican governor who became a Democrat.
#Florida #Ron #DeSantis #antiwoke #crusade #universities