Frost: DeSantis launched ‘full scale fascist attack’ on New College of Florida

WASHINGTON, D.C. (FLV) – During a speech on the House floor in D.C., Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-FL, said Gov. Ron DeSantis launched a “full scale fascist attack” after he appointed new leadership at New College of Florida.

New College of Florida is a top-ranked public liberal arts college that has around 700 students.

DeSantis previously appointed new leadership at the college to overhaul the institution’s “equity” ideology for a merit-based approach.

During their first Board of Trustees meeting, DeSantis-appointees led the charge to enact new changes, including the ousting of the college’s president.

“Governor DeSantis stacked the Board of Trustees with ultra conservative lapdogs who immediately fired the New College’s president and are now are now vowing a hostile takeover that will cause harm to thousands of young, queer, and people of color who formerly considered new college a safe haven,” Frost said.

“I know this school, I love this school. DeSantis is waging a war on education. We have to be clear this isn’t freedom. The people of Florida, the students of Florida, will not let this happen without a fight,” he said.

During the meeting, board member Christopher Rufo proposed abolishing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion “bureaucracies,” ending mandatory diversity training, curtailing political coercion, and ending identity-based preferences.

The board passed a motion to have staff to prepare a draft policy based on the principles outlined in Rufo’s packet. The draft policy, a description of changes, and the legal and regulatory implications will be presented at the next meeting in February.

Many critics during the board meeting said the events taking place were a “hostile takeover.”

“I know many Republicans and many Democrats that are currently disgusted with your and the new board member’s hostile takeover of the school and the attempted removal of its campuses academic freedoms,” said one speaker.

“A well constructed program of study in liberal arts teaches one how to think not what to think. It liberates the mind from prejudice and narrow mindedness but also political ideology, partisan dogma or whatever methodology is academically in vogue. It’s not a takeover. It’s a renewal,” newly elected board member Matthew Spalding said.

Rufo previously announced his goal is to abolish “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and replace it with “equality, merit, and colorblindness.” Rufo is a senior fellow for the Manhattan institute, writer, and filmmaker.

The governor’s office described him as one who “led the fight against Critical Race Theory” in American institutions. Rufo has worked with conservative lawmakers to craft legislation, including the “Stop WOKE Act” in Florida.

“We are restoring public authority over the public universities. Governor DeSantis has provided us with a vision and a mandate for change. We will do everything in our power to make New College the best publicly-governed classical liberal arts institution in America,” Rufo said.

“As Governor DeSantis said in his second inaugural speech: ‘We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth.’ Starting today, the ship is turning around. New College of Florida, under the governor’s new appointees, will be refocused on its founding mission of providing a world-class quality education with an exceptional focus on the classics,” Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis, said in a statement.

The new appointments included Rufo, Matthew Spalding, Charles R. Kesler, Mark Bauerlein, Debra Jenks, and Jason “Eddie” Speir.