New College President Corcoran warns of ‘polarized landscape’ in higher education
SARASOTA, Fla. – New College of Florida President Richard Corcoran said the American Association of University Professors’ recent critical report sheds “extreme light on the polarized landscape taking place in higher education.”
The association released a special committee report that said New College’s actions “merit condemnation” and claimed the college improperly denied tenure to faculty and dismissed a faculty member “without due process,” among other criticisms.
New College of Florida is a small public liberal arts college in Sarasota.
The college made national headlines after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a majority of the board of trustees in January, who made sweeping changes including ousting of the president, an overhaul of the institution’s “equity” ideology, moving to abolish the gender studies program, and more changes.
The association formed a committee to inquire and report on what it described as an “apparent pattern of politically, racially, and ideologically motivated attacks on public higher education.”
The report said the “unprecedented takeover” of New College and the “imposition at that institution of an aggressively ideological and politically motivated agenda, stands as one of the most egregious and extensive violations of AAUP principles and standards at a single institution in recent memory.”
Additionally, the report said New College’s example is a “blueprint for future encroachments on public colleges and universities across the country.”
In a press release, Corcoran said the school’s position on classic liberal arts and educational freedom “is a stance on which we will not yield.”
The report claimed the board of trustees “grossly exceeded its authority” terminating the gender studies program “without any faculty participation.”
Corcoran said the school leadership knows its passion and stance on “educational freedom” will face pushback from critics.
He noted a growth plan was needed due to declining enrollment and deteriorating facilities.
“It became imperative to develop a plan for growth before the school went insolvent, even if not all decisions during the transition were universally embraced,” Corcoran said.
Florida’s Voice previously reported Corcoran announced the college has broken an “all-time record for enrollment” during the college’s board of trustees meeting in July, exceeding 300 new students for the first time in the school’s history. Corcoran was then voted to be the new president in October.
Corcoran said the association’s report “does not align with our vision for New College nor the support we experience from our faculty and students.”
“We are committed to cultivating a growing environment that encourages free inquiry, expression, and academic rigor,” Corcoran said. “Our aspiration is to redefine higher education, fostering an era where profound scholarship and purposeful education thrive.”
Corcoran extended an open invitation for anyone to visit the campus and welcomed “collaboration in building a more promising future for New College and higher education as a whole.”
