Senate committee greenlights DeSantis-picked New College Board of Trustees appointees

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – A Senate committee recommended the confirmation of the New College Board of Trustees on Wednesday.

The Senate Education Postsecondary Committee voted to recommend the new board members, who were appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Ethics and Elections Committee will consider the appointees next ahead of a floor vote.

In a 5-2 vote, Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, and Sen. Linda Stewart, D-Orlando, voted against the recommendation. Sen. Jones, R-Miami Gardens, Sen. Simon, R-Tallahassee, and Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, were recorded as “not voting.”

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

In January, DeSantis appointed new leadership at New College of Florida to overhaul the institution’s “equity” ideology for a merit-based approach.

The governor announced six new appointments to New College of Florida’s Board of Trustees. Appointments include Christopher Rufo, Matthew Spalding, Charles R. Kesler, Mark Bauerlein, Debra Jenks and Jason “Eddie” Speir.

Ryan Anderson was appointed by the Florida Board of Governors in late January.

Sen. Keith Perry, R-Gainesville, spoke in debate in support of the appointments, and said the school has “issues” and said change is “absolutely necessary.”

“There has been a lot of talk about abolishing New College for a long time, and I don’t think that’s what we want to do. I think what we want to do, is we want to make an investment. […] We’re making a budget and enhancing that. So I think, I think a new direction is imperative, that we have to work on that for the state of Florida and for the students,” Perry said.

Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation, said she is troubled by not being able to talk to the candidates has “a lot of questions, particularly about Mr. Ruffo.”

“I’m very troubled by not having the opportunity to talk to these candidates, particularly when it is, and has been such an uproar. It’s almost flying in the face of the very serious nature of confirmation within the Florida Senate,” Book said.

Book said this is not a “slate” of individuals she can support.

Chair of the committee, Sen. Erin Grall, R-Fort Pierce, said there is nothing that prevents them from having a conversation with the people that are up for confirmation.

“I would encourage my colleagues who want to have direct conversations with anybody that we may be confirming – to reach out to them in advance,” Grall said.

In February, the New College Board of Trustees began making changes, such as voting to abolish diversity, equity and inclusion bureaucracies at a board meeting.

The board passed a motion to eliminate the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, and authorize the interim president to make necessary or appropriate personnel decisions.

“New College of Florida has become the first university in the nation to abolish its DEI bureaucracy, ban coercive ‘diversity’ statements and programming, and prohibit identity-based preferences in hiring, admissions, and other procedures,” said newly-appointed member Christopher Rufo, who proposed abolishing the bureaucracies in early February.

This story has been updated with the vote count.