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Subject: Weekly Briefing: What's changed at New College of Florida?
What’s changed at New College of Florida?
Wes Watson, for The Chronicle
Two years later, what’s changed at New College of Florida? In January of 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, stacked the Board of Trustees of New College of Florida, a small, lefty liberal-arts college, with conservatives. The new board members had a mission: reorient the college toward the classical tradition, attract more students, and get rid of “wokeness.” As the Trump administration uses the power of the federal government to achieve similar goals on a national scale, New College has greater stakes. To understand what has tangibly changed in the past two years, our Emma Pettit traveled to Florida
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Two years later, what’s changed at New College of Florida? In January of 2023, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, stacked the Board of Trustees of New College of Florida, a small, lefty liberal-arts college, with conservatives. The new board members had a mission: reorient the college toward the classical tradition, attract more students, and get rid of “wokeness.” As the Trump administration uses the power of the federal government to achieve similar goals on a national scale, New College has greater stakes. To understand what has tangibly changed in the past two years, our Emma Pettit traveled to Florida to report this story.
The university is a hostage. But there’s hope. That’s the case Arjun Appadurai, emeritus professor of media, culture, and communication at New York University, makes in his essay for The Chronicle Review. One way to fight back against the Trump administration’s attack on higher ed: break up the unilateral power of boards of trustees. Read his full argument here.
At Wellesley College, faculty members are on strike.It’s a complicated situation at Wellesley, where courses taught by nontenure-track faculty are not meeting during the strike. That means that some of those courses would have to be reduced from one credit to half a credit, prompting some students to lose their full-time status and potentially financial aid. Administrators asked nonstriking tenure-track faculty to open extra seats in their classes for the rest of the semester to help students maintain their academic standing. Striking faculty saw this as a move to get tenured faculty to cross the picket line. Our Maddie Khaw has more.
This week on College Matters from The Chronicle: To betterunderstand the Trump administration’s push to deport some students, we interviewed Eric Lee, an immigration lawyer, on why the student-visa war should worry citizens and noncitizens alike. Listen on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Lagniappe
Read. There’s a disconnect between our scientific understanding of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and how the condition is treated. This story explains what’s behind the gap. (The New York Times Magazine)
The order, signed Wednesday, also warns that the administration will seek to remove accreditors’ federal recognition should they fail to adhere to its aims.
New labels assessing colleges’ minority and low-income enrollments, and students’ later earnings, suggest a new orientation from one of higher education’s longtime arbiters of prestige.
