In 2023, the state government of Florida overhauled its board of trustees in an attempt to transform the school into a "beacon of conservative values."[7] Since then, nearly 40% of faculty have resigned.[8]
New College has the smallest student population in the State University System of Florida with 669 students (2022).[9]
History
New College was founded in 1960 as a private college for academically talented students. Financial assistance was provided by the United Church of Christ.[10]George F. Baughman served as the first president from 1961 to 1965.[11]
Open to students of all races, genders, and religious affiliations, New College opened its doors in 1964 to a premier class of 101 students.[12][13] Faculty members included the historian and philosopher Arnold J. Toynbee, who left retirement to join the charter faculty.
I.M. Pei Dormitories in 2021College Hall by Sarasota Bay
The school offered a liberal arts education valuing freedom of inquiry, where individual students were responsible for their own education, implemented through a unique academic program.[14]
By 1972, more than 500 students studied at New College. As the 1970s progressed, inflation threatened to undermine the economic viability of the institution.
By 1975, the college was $3.9 million in debt and on the brink of insolvency. At that time, the University of South Florida (USF) expressed interest in buying the land and facilities of the college to establish a branch campus there.[13][15]The school merged with University of South Florida as a separate "upper division campus" within the public university.[16]
In an unusual agreement, the New College board of trustees agreed to hand over the school's campus and other assets to the state, at the time valued at $8.5 million, in exchange for the state paying off its debts and agreeing to continue to operate the school as a separate unit within the USF system. The agreement stated that New College was to receive the same funding, per-student, as other programs at USF. The former New College board of trustees became the New College Foundation, and was required to raise money privately to supplement the state funds to reach the total necessary to run New College, at the time about a third of New College's $2-million-a-year operating budget. Under that agreement, New College was renamed the "New College of the University of South Florida". USF started a Sarasota branch program that shared the bayfront campus, and the schools began an uneasy relationship that would last for the next twenty-five years, with New College and the University of South Florida through its Sarasota branch program sharing the campus.[13][15]
As part of a major reorganization of Florida's public education system in 2001, New College severed its ties with USF, became the eleventh independent school in the State University System of Florida, and adopted its current name, New College of Florida.[19] The Florida legislature officially designated New College as the honors college for the state of Florida.[20] The school's unusual academic system was also encoded in statute: "To provide programs of study that allow students to design their educational experience as much as possible in accordance with their individual interests, values, and abilities."[21] As part of its establishment as an independent university, the University of South Florida was directed to relocate its facilities away from the New College campus, which it did on August 28, 2006, when it opened a new campus for USF Sarasota-Manatee on the undeveloped Seagate portion of the campus.[22] New College and USF Sarasota-Manatee continued to share campuses until the new campus was completed and thereafter, certain facilities such as the library.
In 2022, New College was cited as having the highest percentage of students receiving a Fulbright scholarship of any college or university in the United States.[23]
2023 appointment of conservative trustees
In early 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis overhauled the college's board of trustees, appointing six new members including Christopher Rufo, Matthew Spalding, Charles R. Kesler, Mark Bauerlein, Debra Jenks, and Eddie Speir. Of those, the first four are well-known conservative activists who appear to live outside Florida.[24] The DeSantis chief of staff, James Uthmeier, said that "It is our hope that New College of Florida will become Florida’s classical college, more along the lines of a Hillsdale of the South."[25] At its first meeting, on January 31, 2023, the new board fired President Patricia Okker ("without cause") and installed Richard Corcoran, a political associate of the governor, as its interim president.[26] These actions received national attention and commentary.[27][28][29]
Early changes included firing the university president, dissolving the university's diversity and equity office, bans on personal pronouns in email signatures by faculty, and the cancellation of events promoting diversity and inclusion. Christopher Rufo was reported as having announced: “We will be shutting down low-performing, ideologically-captured academic departments and hiring new faculty” and “The student body will be recomposed over time: some current students will self-select out, others will graduate; we’ll recruit new students who are mission-aligned.”[30]
According to NPR, "Professors at the New College of Florida are using personal email because they’re afraid of being subpoenaed. Students are concerned, too. Some fear for their physical safety. Many worry their teachers will be fired en masse and their courses and books will be policed. It’s increasingly hard to focus on their studies."[31]
In April 2023, the board of trustees denied tenure to five professors, sparking outcry from an attending audience and leading to the resignation of trustee and faculty chair Matthew Lepinski. When asked to provide reasons for the decision, interim president Richard Corcoran argued for the denial or delay of tenure due to administrative changes and the college's shift towards a more traditional liberal arts focus. Mark Bauerlein argued against granting tenure because the five professors were seeking tenure after meeting all requirements in five years rather than six, citing the "tenure clock" and claiming that receiving tenure after five years is unusual, stating that he would apply different criteria if the faculty stand for tenure again after another year.[32] To the contrary, the faculty handbook states that the criteria for tenure are identical regardless of year,[33] and around 30% of New College faculty hired in the past decade have received tenure after five years.[32] The professors (two organic chemists, an Islamic historian, a Latin American/Caribbean historian, and an oceanographer) had already gained approval for their tenure applications from New College faculty, external reviewers, and the previous administration; they were denied in identical 6-4 votes with the new conservative board members forming the majority.[34] This move was criticized by some as part of a larger trend of conservatives targeting tenure, particularly for professors perceived to hold liberal views.[35]
By mid-July 2023, over a third of the existing faculty had left the college, many choosing to resign or take a leave of absence as a direct result of the conservative takeover.[36] Of those who left, some attempted to form an alternative called "Alt New College", which was threatened by a lawsuit by New College of Florida in late 2023.[37][38] The alternative would end up renaming to AltLiberalArts following the lawsuit.[39]
All of the six trustees appointed by DeSantis were eventually confirmed by the Florida Senate except Eddie Speir, a co-founder of a local Christian academy.[40] Speir blamed the school's new interim president for the Senate's rejection in early May.[41]
In October 2023, when formally announced as New College's new president, Corcoran's total annual compensation of over $1 million drew scrutiny from media and experts in academic and executive compensation, significantly in excess of expected pay for the president of a public university with a small student body population.[42][43]
In November 2023, New College requested $400 million in state funding to transform the school, more than $500,000 per student.[44]
Governance
New College is governed by a twelve-member board of trustees who serve staggered four-year terms. Of the twelve members, three must be residents of Sarasota County and two must be residents of Manatee County.[45]
Campus
New College's 144-acre (0.58 km2) bay front campus is located in west Sarasota, Florida, approximately 50 mi (80 km) south of Tampa. The primary campus is located on the former Edith and Charles Ringling estate.[46] The campus also includes portions of The Uplands, a residential neighborhood that is bounded by the historic bayfront campus to the south where half of the bayfront had been a portion of the estate and half of which in The Uplands plat (being donated to New College during the original founding of the college), and the Seagate property to the north, Sarasota Bay to the west, and Tamiami Trail to the east.
View of Sarasota Bay from New College of Florida waterfront
The campus is also home to several examples of high modernist architecture designed by I. M. Pei. These buildings include a complex of student residences known as "Pei," a cafeteria, and a student center. The other dormitories are Dort, Goldstein, and Palmer B. Five new dormitory buildings were opened in the 2007–2008 school year.
The Jane Bancroft Cook Library, taken from under the bell tower
The Jane Bancroft Cook Library is for both New College students and the University of South Florida's Sarasota-Manatee campus.[48] It is also a resource for Manatee Community College. The local library collection has several hundred thousand items and access to over eleven million items through the State University Libraries system.[49]
The Pritzker Marine Biology Research Center opened in 2001. The facility supports the biology, marine biology, and environmental sciences programs, three of the most popular fields of study at New College.
In 2005, a long range campus master plan was developed through public workshops held by several design teams with participation by students, faculty, administration, residents of the community, and staff members of local governmental agencies.
In 2011, the college opened a new Academic Center and the adjacent Robert and Beverly Koski Academic Plaza. The most recent addition to the campus, in 2017, is a 22,000-square-foot addition to the Heiser Natural Sciences Center.
Four core principles form the base of New College's academic philosophy:
each student is responsible in the last analysis for his or her own education,
the best education demands a joint search for learning by exciting teachers and able students,
students' progress should be based on demonstrated competence and real mastery rather than on the accumulation of credits and grades,
students should have, from the outset, opportunities to explore in-depth, areas of interest to them.[52]
From its founding, the school was based on tutorials and independent study being far more important than classes or seminars. As the first dean and provost, John W. Gustad, outlined the new educational system:
For instance, we do not expect to have a course in American history. Not that American history is not important. It is. It is too important to be treated as it usually is. The student who has learned to read history with insight and perception, however, can be left very largely alone to accumulate the essential body of facts.[53]
Undergraduate programs
As an honors college, the college is distinguished by its unusual "contract system", in which students are given written evaluations instead of grades and agree to semester-long contracts in which a certain number of classes must be passed. For example, in a "three out of five" contract, a student who failed two classes would face no penalty, although one who failed three classes would risk losing all credits for the entire semester. The system was devised to encourage academic experimentation and foster curiosity about disparate topics outside one's usual course of study.
New College students are required to complete an undergraduate thesis project and baccalaureate exam, during which the student presents and defends their project to a committee of professors.
To the end of putting their philosophy into practice, New College uses a unique academic program that differs substantially from those of most other educational institutions in four key ways:[54]
Narrative evaluations: at the completion of each course, students receive an evaluation written by the instructor critiquing their performance and course work, along with a satisfactory, unsatisfactory, or incomplete designation. Letter grades and grade-point-averages are not used at New College.[55]
Contract system: At the start of each semester, students negotiate a contract with their faculty advisers, specifying their courses of study and expectations for the semester. At the completion of the term, the academic adviser determines whether the student has "passed" the contract or not. Among other requirements, completing seven contracts is a prerequisite to graduating.[56]
Independent study projects: The month of January is reserved for independent projects at New College; no traditional courses are held. Projects run the gamut from short, in-depth, academic research projects to internships, lab work, and international exchanges. Students are required to complete three independent study projects prior to graduation.[57]
Senior thesis: All students are required to write an original and lengthy thesis in their discipline, and to defend it before a committee of at least three faculty members. A senior thesis may take the form of an original research paper, a scientific or social-scientific experiment or research study, or an original composition. This requirement usually is completed during the final two semesters of a student's fourth year.[58]
The college enrolls a little more than 800 undergraduate students, has an average class size of eighteen for undergraduate classes, and a student to faculty ratio of 10 to 1.[54]
Graduate programs
New College offers a master's degree in Applied Data Science.[59] The MS in Applied Data Science is an adaptation of the original MS in Data Science, featuring a greater focus of application to industry.[60] The MS in Data Science was created in 2015, and began with a founding cohort of seven students.[61] As of 2022, there were 27 students enrolled in the Applied Data Science graduate program.[62] The MS in Applied Data Science is a two-year program, featuring a 100% employment rate upon graduation.[59] Students of the MS in Applied Data Science program are required to complete a paid practicum during the final semester of their degree.[60] New College undergraduates pursuing any major may apply for the 3+2 path, putting them on track to be awarded a bachelor's degree and an MS in Applied Data Science in five years.[63] The New College MS in Applied Data Science was ranked #25 on Fortune's "Best Master’s in Data Science Programs in 2022".[64]
Cost of attendance
For the 2021–22 school year, tuition and fees for in-state residents amounted to $6,916.[62] Tuition and fees for both out-of-state residents and international students totaled $29,944, or $832 per credit hour.[62] New College charges both in-state and out-of-state residents $10,892 for room and board each academic year.[65] For international students, the cost of room and board at New College is $12,992.[66] These costs have been stable for several years through 2022.[62] For master's degree students, the cost of first-year tuition and fees is $11,383.92 for in-state residents, and $28,067.28 for out-of-state and international students.[67] On average, New College students take on the least debt compared to undergraduates from any other school in the state university System.[68] Only 33% of New College students took on any loans with an average loan of about $5500. At comparable institutions, 53% of students took on loans with an average loan of approximately $6300.[69] New College offers scholarships to the majority of admitted students.[70]
Cross College Alliance
The Cross College Alliance is composed of five institutions: New College of Florida, Ringling College of Art and Design, The Ringling/FSU, State College of Florida Sarasota-Manatee, and University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee.[71] The alliance aims to foster community among these local organizations through shared resources.[71] Students at New College of Florida may cross-register at any of the three other colleges in the alliance.[71]
Recognition
In 2023, New College of Florida was ranked No. 100 among all "National Liberal Arts Colleges", by U.S. News and World Report.[72] Eighty-six New College students have been awarded Fulbright scholarships since the founding of the college.[73] The nonprofit organization "Colleges That Change Lives" recommended New College for its flexible academic path as well as its consistency in producing successful graduates.[74]
The New College Student Alliance (NCSA) is New College's student government organization. "Towne Meetings," held monthly, are the main forum for public debate and are open to all students, faculty, and staff.
Athletics
In 2023 in parallel with the university's academic overhaul, New College joined the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) as a member of the Sun Conference. The school announced plans to offer 17 new sports and increase its number of student-athletes from 140 in 2023 to 350 by Fall 2027.[77] In March 2023, Mariano Jimenez was announced as new athletic director and baseball coach.[78]
Previously, New College of Florida offered only intercollegiate archery, esports, powerlifting, rowing, sailing, and swimming. The club sailing team is a member of the South Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association (SAISA). The New Crew SRQ rowing club was launched in 2021 and trains at Nathan Benderson Park. The New College powerlifting team competes in regional and state competitions against other Florida colleges and universities.
^The percentage of students who received an income-based federal Pell grant intended for low-income students
^The percentage of students who are a part of the American middle class at the bare minimum
^As of 2022, there have only been 6,709 New College graduates.[79] However, every student who has completed one semester-long contract is considered a New College alumnus, and unlike most colleges, New College refers to alumni by the year they entered, not by graduation year.[80]
^MacKay, Charles K.; Riesman, David (1975). "The Noble Experiment That…?: New College". Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning. 7 (4): 34–43. doi:10.1080/00091383.1975.10568322.
^"Fast Facts". New College of Florida. Archived from the original on 2011-01-08. Retrieved 2011-01-20.
^Gustad, John W. (1964). Stickler, W. Hugh (ed.). "New College: D Minus 5 Months". Experimental Colleges. Florida State University: 49–56. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
^"IPEDS Data Feedback Report 2019: New College of Florida." National Center for Education Statistics, Department of Education, United States of America.
