New College of Florida’s liberal faculty flee as DeSantis trustees remake school
Jeremiah Poff
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The liberal faculty members of the New College of Florida are reportedly in a hurry to leave the school and find new jobs after Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R-FL) takeover.
As much as one-third of the school’s faculty are leaving their jobs at the Florida college as a new crop of conservative trustees appointed by DeSantis continues to press forward with their plans to turn the school into a classical liberal arts institution in the model of the renowned conservative institution of Hillsdale College in Michigan.
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As many as 36 faculty members have packed up their offices and quit their jobs, the Tampa Bay Times reported this week. Due to the high turnover, the school is expected to turn to temporary positions as a stop-gap measure while the long-term faculty hiring process, which can take up to a year, takes place.
Liz Leininger, a professor of biology, was among those faculty members who have left the New College in recent months.
In a series of tweets, Leininger, who taught neurobiology and gender studies at New College, said she has taken a job as the chairwoman of the neuroscience department at St. Mary’s College in Maryland and that her career move was not planned.
“I was not planning on leaving at the start of the academic year, but given the (many) choices of the New College leadership, leaving is the best choice for me,” she tweeted. “I will miss my New College students and colleagues [and] will support them from afar as much as I can. All year, people have asked me if I’m leaving, or staying and fighting. I’m leaving AND fighting. For academic freedom, and for inclusive and equitable public education.”
https://twitter.com/ec_leininger/status/1681404634253103104?s=20
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Christopher Rufo, a prominent conservative education activist and one of the new members of the New College board of trustees, responded to Leininger’s tweet by thanking her for opening a new vacancy on the school’s faculty.
https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1681673370255998977?s=20
“Another New College professor affiliated with the gender studies program has resigned,” Rufo tweeted. “Dr. Leininger was a strident supporter of the old orthodoxy and, with her resignation, has graciously made space for the continued improvement of New College … We are restoring classical liberal arts education at New College. Those who prefer left-wing orthodoxy, DEI, and gender pronouns on every email can find those features in many other universities. Those who seek the true, the good, and the beautiful should come to New College.”