New College of Florida, a liberal arts college seized by Governor Ron DeSantis and transformed into a model for conservative higher education, is set to triple in size after state Republicans engineered a hostile takeover of a rival university's campus. The deal, which will transfer the University of South Florida (USF) Sarasota-Manatee campus to New College, has been described by leading Florida Democrat Fentrice Driskell as "a grift."
Details of the acquisition
The transfer of the 32-acre, 2,000-student facility includes a new six-story residential hall and a $44 million student center. This will significantly expand the footprint of New College, which currently enrolls 900 students and has been touted by DeSantis as a blueprint for his "anti-woke" agenda. The acquisition is scheduled to take place next month, despite near-universal opposition from USF students, faculty, education leaders, and the local business community.
Critics argue that popular and thriving programs, including nursing, tourism, and hospitality, will be phased out. "It's such a bad thing because USF Sarasota-Manatee was serving a different group of students than New College and had very different programs," said Lucie Lapovsky, a higher education consultant and one of dozens of signatories to a letter condemning the proposal. "Sarasota is a big tourist area right on the water on the Gulf of Mexico. We have lots of hotels and restaurants that employ graduates of that program. We have several hospitals, and graduates of USF health programs work there. It provides opportunities for students who graduated from local high schools, as well as older residents going back to college. It makes no sense whatsoever."
Political maneuvering and budget insertion
The proposal initially passed the Florida House earlier this year but was not taken up by the state senate, leading opponents to believe it had died. However, it was resurrected by a conference committee and inserted into the final state budget with little debate, currently awaiting DeSantis's signature. Driskell accused Republicans of bypassing normal legislative protocols. "My position has not changed," she said. "When the Sarasota-Manatee campus found out they could be the next victim in DeSantis's schemes, of course, they were on high alert, then had a moment of feeling safe. Now it's just all been taken away."
USF President Moez Limayem acknowledged the loss creates "significant uncertainty and anxiety" but promised that programs would continue during a four-year "teach-out" period before closure. "USF's strength is not a collection of buildings and land; our real strength has been, and always will be, our people," he wrote. Student leaders also criticized the move. "All students here on our campus truly would like for USF to stay here in our Sarasota-Manatee community," said Dennis Kukharenko, student lieutenant governor. "A lot of us live really far away from campus. Removal of this campus really removes an opportunity to get a degree affordably."
Criticism of New College spending
Critics point to the amount of money directed to New College by the DeSantis administration. Richard Corcoran, a close ally of the governor and former speaker of the Florida House with no previous higher education experience, was appointed New College president in 2024 with a salary package of $1.2 million—four times higher than his predecessor. A November efficiency study showed it cost almost half a million dollars to produce a degree at New College, compared to the next highest of Florida's 13 state universities at under $155,000 per degree. "It doesn't even pass the governor's own Doge exercise," Driskell said. "There is so much waste here. New College is a vanity project."
Corcoran has insisted New College is apolitical, but critics say the progressive college with a prominent LGBTQ+ community has been "destroyed" by its sudden hard-right turn. In September, the college announced it was commissioning a statue of Charlie Kirk, the rightwing political activist. In 2024, photographs of hundreds of dumped library books went viral after New College purged its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Conservative activist Christopher Rufo, appointed by DeSantis as a trustee, angered students by saying the college was "throwing out the trash."
Future prospects and community impact
DeSantis will be termed out of office in January, and Lapovsky expressed hope that a change in political direction might allow for reversing the acquisition. "I hope a new governor or legislature might undo this," she said. "They claim that the students currently enrolled will get to finish their programs, which means that the education will continue on the campus at least for two or three more years. If that's the case, there may be ways that it can be undone. It's a tremendous loss to Sarasota and Manatee counties."
In a statement, Corcoran did not directly address the fate of USF courses after the teach-out period. "New College is prepared to steward this transition with care and intentionality as we continue building a nationally distinctive public liberal arts institution focused on academic excellence, civic discourse, innovation and student opportunity," he said.
