New College elects conservative as interim president

The New College of Florida recently voted to elect conservative Richard Corcoran as interim president. 

“Corcoran, a Republican, is a former state House speaker and education commissioner who also served on the state Board of Governors that oversees Florida’s university system,” SFGate reported. 

The move comes in the wake of multiple efforts by Governor Ron DeSantis to restrict or balance the influence of leftist ideology in Florida higher education.

[RELATED: UF Board of Trustees prepares to vote on Ben Sasse appointment]

DeSantis appointed six new trustees to New College’s board in January, Campus Reform reported, a number of which come from an ideologically conservative background. And just this month, a DeSantis-led effort to audit Florida public colleges and universities revealed that millions of dollars were being spent on critical race theory and DEI-related programming.

The DeSantis administration is pushing to “further elevate civil discourse and intellectual freedom” in the Florida University system, according to a statement earlier this year. The overhaul includes “pushing back against the tactics of liberal elites who suppress free thought in the name of identity politics and indoctrination.”

“In Florida, we will build off of our higher education reforms by aligning core curriculum to the values of liberty and the Western tradition, eliminating politicized bureaucracies like DEI,” representatives of DeSantis said.

Corcoran’s appointment, however, has been subject to pushback from some of New College’s students. 

[RELATED: Students protest potential appointment of conservative president]

“The students don’t want this. But I know we’re not the people you intend to please. You want to pull our school out by its roots. I don’t want to be part of a grand experiment,” student Cooper Wright said to the board, the Associated Press reports.

Campus Reform reached out to the New College of Florida, the office of Governor DeSantis, and Cooper Wright for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication. This article will be updated accordingly.