Don't let politics rule UF president decision. Just look at New College.

Yahoo

3 days ago

The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System under a constitutional amendment passed in 2002, faces an unprecedented situation as it makes a decision on whether to ratify the University of Florida's choice of Santa Ono as the school's new president.
While the UF board was unanimous in supporting Ono, vocal opposition to his candidacy has come from a trustee of another institution overseen by the State University System – New College of Florida. And that New College trustee is Christopher Rufo, the provocative commentator best known for his social media and blog posts.
The Board of Governors should take this opportunity to look past the headlines and benchmark how New College has actually fared under the watch of leaders like Rufo.
It should do so by using standard state metrics over the past two-plus years – because these metrics show New College has been a debacle under Richard Corcoran, the president Rufo helped to install at the school's leader.
It's a warning for the Board of Governors as it decides the fate of UF.
Every June, all Florida state universities send their annual statistics – known as "the metrics" – to the Board of Governors in a standardized format as part of their annual planning.
The latest annual release of metrics for New College is grim, and particularly so when it comes to incoming first-year students who enter the college directly from high school.
For example, from fall 2022 to fall 2024, there has been:
A decrease in the percentage of incoming students with a 4.0 grade point average (from 55% to 42%).
A decrease in the percentage of incoming students who finished in the top 10% of their high school graduating classes (from 29% to 14%).
A decrease in the average SAT score of incoming first-year New College students (from 1233 to 1153).
And while New College continues to tout increased total enrollment, from fall 2022 to fall 2024 the number of freshmen – those going directly from high school to New College – only increased by 28.
The other 150 new students were transfer students
Indeed, the number of "first time in college" students at New College actually declined from fall 2023 to 2024.
Many of these transfer students aren't from Florida, and many aren't even coming to New College from the United States. Just look at the lengthy roster of New College's 2024-25 men's soccer team: Based on their "home country" listings, the overwhelming majority of team members are from countries outside the United States – and some have come from distant nations like France, Ghana, Brazil and Australia.
All of this is taking place at an incredible cost – literally.
According to annual Florida CFO Reports on Component Units, expenses at New College have exploded. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, New College's expenses were $60 million; they were $94 million during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024.
But after spending all of these additional millions, New College has only added around 180 students.
The New College debacle isn't a result of a change in policy.
For example. the school's elimination of its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office was largely a non-issue: In February 2023 I personally spoke in favor of eliminating the DEI office at New College, both because of my own negative experiences with it and to make the point that it wasn't actually important to the school.
More: New College of Florida 2025 graduation marks achievement and endurance
However, the New College debacle is a result of a change in management: Corcoran had no background as a higher education leader when he was hired by Rufo and other trustees, and his lack of experience continues to negatively impact the school.
For example, the New College board didn't tell Corcoran to boost enrollment through a shambolic athletics program. Corcoran did that on his own initiative, and even recruiting large numbers of student-athletes hasn't worked out the way he'd hoped.
That's because student-athletes don't simply want spots on team rosters; they want actual playing time, and that's much more difficult to attain when so many other athletes have been recruited to those teams.
It's the kind of thing someone with higher educational experience might have known.
Mistakes like these could be seen as growing pains for the "new" New College; indeed, during a 2023 interview, Rufo compared the approach at New College to remodeling a kitchen.
'You do the demo," Rufo said, "then you do the build."
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But it was an astonishing analogy, and it displayed Rufo's lack of understanding that for generations New College students – most of them from Florida – had been attracted to the school precisely because of the unique academic system that previously existed. And in terms of course offerings, very little has truly changed at New College.
The horrible statistics, embarrassments and anecdotes coming from New College should serve as blinking red warning lights for the Board of Governors as it weighs the fate of UF.
The first warning: A university needs a university administrator, or it will fall apart.
The second warning: It is Florida's families who lose when Florida's public universities are mismanaged because out-of-state trustees are prioritizing scoring points on social media over examining data – and over doing the hard work of accountability and governing.
It's not too late to put New College under real leadership or even to fold its unique academic program into another institution.
And this is certainly no time to replicate Rufo's destructive failure of oversight at New College at the University of Florida.
Mike Sanderson is a New College of Florida alum. He is the former editor of The Catalyst, New College of Florida's student newspaper.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Don't let UF repeat New College of Florida's bad lessons | Opinion