Latest news with #Rufo
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Don't let politics rule UF president decision. Just look at New College.
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." More: New College picked wrong guy for commencement speaker. Here are 5 better options. | Opinion 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
Local France
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Local France
France's ex-PM calls ‘state of emergency' over children's screen use
The call – from former prime minister and current centrist party leader Gabriel Attal and child psychologist Marcel Rufo – came after French medical experts advised that children under the age of six should not be exposed to screens, including TV, in an open letter to the government . The current recommendation in France is that children under the age of three should not be exposed to screens, and only 'occasional use' between the ages of three and six in the presence of an adult. Meanwhile, children in nearly 200 collèges have been involved in a pilot ban on mobile phones, in which the devices – which should be turned off, anyway – are handed in at the start of the school day and returned at the end of it. Advertisement This ban is set to be rolled out nationwide at the start of the new school year in September. READ ALSO 'Digital pause': France pilots school mobile phone ban The use of "a mobile phone or any other electronic communications terminal equipment" has been banned in nurseries, ecoles primaires (primary schools) and collèges in France since 2018. The experts' open letter and Attal and Rufo's joint declaration, published in Le Figaro, goes further and demands restrictions on screen use outside school hours, and in the home. 'If we do nothing, screens and their content will slowly kill our youth and, ultimately, our entire society,' warn Attal and Rufo, exactly a year after a report produced by experts commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron expressed concern about the consequences of overexposure to screens on children's health and development. The commission also recommended a ban on screen use for children under three and said that mobile phones for children aged from 11 should not have internet access. Attal and Rufo, however, propose creating an 'assessment interview' for screen addiction for children aged 11 as they head into their collège years – and again at age 15, for students going to lycée after completing their brevet exams. They also suggested that age limits on social media sites, similar to those imposed on adult content, could be introduced to prohibit access to social networks by those under 15, while a 'digital curfew' should prevent access to networks between 10pm and 8am for anyone aged between 15 and 18. READ ALSO EXPLAINED: How to get a mobile phone contract in France They added that social network sites should 'go black-and-white' after 30 minutes of use, to reduce their attractiveness, and that access should be restricted to one hour for anyone under the age of 18. Advertisement 'Even China does it with TikTok,' Attal and Rufo argued, 'for once, let's take inspiration from what this country is doing!' And they also suggested that apps and platforms should come with a readily available 'addict-score' rating, inspired by on the Nutri-Score model – and propose that two percent of revenue generated by platforms' activity in France go to funding mental health research and care. A commission of inquiry into the psychological effects of social media site TikTok on minors has been launched in the Assembly.
Wall Street Journal
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
Meet MAGA's Favorite Communist
Christopher Rufo is perhaps the most potent conservative activist in the U.S. Last year, he led the campaign that pressured Harvard University into replacing Claudine Gay as its president. His crusades against critical race theory and DEI in higher education have shaped President Trump's aggressive policies toward elite universities like Harvard, which the administration targeted this week with a $2.26 billion funding freeze. For the past year, Rufo has been working on a book called 'How the Regime Rules,' which he describes as a 'manifesto for the New Right.' At its core is a surprising inspiration: the Italian Communist thinker Antonio Gramsci, a longtime boogeyman of American conservatives. 'Gramsci, in a sense, provides the diagram of how politics works and the relationship between all of the various component parts: intellectuals, institutions, laws, culture, folklore,' said Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration takes aim at Harvard's international students and tax-exempt status
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to revoke the university's ability to host international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard's tax-exempt status. The Department of Homeland Security ordered Harvard late Tuesday to turn over 'detailed records" of its foreign student visa holders' "illegal and violent activities' by April 30. International students make up 27% of the campus. The department also said it was canceling two grants to the school totaling $2.7 million. The moves deepen the crackdown on Harvard, which on Monday became the first university to openly defy the administration's demands related to activism on campus, antisemitism and diversity. The federal government has already frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts to the Ivy League institution. Trump suggested Tuesday on social media that Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status 'if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?'' The hold on federal money for research at Harvard marked the seventh time the administration has taken such a step at one of the nation's most elite colleges. The government is attempting to force compliance with Trump's political agenda at schools he accuses of pushing 'woke' policies and allowing antisemitism to fester. In a letter to Harvard on Friday, Trump's administration called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university, plus changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded that the university audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs. Harvard President Alan Garber said Monday that the university would not bend to the government's demands. Later that day, the White House announced the freeze of more than $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in contracts. Conservative strategist Christopher Rufo said the government should respond to Harvard's defiance by cutting all federal money and stripping nonprofit status at Harvard and other Ivies that defy federal orders. Rufo urged the government to use the same tools it used during the Civil Rights Movement to force desegregation. 'Trump needs to follow through on his threat to defund one of the Ivy League universities,' Rufo said on social media Tuesday. 'Cut the funding and watch the university implode.' Rufo said Harvard has discriminated against white and Asian American students, citing events such as graduation celebrations specific to certain ethnic groups, along with a 2021 theater performance exclusively 'for Black-identifying audience members.' For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. Trump's campaign started at Columbia University, which initially agreed to several demands from the Trump administration but took a more emboldened tone after Harvard's defiance. Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, said in a campus message Monday that some of the demands 'are not subject to negotiation' and that she read of Harvard's rejection with 'great interest.' Trump has targeted schools accused of tolerating antisemitism amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses. Some of the government's demands touch directly on that activism, calling on Harvard to impose tougher discipline on protesters and to screen international students for those who are 'hostile to the American values.' ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
The Independent
17-04-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump administration takes aim at Harvard's international students and tax-exempt status
President Donald Trump 's administration has escalated its ongoing battle with Harvard, threatening to revoke the university's ability to host international students as the president called for withdrawing Harvard's tax-exempt status. The Department of Homeland Security ordered Harvard late Tuesday to turn over 'detailed records" of its foreign student visa holders' "illegal and violent activities' by April 30. International students make up 27% of the campus. The department also said it was canceling two grants to the school totaling $2.7 million. The moves deepen the crackdown on Harvard, which on Monday became the first university to openly defy the administration's demands related to activism on campus, antisemitism and diversity. The federal government has already frozen more than $2 billion in grants and contracts to the Ivy League institution. Trump suggested Tuesday on social media that Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status 'if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting 'Sickness?'' The hold on federal money for research at Harvard marked the seventh time the administration has taken such a step at one of the nation's most elite colleges. The government is attempting to force compliance with Trump's political agenda at schools he accuses of pushing 'woke' policies and allowing antisemitism to fester. In a letter to Harvard on Friday, Trump's administration called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university, plus changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded that the university audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs. Harvard President Alan Garber said Monday that the university would not bend to the government's demands. Later that day, the White House announced the freeze of more than $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in contracts. Conservative strategist Christopher Rufo said the government should respond to Harvard's defiance by cutting all federal money and stripping nonprofit status at Harvard and other Ivies that defy federal orders. Rufo urged the government to use the same tools it used during the Civil Rights Movement to force desegregation. 'Trump needs to follow through on his threat to defund one of the Ivy League universities,' Rufo said on social media Tuesday. 'Cut the funding and watch the university implode.' Rufo said Harvard has discriminated against white and Asian American students, citing events such as graduation celebrations specific to certain ethnic groups, along with a 2021 theater performance exclusively 'for Black-identifying audience members.' For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism. Trump's campaign started at Columbia University, which initially agreed to several demands from the Trump administration but took a more emboldened tone after Harvard's defiance. Columbia's acting president, Claire Shipman, said in a campus message Monday that some of the demands 'are not subject to negotiation' and that she read of Harvard's rejection with 'great interest.' Trump has targeted schools accused of tolerating antisemitism amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses. Some of the government's demands touch directly on that activism, calling on Harvard to impose tougher discipline on protesters and to screen international students for those who are 'hostile to the American values.' ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
