In Defense of New College

Last week, the Governor of Florida announced his intention to transform New College of Florida into a bastion of conservative education. Because the Governor has presidential aspirations, this announcement hit the mainstream news. Many of you have probably heard something about this by now.

Because New College is tiny, there are relatively few alumni who can speak to its value. At a time in which the value of a liberal arts education is generally widely questioned, and the particular values espoused by New College are genuinely under attack, I feel compelled to speak out.

Make no mistake, the Governor of Florida is a bully. He looks for soft targets and punches down. New College is a perfect target. It's full of weirdo's. Students don't get grades. Many don't even wear shoes. Most New College students faced teasing and outright abuse in school growing up, and even as adults we prefer to simply avoid pseudo-Alpha types like Ron DeSantis rather than confront them directly. But I hate bullies more than just about anything in the world. And this is a time to stand our ground.

I graduated from New College in 1996. Both of my sisters attended New College, as did my brother-in-law. My two co-founders both attended New College with me. Between the six of us, we have two PhD's, a law degree, an MBA, a Masters in Library Science, a Masters in Architecture, and certifications for LEED and PMP. And we're pretty average by New College standards.

But the story here is not our professional success. The story is found in each of our own personal backgrounds, the opportunities afforded to us by New College, and the purpose of a liberal arts education.

I moved to the Pensacola area when I was twelve (from Southern Oregon) and struggled to fit in at the middle school and high school that I attended. I was smart, but shy and socially awkward, and our family struggled to make ends meet, so college was a financial stretch for me. I ended up applying to New College because it promised me a lifeline out of the Florida panhandle at a price that I could actually afford.

I showed up at New College and found myself surrounded by the most incredible group of people that I had ever met (and to this day has not been matched). My best friend (and current co-founder) was really into libertarian economic and political theory, which fascinated me, so my faculty advisor helped me develop an independent study project (New College sets aside the month of January for these projects for all students) in which I read all of the libertarian classics from Adam Smith to Milton Friedman. I continue to insist to this day that the Wealth of Nations should be required reading for any student.

But I also got to know the students who organized the Womyn's Collective, and over time I found myself more interested in what Karl Marx and Max Weber had to say, and eventually Theda Skocpol and Stephen Skowronek became my influencers as I began to pursue interest in political science. Some students were really into a new technology that was emerging at the time called the World Wide Web. Others were composing electronic music, staging performances of Samuel Beckett and Eve Ensler, and toiling away in labs figuring out how MDMA worked. We were allowed to be self-directed and I had an interest in environmental issues, so I got together with a friend and created an Environmental Studies track that encompassed environmental economics, environmental biology, and a "Green Campus Seminar" in which we did things like go on tours of the local power plant and the water treatment plant to better understand how all of this stuff worked.

I too was uncomfortable, at first, with some of the more avant-garde social mores, the gender-nonconformity, and other features of New College that conservatives today want to "reform". I get why someone outside the bubble of New College would see the scraggly, opinionated, unwashed students (and some faculty!) and think of the institution as a problem.

But the truth is that New College is actually one of America's most sacred treasures. It represents the independence of thought and person that are at the foundation of our national creed. The openness that it represents to students who think a little differently, who act a little differently, or who look a little different is precisely why it boasts such an impressive history of Fulbright Scholars, sends such a high percentage of students to top-tier PhD programs, and incubates some of the most original and visionary creative minds on the planet.

When Ron DeSantis wants to "purge" New College of these features, he betrays a latent fascism that speaks to why New College needs to exist in the first place. Most people who complain about "wokeness" haven't spent their lives on the receiving end of a bully's taunt. If wokeness bothers you, you are probably the bully. What I learned at New College is that I'm differently weird than the other weirdo's who went to school with me. I think most of us probably frightened each other at some point or another with our respective quirks. But we also learned to appreciate each other for who we were, quirks and all. If anything, New College represents the best of what America can offer. We need to fight to keep institutions like New College alive and flourishing, and not sacrifice them at the altar of demagoguery.