Next month, New College of Florida will welcome activist and writer Steve Sailer, a ‘proponent of scientific racism’

Next month, New College of Florida will welcome activist and writer Steve Sailer, a ‘proponent of scientific racism’

New College of Florida (NCF) will host the extremist writer Steve Sailer, who has been described as a “white supremacist” and a “proponent of scientific racism”, at a college-branded public event next month.

New College has made headlines since January 2023, when the rightwing governor, Ron DeSantis, vowed to transform it from a university known for liberal values into a conservative institution, and installed a new board of trustees including the rightwing culture warrior Christopher Rufo. That board in turn appointed DeSantis’s “close ally” Richard Corcoran as the new college president, in which role he makes a $699,000 salary.

DeSantis’s lieutenants’ actions at New College – like abolishing disciplines, removing bathroom signage and denying professors tenure – have seen the departure of more than a third of the faculty, and given rise to myriad legal actions.

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
    31·
    2 months ago

    I saw a Vice (I think) piece about this. Basically Desantis really took an interest in this one random college and has steamrolled all over it. They interviewed students who thought they were going to one school, but everything changed not long after they got there.

    But it’s so fucking weird that he’s focusing all this energy on this small school. I don’t want to go full tinfoil hat, but this is so random.

    • bassomitron@lemmy.worldEnglish
      25·
      2 months ago

      I think the one buddy of his getting a $699,000 salary as the new school president speaks for itself. The rest is just theatrics while his allies grift public money.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
      20·
      2 months ago

      It’s not so random. It was one of the most progressive schools in the country with a very left-wing student body. This was a targeted attack on what DeSantis viewed as an indoctrination school.

      My brother went to New College. Other than being in Florida, it was a great school that DeSantis has destroyed.

      • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works
        8·
        2 months ago

        Oh wow, that’s interesting insight, thanks for the details. I’m in Texas and it’s like a pissing contest between Abbott & Desantis to be the most shitty state.

    • PenguinMage@lemmy.world
      9·
      2 months ago

      You don’t have to go tinfoil hat… they just opened up am “austin university” in TX that’s supposed to be a conservative speaking university… whatever the fuck that means in the actual education since (which I fully assume is not what they care about)