DeSantis’s trustees aim to remove gender studies department at New College of Florida.
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The New College of Florida Votes to Abolish Gender Studies Department
The board of trustees at the New College of Florida made a significant decision on Thursday, voting to abolish the school’s gender studies department. This move, orchestrated by conservative trustees appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), marks a shift in the college’s mission.
The gender studies department, established in 1995, was eliminated with a 7-3 vote by the board. Chris Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a member of the New College board, hailed this decision as a groundbreaking step towards rolling back what he referred to as the “encroachment of queer theory and gender pseudoscience” in academia.
“The decision of the New College board of trustees to initiate the termination of the university’s gender studies program sets a new historical precedent,” Rufo wrote. “Academia’s continued decline is not inevitable. Civic-minded leaders, deriving their power from the people, can use legislation, appointments, and board governance to reorient public universities away from left-wing nihilism and, once again, toward higher principles.”
Rufo further explained in an op-ed for City Journal that the elimination of the department aligns with the board’s goal of refocusing the college’s mission on a “classical liberal arts education.” According to Rufo, the concepts presented in gender studies contradict the classical conceptions of truth, goodness, and beauty.
Since their appointment, Rufo and other board members appointed by DeSantis have taken various steps to steer the college away from its left-wing reputation. They swiftly replaced the university president with former Florida Education commissioner Richard Corcoran, a DeSantis ally. As a result, several faculty members have chosen to leave the institution.
The decision to abolish the gender studies department has drawn criticism from PEN America, a liberal free speech advocacy group. Jeremy Young, the Freedom to Learn Program Director at PEN America, likened the trustees’ vote to the actions of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who previously sought to eliminate gender studies departments in Hungarian institutions.
“The New College board’s abolition of gender studies is a repressive act that echoes the actions of a repressive foreign government,” Young said. “Indeed, it is an exact copy of what Hungary did in 2018, in a ban that irreparably damaged intellectual freedom in Hungarian universities. Banning academic departments for the viewpoints they reflect is the ultimate violation of academic freedom. Gender studies has been part of American higher education for decades, and the program received a statement of unanimous support today from every member of the New College faculty.”
This decision has sparked a debate about academic freedom and the direction of higher education institutions.
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