Latest New College board appointment gives conservatives a majority

Gov. Ron DeSantis remade New College of Florida's board of directors earlier this month when he appointed six new members, but he couldn't secure a majority of the 13-member board.

That majority came Wednesday when the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state university system, appointed Ryan Anderson to the New College board.

Anderson is an author and president of the Washington, D.C.-based Ethics & Public Policy Center, a conservative think tank. His books have included, “Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing” and “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment."

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Anderson's appointment means seven New College trustees have joined the board in the last month, creating a conservative majority aligned with DeSantis.

"I am deeply committed to helping the College fulfill its mission to be Florida’s honors college and one of our nation’s best public liberal arts institutions," Anderson said in a statement. "I will work to ensure that academic excellence in pursuit of the truth is the College’s top priority, while insisting that it honor academic freedom and integrity. In doing so, New College will serve its students and the citizens of Florida and set an example for the rest of the nation. "

Anderson has a public profile similar to DeSantis' appointees, most of whom are affiliated with conservative institutions. They include a prominent conservative activist, the founder of a Christian school in Bradenton, a dean at a conservative Christian college, the editor of a conservative magazine and a senior fellow at a right-wing think tank.

DeSantis has targeted “trendy ideology” in higher education, and the appointments have been widely viewed as an attempt to remake the leadership and direction of New College, steering it in a more conservative direction.

Christopher Rufo, one of the new board members appointed by DeSantis, said Wednesday that the governor recently encouraged board members to reform New College.

"We have a mandate from Gov. DeSantis," Rufo said. "He gave us a pep talk recently, he said: 'Look, I have an overwhelming mandate from the people of Florida. You are constitutional officers appointed by the governor. You have a political, a moral and a governing mandate to reform this institution.'"

Board of Governors member Alan Levine praised Anderson during a committee meeting Wednesday before the appointment to the New College board was finalized. He said Anderson, who has a doctorate from Notre Dame, has appeared widely on news networks and in major newspapers.

“I’ve had an opportunity to speak with Dr. Anderson,” Levine said. “I find him to be a compelling figure, somebody who is measured and very respectful of our governance process and very eager to serve.”

Anderson is a former senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and was the founding editor of the online journal Public Discourse, according to information on the Ethics & Public Policy Center website.

The center lists priorities on the website, including “Pushing back against the extreme progressive agenda while building a 2024 consensus for conservatives.”

Anderson is joining a board tasked with transforming New College, which has long been known as a progressive institution. Some of the new trustees already are talking about big changes.

Rufo and another new board member, Christian school founder Eddie Speir, met with students and faculty on campus Wednesday, the first public meetings by new board members. The two meetings were contentious at times, with audience members asking pointed questions and some heckling the new board members.

"There is a kind of social justice-oriented orthodoxy that has created an echo chamber that has prevented a lot of debates," Rufo told the crowd.

Speir said he wants to "bring New College into a place where the negative aspects of being woke are taken away."

The tension on campus was underscored when Rufo revealed that a death threat was made against Speir.

"New College received what were perceived to be credible threats that are being investigated by the New College Campus Police," Catherine Helean, the college's executive director of communications and marketing, said in an email that didn't provide any details about the nature of the threat.

Rufo said before the meeting that the message directed at Speir appeared to come from a college account. It said something like "Eddie Speir better be wearing a bulletproof vest," he said.

“Somebody either hijacked or spoofed a communications email at the college and then they sent a threat of violence specifically against Trustee Speir and really implicitly against all of us," Rufo said. "That came in last night. Local law enforcement notified the terrorism task force, they’ve mobilized the swat unit, bomb sniffing dogs, police from three different departments.”

Rufo said college administrators wanted to cancel Wednesday's meetings because of the death threat. The college's provost sent students an email urging them not to attend the meetings.

The debate over canceling the meeting frustrated Rufo and made him think new leadership is needed.

"We're going to be reconsidering leadership here because what I saw demonstrated here was cowardice, not leadership," he said.

Rufo's comments show that significant upheaval is possible at the college in the coming months as new board members dig into how the school operates. Speir said that he wants to “look at everything” as he contemplates what changes are needed at New College.

The first meeting between the board members and faculty drew about 200 people, while the second meeting with students had about 150, even though students were urged by the provost  not to attend "due to potentially credible threats."

"We have a great deal invested in the education that we expect to receive at New College of Florida and we are very satisfied with the depth of course work that we are able to pursue," Niko Jackson, 18, a second year philosophy student, said at the second meeting, adding: “While New College might not be for everyone, we do have our reasons for choosing this school."

Jackson then quizzed Rufo about his background, asking if he had any "formal study in educational theory or in the administration of institutions of higher learning, and if not how long do you think you should spend understanding the design of Florida's successful university system before you make changes to it's honors college?"

The audience erupted in applause. Rufo defended his qualifications while noting that other new board members have extensive experience with university administration.

“We have a kind of fully-rounded team and we all have strengths and weaknesses,” he said.

Dylan Niner, a 23-year-old biology major who started at New College this week, asked Rufo about his push to change the school's culture, questioning how "you could judge, or even see, what has changed?"

"What is the litmus test of the culture of a campus?" Niner asked.

Rufo said "consultants can come in, they can take the temperature over the course of a few years."

The meeting with students was punctuated with shouting, and applause for confrontational audience comments and questions.

Rufo said beforehand that he welcomed vigorous debate.

"You can talk to me, you can call me, you can argue with me, you can yell at me," Rufo said. "I will listen to you. We have a job to do, we're going do the job. But we're not going to try to suppress your opinion. We're not going to try to stifle debate. We're not going to try to create one orthodoxy in replacement of another."

The News Service of Florida contributed to this report

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Ryan Anderson joins DeSantis appointees on New College of Florida board