A week ago, I listened to 2 faculty from The New College in Florida talk about their situation

[Coventina]

Last edited Wed Feb 21, 2024, 06:08 PM - Edit history (1)

ATTENTION!! I made an error in naming the Iowa institution, the speaker was from University of Iowa.
I deeply apologize for my error.


There was also a faculty member from Iowa State about her situation as well.

The situation with New College is pretty horrific. Faculty are leaving in droves, programs are being canceled (like Women's Studies).

The student's murals were all painted over as part of "regular maintenance" over last summer. These were murals commissioned by the college before the takeover.

Many students are leaving as well.

Those who are left behind are extremely demoralized, depressed, and frightened. Every day is a struggle.

The professors do have a union, so even with canceled academic programs, they are given other duties at the college. However, the state legislature is seeking to end the union so that faculty can be fired at will.

Meanwhile, students are in a serious crisis. Many of them came to New College hoping to escape difficult family situations (many of them are LGBTQ+).
Now, they are trapped. Most of them cannot afford to go elsewhere, and many of them are vulnerable if they leave campus.

The faculty in Iowa reported much the same, although they do not get the news coverage that Florida does.

She said that she has had to completely redo her Art History curriculum to leave out all LGBTQ+ artists, such as: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Andy Warhol, not to mention so many artworks. She cannot teach ancient Greek art at all, since so much of it deals with the worship of the male body by men.

She said that she doesn't want to leave, though, because her students need her more than ever.

What a complete shitshow.

[Joinfortmill]

1. Hard to believe State's have this power.

[ancianita]

2. Such states pervert power. True power empowers the greatest good for the greatest number.

State power that disempowers is oppressive & evil.

[jaxexpat]

12. They got goals! This time it's to eliminate LGBTQ from the conversation, indeed, the whole of society.

A quick look into a cross-section of MAGA reveals many strata of bigotry and intolerance. It's like the main trademark, really.

[mcar]

37. They are state schools

SO is a recently retired HS teacher here in FL who has several former students at New College. It is a sh!tshow there.

Same goes for the local public school. A friend teaches gifted education at a middle school. Over the years, she's had Holocaust survivors speak and got a grant for the students to built and maintain a Holocaust butterfly garden on the school grounds.

Now she can't have any outside speakers and has to maintain the garden herself. That's just one example of many. I don't know how she manages.

[Easterncedar]

3. New College was such a sweet place

Its destruction is shocking. The way the DeSantis-selected board members are making money off their positions would be a scandal in a decent country.

Antioch College, in Ohio, was similarly gutted and destroyed decades ago because of its liberal attitudes and the students’ anti war activities. Several years ago some alumni fought to get the name and campus back and have worked really hard to reestablish the school as it was. (Coretta Scott went there.) It’s still struggling.

Academic freedom is under siege all over. We need to defend it loudly, fiercely, now.

[Lovie777]

8. From what I'm reading about Florida..........................

it may become a "ghost" state. Many of those red states as well.

[Bettie]

27. A bunch more MAGAts will move there

so, if they concentrate in the worst places, maybe things will be better for the nation as a whole.

[JoseBalow]

33. Florida is literally a sinking ship

and will be mostly underwater in a few decades...

Welcome, republicans!

[markodochartaigh]

40. To the tune of "Dixie"

Oh, I wish I was in the Land of DeSantis,

Sinking like Ol' Atlantis,

Sink away, sink away, sink away,

Floriduh.

Although only about 3% of the excess heat from anthropogenic climate change goes into melting ice, and due to the latent heat of fusion of water ice is a huge energy sink. Certainly areas like Miami Beach are already having problems from rising sea level. But by the time that enough energy has been released to raise sea level a meter or two so much energy will have heated our atmosphere to the point that serial cereal harvest failures will have starved billions.

[k0rs]

35. MAGAt paradise

When do we stop letting morons destroy the intellectual fabric of the country?

"We don't need no edjucation...."

[SergeStorms]

4. They're turning out perfect...

republican voters: dumb as 💩 with zero intellectual curiosity.

[Evolve Dammit]

46. and marching to the Orange "Chosen One." We are here.

[gibraltar72]

5. Hillsdale College of the south.

[Easterncedar]

21. That's their stated goal! Gah!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

6. There is no "equal protection of the laws"; the 14th Amendment is ignored.

[Tesha]

7. Where are the journalists?

Where are the folks who will chronicle the decline?

[FailureToCommunicate]

10. My younger brother was an alum, and, as a journalist, would be fiercely in this fight...

but, sadly, he passed from cancer some years ago.

I'm sure he is spinning in his grave about all this right wing backsliding.

[Easterncedar]

19. So sorry.

[Tesha]

22. I'm sorry for your loss

We need more people like him, more willing to fight this decline.

[Evolve Dammit]

47. So sorry for your loss. He is missed for sure. This is an "all hands on deck" moment in history I believe.

[comradebillyboy]

28. The "journalists" are too busy telling us how old and unpopular Biden is to

look at what happening in America. They try mightily to ignore Trump's corruption and over all insanity. Modern journalism is in a very sad state.

[FailureToCommunicate]

42. That would be the editors and owners. Real journalists

are mostly doing their job, or on the unemployment line, having been axed by news divisions.

[Evolve Dammit]

48. Totally agree. The "ageism" is total BS when someone has the damn experience and can do the job. n/t

[Lonestarblue]

9. Welcome to right-wing Christian theocracy.

And this is exactly what the red states hope to do to the entire country. They’ve made a lot of progress since the MAGA Extreme Court gave them permission to place religion above the law.

[multigraincracker]

11. Iowa State too?

That’s a shock. Dad got his PhD there and we lived in Ames for a couple of years.

[murielm99]

14. My youngest graduated from there.

It was not like that back then. She is 40 now.

[multigraincracker]

15. For me it was back in 55 and 56.

Living in Married Housing, I was exposed to other cultures. My best friends were an African American and a boy from Denmark.

[murielm99]

32. They used to have a program

once a year that celebrated the gay community. She helped out by being an usher and enjoyed it. I will try to find out what it was called.

[Coventina]

45. I made a mistake: University of Iowa, not Iowa state.

I deeply apologize.

[Coventina]

44. I made a mistake and I deeply apologize!!

University of Iowa, not Iowa State.

[sop]

13. New College of Florida was ranked as the No. 5 National Liberal Arts College in the country

by U.S. News & World Report for the 2022-2023 school year. It has consistently ranked as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the U.S. since it was founded over sixty years ago.

DeSantis and his RW christian hordes want to destroy any form of "liberal arts" education in Florida. They abhor education that opens minds, they prefer religious training.

[mopinko]

16. is anyone raising money to get them out?

iirc, when this went down some other colleges reached out to the students to say they’d b accepted.
it wd b really great if some deep pocket put up the money they need to move.

[CaptainTruth]

17. This is just horrific.

This is when there need to be protests, loud ones, alert the media, get the facts out to FL residents on local news & by any other means possible.

[ecstatic]

18. Insanity! Is this related to tiny D's fascist takeover

of college curriculums and dictating which topics paying students should be able to study?

[Easterncedar]

20. Yes it is. Entirely

[et tu]

23. academia has been

under attack even from big business for
the last several years-
it's disheartening but it will change if
we keep dems in power.
the far right are losers and gotv~

[live love laugh]

24. It's the Dark Ages redux.

[Attilatheblond]

26. EXACTLY! But this time, the Warlords are overly enriched narcissists who want to rule the world

Their weapons of choice seem to be bribes, mass media propaganda, and creating compliant politicians.

Been trying to warn about this for decades, but just being able to connect dots and figure out what the picture will be isn't enough to convince a lot of people who can't see past the ends of their noses.

[Chi67]

25. How is this legal?

What about the First Amendment. Seems to me this is a blatant violation.

[AllyCat]

31. There appears to be no one to stop them.

SCROTUS will support whatever tiny d does as “free speech” ignoring free speech and expression for others.

[k0rs]

36. Exactly

The constitution is of no concern to MAGAts, unless it's invoking the 2nd amendment. They will do what they want unless forcibly stopped. And then they will complain that they are being "cancelled."

[enigmania]

29. Damn,

operation "Dumbing Down" is proceeding apace.

[Historic NY]

30. Perhaps try SUNY dozens of programs.

[lindysalsagal]

34. The vultures don't care.

They got their upper hand in florida and are righteously proud.

[obamanut2012]

38. This is happening at every single Florida state university and college

New College was just the easiest to totally take over because of the size. I know for a fact they are hitting very heavily at Gulf Coast now, and also FAU and UCF. But, FGCU is next to go full MAGAT DESANTIS, because of teh size.

It IS scary, and demoralizing, and it si why my wife and I left academia in FL last year for another state (a hint: Gavin is my Gov).

[SYFROYH]

39. New College is asking for and getting funding to provide scholarships to athletes.

It will lose its status as a public liberal arts college, but it will probably double in enrollment in 5 years.

All the administrators and politicians involved will call it a win.

[progressoid]

41. Do you have any links to what's happening in Iowa?

I hadn't heard about this. But to be honest, the IA legislature is busy passing so many awful bills it is hard to keep up.

[Coventina]

43. I will PM you. n/t

[orangecrush]

49. Epicenter of Ignorance

They have no shame.

[Easterncedar]

50. On behalf of a Save New College campaign

Can anyone help me find information about or a link to this talk by the faculty? The goal is to safely share what we can, knowing that it’s often difficult for the professors to speak publicly.

Thanks.