A documentary about the right-wing takeover of a public liberal arts college in Florida offers clues about how Texas’ ongoing attacks on academic freedom could play out at colleges and universities here.
First They Came for My College, which premiered at SXSW in Austin this month, followed a group of university students at New College between 2023 and 2024 as Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, ramped up his war against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) at public colleges and universities.
First, the state appointed six new members to the Board of Trustees at New College, an institution that serves as an honors college for the state. One of those new trustees was right-wing activist and DEI crusader Christopher Rufo.
“We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideologies,” DeSantis said during his second inauguration.
The reshuffled Board of Trustees immediately fired New College President Pat Okker and replaced her with former Republican Florida House Speaker Richard Corcoran. Then, to add insult to injury, DeSantis signed Florida’s anti-DEI bill — designed to eliminate DEI, critical race theory and “identity politics” from public education — on the school’s campus.
In the ensuing months, the Board of Trustees denied tenure to five qualified faculty members and abolished the school’s gender studies program. As the campus closed in preparation for a hurricane bearing down on the state, officials “weeded” the school library of books that no longer aligned with the board’s goals.
The trustees also poured millions into building a baseball program from the ground up, dishing out generous scholarships to prospective athletes to attend a school that, upon their arrival, had yet to complete its planned stadium for the sport.
“From the very beginning, they were very clear that what they wanted to do was to reset the political and hormonal balance on campus,” Amy Reid, a former New College French professor and Board of Trustees member, said during a panel after the documentary’s SXSW premiere.
Texas parallels
The parallels between DeSantis’ takeover of New College and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s attempt to remake the University of Texas and Texas A&M systems are striking.
Similar to the actions surrounding the New College takeover, Abbott signed anti-DEI bills in recent years, leading to large-scale book bans, the firing of faculty and the elimination of diversity departments at public universities.
The UT Board of Regents also replaced UT Austin President Jay Hartzell, who departed for private Southern Methodist University, with Jim Davis.
Davis, who previously served as UT Austin’s chief operating officer, was appointed without a national search. What’s more, Davis, who recently facilitated the abolition of elected faculty senates and the restructuring of seven ethnic and gender studies departments, has also refused to engage with the media.
In a scathing letter, the American Association of University Professors wrote that Texas A&M could “no longer be regarded as a serious institution of higher learning” after it ordered a philosophy professor teaching a “Contemporary Moral Issues” class to remove Plato from the syllabus. The university wanted the works withheld because they included “race ideology and gender ideology.”
“We know that Gender Studies programs, Africana Studies programs or Latino Studies programs are all American Studies programs, and they are under attack here in Austin, across the state of Texas, and across the country,” Reid said during the SXSW panel. “I hope that everybody who sees this movie learns some things from the students here about how you need to stand up in this moment for your community and for the things that matter.”
‘That’s fucking fascism’
As easy as it is to dismiss Florida leaders’ actions around New College as culture war bullshit and bluster, they had real-world consequences.
Beyond ruining a unique and experimental learning community that served as a safe space for intellectuals, oddballs and especially the queer community, New College’s national prestige took a major hit following DeSantis’ so-called reforms.
Before the hostile occupation, New College was ranked 76th among National Liberal Arts Colleges by U.S. News & World Report. It now ranks 135th.
During the time covered in the documentary, 30% of faculty left and 60 students transferred out.
There’s reason to suspect Texas’ flagship state schools also could experience a nosedive in rankings as the state continues to impose its ideologies. Professors are reportedly no longer feeling comfortable teaching at UT Austin, and Texas A&M last month cancelled programs in women’s and gender studies.
During the SXSW panel, First They Came for My College producer Patrick Bresnan left no doubt where he sees this kind of meddling leading.
“After recording 300 hours of footage, sitting with interviews with the school psychologist, getting to know the school psychologist, learning how many students were in a suicidal state because of this,” Bresnan said. “These are the most beautiful things we have in our culture, and we’re forcing them into suicidal states. That’s fucking fascism.”
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