The Sun Sentinel’s recent editorial on New College (“The rest of a very sad story at New College,” Jan. 2) brilliantly calls attention to the exceptionally rich and thorough investigative reporting that has been done by many local and national education journalists on the college’s transformation.

Nevertheless, one could delve even more deeply into the “money pit” that New College has become in recent years by drawing on several more local stories. The premise of the New York Times reporter’s piece — to which this newspaper’s editorial responded — is that a rapidly growing student body requires a reworked and boldly designed new curriculum, but her only source for the college’s admitted student numbers is the college itself.

Jonathan Scott Perry is a professor of history at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. (courtesy, Jonathan Scott Perry)

Serious doubts as to the reliability of the statistics New College President Richard Corcoran has provided were raised in an opinion essay published in October in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune by Nathan Allen, a New College alumnus and the college’s former vice president of strategy and special projects. Allen demonstrated that the college’s leadership habitually “massaged” the numbers to achieve its bogus benchmarks.

Moreover, the Sun Sentinel editorial should have pointed out that Corcoran’s recruiting among out-of-state and international students, largely for his new sports programs, was facilitated by scholarships that were overwhelmingly subsidized by Florida taxpayers. This is in clear violation of a Board of Governors cap of 10% on out-of-state students. (New College’s own claim is that its out-of-state student cohort stands at 20%, but, here again, one must rely for those numbers on the college’s self-reporting.)

However, the lion’s share of the scandals that have overtaken the institution stem from its leaders’ decision to eradicate the gender studies “area of concentration” (New College’s term for a “major”) in August 2023. This move has been followed by a breathtaking series of cascading scandals, all of which hinge on physical or sexual violence, real or implied.

The Sun Sentinel editorial rightly cites the deposition of hundreds of books on gender studies into dumpsters, together with Board of Trustees member Christopher Rufo crowing, “Now we’re throwing out the trash.” But, earlier in 2024, the video of a vulgar and homophobic comedy routine by Dean of Students and Interim Provost David Rancourt was posted on YouTube. (Rancourt remains the vice president of enrollment management and vice provost of strategic initiatives.)

These trends have continued into this calendar year with the invitation in April of actor Russell Brand, who had already been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault (and was charged with two more counts just weeks ago) to its “Socratic Stage.”

After a public outcry against Corcoran’s decision to persist with the event, a prominent sponsor pulled his support and the event was postponed. According to a flyer distributed at a Socratic Stage event this October, Brand’s lecture on “Free Speech and Cultural Power” is still scheduled to take place in Spring 2026.

Also in October, Corcoran denied emeritus status to Professor Amy Reid, the faculty trustee on the New College Board of Trustees, who was, when her program was eliminated, the founding director of the college’s gender studies program. In spite of her 30 years of meritorious service to New College and her international prominence in her field, Reid was denied this ultimate mark of gratitude and prestige because, in Corcoran’s words, she was “one of the leading voices of hyperbolic alarmism and needless obstruction.”

The metamorphosis of New College of Florida has been, and deserves to be, a story of national interest, and it is particularly important to applaud our state and local journalists, who provide the essential context that nationally known outlets may overlook.

Jonathan Scott Perry, of St. Petersburg, is a professor of history at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee and vice president of the USF Faculty Senate. This article represents his own views, not those of the university.

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2026/01/18/the-true-tragedy-at-new-college-opinion/