DeSantis trustees begin denying tenure

The New College of Florida denied tenure to five professors in a new show of power by a conservative board of trustees appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis with the aim of putting his ideological stamp on the institution.

The professors – in the fields of organic chemistry, history and religion, coastal and marine science, and Caribbean/Latin American studies and music – were endorsed through faculty processes and were given no complaints about their job performances.

The DeSantis trustee appointees were announced in January and they moved quickly to fire New College’s president and push out its provost. The college then cited that turmoil as its reason for not approving the tenure candidacies.

“We are in extraordinary circumstances,” said Richard Corcoran, a DeSantis ally and former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives who was named as interim president of New College to replace its ousted leader. “We have an interim provost and president,” Mr Corcoran explained to his board. “Therefore, let’s defer tenure for these professors for one year.”

The rejections weren’t based on qualifications, said Irene Mulvey, a professor emerita of mathematics at Fairfield University who serves as president of the American Association of University Professors.

“It is clear to me that academic freedom, shared governance and respect for mutually approved processes and procedures, and contractual requirements, have been thrown under the bus by the new trustees,” Professor Mulvey said. “New College is being held hostage and is fighting for its life.”

Several dozen protesters rallied outside the meeting, and others offered complaints during the meeting, ahead of the trustees voting 6-4 against the tenure cases.

At the end of the trustee meeting, one of the non-DeSantis appointees, Matthew Lepinski, an associate professor of computer science, announced his resignation. “I’m very concerned about the direction that this board is going and the destabilisation of the academic programme,” he said, “and so I wish you the best of luck, but this is my last board meeting. I’m leaving the college.” He then stood up and walked out to applause from his colleagues.

The overhaul of New College, once known as a progressive liberal arts institution, is part of a campaign over many months by Mr DeSantis – a leading contender for next year’s US presidential race – to cast much of higher education as his political enemy.

Some other Republican-led states have been joining in. The American Council of Trustees and Alumni held a conference recently at which the top education official in Virginia outlined a similar strategy for her state, holding it up as an example for others. The council’s president, Michael Poliakoff, said it was not “wholesome” for US higher education to have too many professors he regarded as politically liberal.

Yet Mr DeSantis appears to be facing some strengthened pushback, both in terms of his general crusade on cultural issues and with regard to higher education in particular. He has remained well behind Donald Trump in polling for the Republican presidential nomination, and his party allies controlling the state legislature have revised a pending bill on higher education policy to retreat from some of his more direct threats to cancel public university majors and minors in such fields as women’s studies and gender studies.

The five faculty denied tenure by the New College of Florida represent a significant share of the 90 total tenure-track faculty remaining at the institution, said Jeremy Young, the senior manager of free expression and education programmes at PEN America, a writers group that advocates on issues of free expression.

The five had not been fired and could re-apply next year, Dr Young said. “But it’s an ominous sign,” he added. “Two other faculty who had applied for early tenure withdrew their applications at Corcoran’s request.”

paul.basken@timeshighereducation.com