Note: Several students requested their names be withheld citing concerns for their academic safety. Additionally, an earlier version of this piece appeared in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Nov. 6.
On Oct. 27, New College announced its intent to be the first university to sign President Donald Trump’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, a 10-page government plan that contains multiple demands of colleges and universities nationwide. Gov. Ron Desantis visited the campus to announce the signing of the Compact at the Caples complex, unbeknownst to students and disrupting multiple classes scheduled there.
A thesis student told Old School Catalyst that she only found out about the postponement of her 11 a.m. class at Caples the morning of the visit by Desantis. The Caples complex houses art classes including sculpture lab, painting, drawing and music.
“There were so many police, huge guns,” she said. “They had a riot control van there with a whole hose on it. It was insane. There were other classes happening at 11 a.m., but they had to start late.”
“It’s crazy because you’d think Communications would let the art students know,” the student continued. “My biggest complaint is that no official communication was sent out to the students. I think that is so important because [senior thesis] students who use the studios should know in advance.”
The press-inclusive event also used professors’ offices for storage of chairs or tables. According to this student, the New College administration removed student art and posters from Caples bulletin boards and they have not been restored as of this article’s publication.
Across eight sections that include “equality in admissions,” “marketplace of ideas and civil discourse,” “student equality” and “financial responsibility,” the Compact bans the consideration of race or gender in hiring and admissions processes, freezes tuition rates for five years and caps international students at 15 percent of the student body, with no more than five percent originating from one specific country. Yet with the addition of a continually expanding athletic program, New College has recruited international student athletes at an extraordinary rate since fall 2023.
According to the New College 2024-2025 Fact Book, international students made up 14.3 percent of all undergraduates as of the 2024/2025 academic year, with 34 out of the 122 international undergraduates originating from Brazil. The New College administration has not publicly addressed how it will adjust the student population to adhere to the Trump Compact.
“I think this school for the past year or so has become way too political,” an international third-year student athlete told Old School Catalyst. “I constantly feel targeted because I’m international.”
The Trump administration initially shared the Compact with nine institutions for feedback, including Brown University, Michigan Institute of Technology and University of California Los Angeles, but has since taken to social media to invite any interested institution to sign on. New College was not among the nine, and the Trump administration has not acknowledged its sign-on at the time of this article’s publication.
Seven of the nine universities have rejected the Compact as of Nov. 6, citing “infringement on educational freedom,” The remaining two are still reviewing the Compact and have not made any public statements. The schools that were asked to sign were promised preferential government funding.
“All these higher education institutions are unified in their desire for freedom of education,” a second-year student told Old School Catalyst. “We are that one group that wants to ban [it], not because we are forced to do this, but we want it.”
“It just really is embarrassing,” another second-year student said. “It’s kind of pathetic and weird to be out of the loop compared to every other higher education institution. It is purely a decision coming from the very top and they just dictate everything.”
“A renewed commitment to the time-honored principles that helped make American universities great will strengthen the country and deepen public confidence in higher education,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote in a statement on X.
The Compact commits institutions to institutional neutrality. As the document states, “This requires policies that all university employees, in their capacity as university representatives, will abstain from actions or speech relating to societal and political events except in cases in which external events have a direct impact upon the university.”
The New College administration has not hidden its affinity with conservative political ideologies, which seem to go against the Compact’s insistence on neutrality. Just recently, the administration announced that a statue of Charlie Kirk, assassinated right-wing podcaster and founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative non-profit, will be erected on the New College campus.
“New College of Florida is committed to the ideals present within this Compact, and we have already been instituting them for the past two and a half years,” New College President Richard Corcoran wrote in the press release sent to students. “We have no affirmative action or DEI, and we have been building a campus where open dialogue and the marketplace of ideas are at the forefront of everything we do. We believe a student’s success comes from their character and their merit, not their race, gender or sexual orientation, and we would be honored to sign the Trump administration’s Compact.”
“Voicing your opinion at the school right now makes it very divisive,” a second thesis student told Old School Catalyst. “I hope that everybody reads the [Compact], which I think a lot of people haven’t. I don’t understand how you could sign a letter like this and then claim to be an institution that promotes free speech and inclusivity.”
“I didn’t even know they could do that without saying anything to us,” another student said. “I think it’s crazy [for New College to say] that you can say whatever you want and then turn around and say we don’t actually have diversity in our school. I think that’s just contradictory.”
“I don’t think that the letter is something that is pushing us in a productive direction,” the thesis student said. “I think that it is just a political play. I truly think that it is another example of this school being used as a political playground instead of for our benefit.”
