This is an ongoing video series written by Gaby Batista, staff writer and a founding member of Old School Catalyst as well as a participant and subject of the feature documentary film First They Came For My College.
Alternative, off-campus commencement ceremonies are not staples of a college graduation experience. But New College of Florida is not a typical institution, especially in the wake of an ideologically motivated political takeover as documented by sources such as Inside Higher Ed and the Tampa Bay Times since 2023. For the past four years, New College students have rebelled against what many have labeled a fascist takeover by holding their own graduation ceremonies, independent from the college and supported by the Novo Collegian Alliance (NCA). In the spirit of graduating on their own terms, students and alumni continue to greet hundreds of attendees through the grassroots initiative [NEW] Commencement.
The goal of each [NEW] Commencement, also known as “Alt Grad,” is to provide graduates who have earned their degrees amid a hostile takeover characterized by attacks on the student body, particularly LGBTQ+ students, the chance for a commencement that authentically celebrates them with zero fear of administrative repercussions. Another large point of contention with the official New College commencement ceremonies has been the keynote speakers chosen by the school’s administration: Scott Atlas in 2023, a radiologist with controversial views on the coronavirus pandemic; Joe Ricketts in 2024, a billionaire with a documented history of Islamophobia; and most recently in 2025 Alan Dershowitz, a professor of law and defense lawyer for figures such as President Donald Trump and Harvey Weinstein.
Students and audience members showed their disdain by chanting “Wrap it up” in 2023 and “Free Palestine” in 2024. The 2024 chant resulted in disciplinary actions and the temporary withholding of diplomas for six students.
By contrast, keynote speakers at [NEW] Commencement ceremonies have been chosen by the graduating cohort, and have included lawyer and civil rights activist Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; New York Times columnist and George Polk Award winner M. Gessen (formerly known as Masha Gessen); and Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose novel The Sympathizer won the Pulitzer Prize.
The NCA and the student organizers of [NEW] Commencement’s first iteration have inspired subsequent cohorts of graduating students to do the same, and now the ceremony has solidified itself as a tradition. Its fourth iteration will take place in May for the graduating class of 2026.
Old School Catalyst (OSC) is honored to publish this nearly nine minute exclusive clip of the documentary First They Came For My College that captures many moments from the 2024 [NEW] Commencement. This edited clip was difficult to exclude from the final cut of the film, as explained by director Patrick Bresnan.
“If it were up to me, the film would be twice, three times as long,” Bresnan told Old School Catalyst.
M. Gessen was that evening’s keynote speaker. Students and families in the audience could not know how sharply Gessen’s speech would contrast with Ricketts’ on-campus address the next day. The same students who did not know their diplomas would be at stake in the very near future were proud to cheer for Gessen, a speaker who was not afraid to utter their exact words: “Free Palestine.” Ricketts’ cheers came when distorting audio feedback occurred, then he was booed when he continued to speak. He was finally greeted with chanting that drowned out his monologue about his frugal and uncomplaining wife. “I hate it, but they really do not care what I have to say,” Ricketts said to President Richard Corcoran, audibly enough for the microphone to catch and some of the audience to hear.
At [New] Commencement, retiring Professor of Anthropology Maria Vesperi—and a founding member of Old School Catalyst—brought students to tears, students who understood the risks that faculty members took by speaking publicly in defense of the liberal arts education that New College was renowned for pre-takeover. Former president of the New College Student Alliance Grace Keenan (‘24), now a graduate student at Harvard’s School of Education, gave the audience a first-person account of the rocky experience now etched in the collective memory of these graduating New College students.
“Four years ago, graduation was one of the most important weekends of the year,” NCA Treasurer Colin Boyle told Old School Catalyst. “Alums would come into town because they knew other alums would always be at the ceremony. The Alumni Association would schedule an in-person board meeting that weekend.
“For grads, picking out your graduation outfit was every bit as important as picking your baccalaureate committee members,” Boyle continued. “Every time a student gets to hear their name called and gets to walk across the stage dressed as an elf, an anime character, a mermaid, or in a zoot suit, it helps preserve a 60-year New College tradition.”
The NCA has persevered alongside New College students, faculty and staff in many of the most vulnerable moments of their careers. Their work continues as they gear up for two screenings of First They Came For My College in Sarasota’s Burns Court Cinemas on Friday, May 22, just before the official Commencement ceremony, and Saturday May 23, as well as supporting current students to graduate on their own terms for the fourth year in a row in May 2026.
