Jacob Ogles
The Chair of New College’s Alumni Association has resigned in protest of the university administration’s “mismanagement and wasteful spending.”
“The feedback I get from the thousands of alumni is that New College graduates have lost confidence in the college’s administration and see its runaway spending as unsustainable,” said Ben Brown, who announced his resignation Monday morning.
The education lawyer now plans to petition the Legislature and Board of Governors on preserving the education model at New College and put a stop to current spending habits.
The move follows more than two years of criticism since Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a conservative makeover of the small liberal arts college, a onetime haven of progressive activism. The new Trustees promptly fired the university President and installed Richard Corcoran, DeSantis’ former Education Commissioner, in the role instead.
New College responded to Brown’s resignation with a statement.
“We’re grateful to Ben for his time at New College and wish him all the best in his future endeavors,” it reads. “We understand that the recent changes at the college, aimed at strengthening its future as an elite institution, haven’t been easy for everyone, and we respect his decision to move forward.”
Brown, a former Student Body President for New College, said he has tried to work with Corcoran’s administration in hopes of preserving the school’s learning model. But he said Corcoran has allowed little involvement, transparency or communication, which has resulted in a sharp drop in alumni donations to the university.
“The alumni community is not monolithic and has a diversity of political views,” Brown said. “But the operational and fiscal mismanagement of the College became too much for almost everyone.”
Brown said he is now joining an alumni-composed lobbying group calling for accountability at New College. Brown listed a series of what he considered unacceptable actions by the school leadership, including firing LGBTQ staff.
The school was among the first in the state to eliminate all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Brown also noted that Corcoran’s contract now provides $1.3 million in pay and benefits, roughly twice the compensation of predecessor Patricia Okker.
This has accompanied an exodus of longtime faculty and students from the school, and a precipitous drop in national rankings of colleges and universities.
As chair of the Alumni Association, Brown also had an ex officio position on the New College Foundation board but has resigned his seat there as well. He alleged the administration has misappropriated foundation funding to pay for high administration salaries and for sports programs introduced under Corcoran’s leadership.
7 comments
Michael K
March 24, 2025 at 4:13 pm
New College was destroyed at great taxpayer expense simply to burnish failed presidential candidate Ron DeSantis’ radical far right agenda in his quixotic pursuit of personal political aspirations.
John Schussler
March 24, 2025 at 4:52 pm
FL state government officials chose to expand a college that does not have sufficient land to expand upon. They are now in an embarrassing situation. The FAA has ruled that New College can’t buy the airport land, nor can they do new construction on SRQ airport land while retaining their advantageous lease. New College is now scrambling to find some other land and financial resources by getting the state of FL to give them the Ringling Museum and USF-SM. Getting FL state government officials out of their embarrassing situation is damaging the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority, the FSU’s Ringling Museums and USF-SM. Voters should stop this political overreach by one party state government. Open primary elections and ranked choice voting are needed.
woke up
March 24, 2025 at 5:27 pm
This has always been a plan to destroy the college and sell the bay front land for high end real estate development. Cockring had the bay front preserve bulldozed as part of this scheme. That is the opinion of this alum, anyway. Time will tell.
Jim Sheets
March 24, 2025 at 7:42 pm
DeSantis has turned this proud institution into a political cesspool like everything else he touch’s.
Bubba
March 25, 2025 at 9:28 am
DeSadist is like the opposite of King Midas. Everything he touches turns to shit. This whole New College debacle is shameful. It reminds me of the incompetence and hypocrisy of Trump’s national security team, as revealed thru the classified information on Yemen which was exposed yesterday.
Mike Lasche
March 25, 2025 at 9:23 am
If New College cannot work with Ben Brown, that is a very bad sign. Ben is a very reasonable, pragmatic, and practical person. Personally, I have seen him go to great lengths to balance the interests of competing groups as he helps forge solutions.
just sayin
March 25, 2025 at 9:52 am
I like the classical model and would love another Hillsdale College, but Richard Corcoran is an inveterate grifter.
Great idea, terrible choice to implement it.