Jacob Ogles
A Trustee for New College of Florida defended a conservative takeover of the onetime progressive haven.
Charles Kesler, one of several conservative think tank academics named as a Trustee by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2023, told a Senate Committee that New College has only been improved in his time on the board.
“When I first arrived at New College, it was a very forlorn-looking campus,” Kesler said. “I had never seen a campus with so much deferred maintenance, entire dormitories, entire office buildings abandoned because of the typical tropical problems of rust, mold and so forth. That campus that originally just a couple of years ago looked rather decrepit now looks very vigorous.”
He praised New College President Richard Corcoran — who was hired after new Trustees promptly fired former College President Patricia Okker — and the Legislature for overseeing an investment in the campus.
Kesler made his remarks during a confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee. The committee also considered New College Trustees Sarah Mackie and Joe Jacquat, the latter of whom did not testify because of a personal conflict.
Mackie, a Manatee County resident, acknowledged that New College has received more media attention than the liberal arts college is accustomed to in recent years.
“We’ve gotten a lot of press lately, some good, some bad,” she said. “Luckily, we’re on the side where we’re getting more attraction and more excitement from people looking at the college.”
Of the nominees in front of the committee, only Kesler’s nomination proved especially controversial with Senators. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle questioned his appointment to the New College board.
Sen. Alexis Calatayud, a Miami Republican, said she was frustrated that Kesler, for the majority of his time in front of the committee, focused on the work of Claremont-McKenna College, a California college where he works as a professor.
“The majority of that time was spent speaking about a different institution. And I noted that, and along with his residency status out of state and lack of academic relationships in terms of his own academic history to Florida,” she said.
Calatayud noted the Senate has advanced a committee bill (SB 1726) that would require Trustees to either be Florida residents or graduates of the college or university where they serve. Kesler is neither.
But she ultimately voted in favor of Kesler’s confirmation. Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat, did not. He criticized a number of ideologically driven nominations to the New College board and others.
“What does that say about how the executive branch values higher education?” he said. “That we’re not prioritizing experience insights into higher education, residency or alumnus status, perhaps, but instead, we’re using these appointments to reward political allies.”
Other Republicans, though, praised Kesler.
“I believe his academic background does bring some vision to the state of Florida,” said Sen. Gayle Harrell, a Stuart Republican and Chair of the committee.
While she supports legislation with residency requirements, Harrell also noted that those restrictions were not in place when DeSantis named Kesler to the board and said the Trustee should not be judged for that.
