Florida’s New College Right-Wing Takeover Offers More Benefits For Men

Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that affirmative action based on race and gender will no longer be allowed in college admissions, one Florida college controlled by conservatives appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is considering ways to attract more men to its student body. Presidential hopeful DeSantis appointed Chris Rufo to the board of trustees at New College. He is a far-right extremist who advocates anti-LGBTQ+ views in his public statements. The college has served as a haven for students from a variety of backgrounds throughout the years. With a focus on eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion measures and attacking the curriculum, a hard shift to the right has driven students to seek out other educational opportunities. New College’s leadership recently decided to eliminate the gender studies program from the institution. Additionally, the school is shifting its demographics towards a male-dominated environment. Women made up about 66 percent of New College’s scholars historically and Rufo said, “This is a wildly out-of-balance student population, and it caused all sorts of cultural problems, [creating] what many have called a social justice ghetto." He said new leadership will work on rebalancing the ratio of students.