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Editor’s note: The following column was first published in
City Journal
.
On Thursday, the Board of Trustees of the New College of Florida voted to abolish the university’s gender studies program, making it the first public university in the United States to take steps against the encroachment of gender ideology and queer theory in its academic offerings.
This decision, expected to face opposition from left-wing critics, is part of a larger transformation. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis appointed a group of reformers, including myself, to the New College board of trustees in January. Our mission was to revive classical liberal education and restore the original vision of the college, which was modeled after New College at the University of Oxford.
We understood from the beginning that this task would involve more than just a superficial rebranding; it required a complete overhaul of the college’s structure and programs. In our early months as a board, we made significant changes to the central administration, including replacing the president, provost, and abolishing the DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) department. We faced pushback in the form of student protests, media criticism, and even a disapproving visit from California Governor Gavin Newsom. However, we remained steadfast in our work, focusing on governance and making difficult decisions about the college’s future.
These changes have already yielded positive results. Under the leadership of interim President Richard Corcoran, the college has secured substantial new funding from the state legislature, embarked on an ambitious campus-renovation plan, and attracted the largest incoming class in its history. This has put the school on a solid financial footing after decades of struggle.
Simultaneously, President Corcoran has assembled a new team to rebuild the college’s institutional capacity, which had significantly deteriorated under previous administrations. They are also designing a new core curriculum that starts with an immersive first-year study of Homer’s “Odyssey” and emphasizes the cultivation of human reason and the applied arts.
The composition of the faculty has also undergone a transformation. Many of the most ideologically left-wing faculty members, who perpetuated the old orthodoxy and opposed classical liberal arts, have left the university. Professors like Aaron Hillegass, who expressed extreme views, have resigned. This exodus has cleared the way for new hires from prestigious institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, and Northwestern, who share a commitment to classical liberal education rather than a bureaucratic focus on diversity and inclusion.
With this new focus on restoring classical liberal arts, the question arose about the fate of the gender studies program, which had strong affiliations with a significant portion of the faculty under the old regime. The resounding answer from the trustees was immediate abolition. While conservatives may find this decision obvious, given their long-standing criticisms of gender studies as a partisan tool, it is important to elaborate on the reasons for eliminating the department.
The argument in favor of abolition has three components. First, state legislators and boards of trustees have the authority and responsibility to redirect, curtail, or close down academic programs in public universities that do not align with the taxpayers’ mandate. Academic freedom does not grant unlimited state subsidies for promoting pseudoscience like gender studies.
Second, there is a precedent for abolishing academic departments that prioritize ideological activism over scholarly pursuits. Universities like the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago have closed down programs that strayed from rigorous scholarship and embraced controversial activist agendas. New College is following this prudent path.
Lastly, every university has a distinct mission to fulfill. The mission of New College of Florida is to restore classical liberal education and pursue transcendent truth. Gender studies and queer theory, being postmodern and anti-normative, contradict the classical concepts of truth, goodness, and beauty. While other universities may accommodate these disciplines, they are not compatible with New College’s mission.
The decision by the New College Board of Trustees to abolish the gender studies program sets a historic precedent. The decline of academia is not inevitable. Leaders who prioritize the interests of their constituents can use legislation, appointments, and governance to reorient public universities away from left-wing nihilism and towards higher principles.
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