Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Zorro

(16,296 posts)
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 11:59 AM Jan 2023

New College board member floats leadership shakeup, 'terminating' all employee contracts

Last edited Mon Jan 30, 2023, 12:38 PM - Edit history (1)

A new president, new board chair and new legal counsel all will be up for discussion Tuesday when the New College of Florida board meets, along with the possibility of ending faculty tenure, terminating all employee contracts and rehiring anyone who who fits into the school's "new financial and business model."

These are all ideas floated by new board member Eddie Speir in a recent Substack post. They could result in a big shakeup less than a month after Gov. Ron DeSantis reshaped New College's board in a bid to reinvent the 63-year-old Sarasota school.

Speir, a Christian school founder appointed by DeSantis to the board, wrote a Substack post over the weekend saying he wants to "Discuss need for new president and possible motion to give Pat Okker title of Interim President."

New College President Patricia Okker has been on the job for less than two years, but DeSantis' push to transform the school has led to speculation about her future at the college and that only increased when Tuesday's board agenda was released with "President Okker's Employment Agreement" as one of the discussion items.

The agenda also includes "Election of the Board Chair and Vice Chair" and "General Counsel to Board of Trustees." Speir appears to be a driving force behind some of these discussions.

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/30/ron-desantis-appointees-to-new-college-board-could-shakeup-leadership/69853637007/

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune also will be terminating reader comments to their online articles in two days. Also from the article:

Speir has a long list of motions he plans to make at Tuesday's board meeting.

Among them is a proposal to identify "wokeness" as a "set of beliefs" akin to religion. He then wants to identify aspects of wokeness that are "shared values" worth preserving, that are "dogmatic" and should be excluded from curriculum and that are "pledges of fealty" that should be actively fought against.

"One such example of a pledge of fealty is the demand that woke pronouns are used," Speir writes.

Speir also wants to explore ending faculty tenure and "terminating all contracts for faculty, staff and administration and immediately rehiring those faculty, staff and administration who fit in the new financial and business model." He wants to board to send a letter to "the new counsel" seeking a legal opinion on the feasibility of such a plan.

Another motion Speir plans to introduce would remove some media members from the meeting.

"I move that we remove USA Today and its affiliates from the list of approved media outlets until an apology is received with a commitment from USA Today to adhere to its own policies," Speir writes, referencing Herald-Tribune parent company Gannett's flagship newspaper, USA Today.

10 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
New College board member floats leadership shakeup, 'terminating' all employee contracts (Original Post) Zorro Jan 2023 OP
Crazy school with evangelical roots and enrollment of 600 does crazy thing to Scrivener7 Jan 2023 #1
New College doesn't have evangelical roots waddirum Jan 2023 #6
Sorry! You are correct! It was the United Church of Christ, which is mainline Protestant. Scrivener7 Jan 2023 #8
Good luck finding students willing to attend. Freethinker65 Jan 2023 #2
All dummies gibraltar72 Jan 2023 #3
The faculty, staff and students are under live fire Easterncedar Jan 2023 #4
Sounds like one of the Soviet purges in the 1950s. LastDemocratInSC Jan 2023 #5
He's one board member. nt Phoenix61 Jan 2023 #7
One of the newly appointed majority, alas Easterncedar Jan 2023 #9
DeSadist has this college in his sights--he make sure it's starved into submission Timeflyer Jan 2023 #10

Scrivener7

(52,748 posts)
8. Sorry! You are correct! It was the United Church of Christ, which is mainline Protestant.
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 03:09 PM
Jan 2023

Thanks for the correction.

Freethinker65

(11,139 posts)
2. Good luck finding students willing to attend.
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 12:51 PM
Jan 2023

Wealthy conservatives pay big money for real education at prestigious institutions so their kids have all the advantages and opportunities available. Poorer conservatives are told education is unnecessary and most coursework, if not telling you how to be a good worker, is useless.

Easterncedar

(3,532 posts)
4. The faculty, staff and students are under live fire
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 01:00 PM
Jan 2023

This isn’t any longer the theoretical “what would you have done in Germany”. This is the attempt at a fascist takeover of our country, targeting minority and marginalized communities and liberal scholars.

Easterncedar

(3,532 posts)
9. One of the newly appointed majority, alas
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 03:18 PM
Jan 2023

And that slimy soul-less creep Rufo, who is riding the anti-CRT wave, is another. I can’t believe how many of our famously leftist media outlets have been giving this guy a forum.

Timeflyer

(2,637 posts)
10. DeSadist has this college in his sights--he make sure it's starved into submission
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 06:57 PM
Jan 2023

by taking away all the funding he can until his dream of turning New College into Hillsdale College, Southern Branch is fulfilled. It's clearly Christofascist nationalist political theater, and the casualties are collateral damage. The billionaire conservative donors who fund his political ambitions want control over all FL education, bottom to top, because our tax dollars are a terrible thing to spend on public ed.

Latest Discussions»Region Forums»Florida»New College board member ...