Photo courtesy The Ringling: Ca' d'Zan

When a board of conservative trustees installed by Gov. Ron DeSantis essentially took over New College in 2023, it seemed instantly clear nothing would be the same. The latest budget from DeSantis could signal a complete underestimation of the most grandiose or apocalyptic of expectations.

The Governor’s budget calls for The Ringling to become part of the adjacent New College. Admittedly, this could be a largely administrative shift. It’s not like the Circus Museum will suddenly become a dormitory or Ca’ d’Zan a student center. But this shift would elevate the school’s size and reputation as a school with its foundation in classical arts. One novel element for Sarasota historians would be the homes of John and Charles Ringling becoming part of the same institution.

But the proposal comes amid rumors the Florida Legislature may also make the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee part of New College. That’s a satellite campus with an enrollment of almost 1,900, many of those non-traditional students, while New College has in the neighborhood of 700 traditional students.

Should this come to pass, the New College of yore will be history, and Sarasota will have a full-fledged university on the waterfront. The combined campus would connect the Mildred Sainer Pavilion to the rest of New College and extend north all the way to USF science labs. This combined New College would span more than 210 contiguous acres overlooking Sarasota Bay.

It's worth revisiting the visceral reactions so many felt when DeSantis first decided he wanted to remake New College as the Hillsdale of the South, converting it from a progressive institution to a conservative one.

Immediately, there were essentially two outlooks, depending what anyone thought of New College before. Many viewed it as a bohemian chic liberal arts college and haven for free spirits. Then there were those who saw it as a drug den where students learned no real-world skills. The expression on someone’s face when they said the word “hippie” told you whether they saw New College as paradise or purgatory’s waiting room. The news of a makeover prompted excitement or despair in these respective groups.

I always tried to take a long view, as I do now, and suspected the ultimate impacts would have little to do with the ideology in Tallahassee or even the make-up of new trustees. But I must admit I’ve been disappointed on countless occasions in the past few years as the students and faculty who once thrived at New College fled or were driven out, like spirits in an enchanted wood bulldozed as part of a religious uprising.

Yet, one must always remember New College became vulnerable to a take-over only because of dwindling enrollment rates and a loss in standing as an honors school no longer as exclusive as the internal program at larger state universities.

I think back to an interview I did with New College President Richard Corcoran, a man viewed by lovers of the old New College as a clear usurper but heralded as a reformer by those who craved change. “We’ll get to a point where some of our harshest critics will say that this was a great moment for New College,” Corcoran told me then.

I imagine that quote still draws skepticism for an enormous number of people. But it’s a reminder the most important view of New College should look past the horizon.

Presidents, trustees and certainly governors come and go. But should the plans in the works come to fruition — which still seems far from certain — the leadership change at New College will be remembered as transformative not for the shift in the school’s ideology for the expansion of its vision and scope.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor for SRQ Media.

Photo courtesy The Ringling: Ca' d'Zan