The last time Sarasota County Commissioners adopted new boundaries for county commission districts, they ended up in court. And they won. So as the process starts anew, post-Census, is there any reason to think there will be a different outcome out of another suit?

Well, it’s too early to know, of course. While the county commission plans to redraw its lines by the end of the calendar year, it’s a little early know what case might — of let’s face it, will—be made in any litigation before the next election. It’s entirely possible the commission, which beat back accusations of racial discrimination last year, left with the lesson anything goes. And heck, that takeaway is valid. But I can’t help but think there’s a significant possibility the commission will overplay its hand, prove the case Newtown residents brought last time and strengthen a similar challenge in 2022.

The chief concern I would have is that plaintiffs before suspected the commission had shoved Black residents out of a District 1 election up for vote in 2020 and packed them into District 2, where no election would be held until 2022. This meant a reliable Democratic voting bloc lost their vote in a race where many felt there was a good shot to elect the first Democratic county commissioner in decades. To top it all off, one of the residents moved happened to be former Sarasota Mayor Fredd Atkins, a Democrat who had filed for the seat and a Black candidate.

But ultimately courts couldn’t accept that racial animus played a principle role in the decision. Looking at the process in isolation, that’s a hard case to make. Sure, there’s the suspicious timing of redistricting right after single-member districts went into effect and right before the once-a-decade Census took place, but that proves tomfoolery, not racial discrimination. After all, lots of residents ended up temporarily disenfranchised by being moved into districts that weren’t voting in commissioners in November. Besides, you only get to vote for one commissioner these days and voters would have their chance in two years.

The bottom line is redistricting is a brutal, outwardly political process . At the local level, there’s not much check on basic fairness with a process so innately unfair as letting incumbent county commissioners approve their own political boundaries. Proving motives extended  into the realm of racial discrimination proved too big a lift.

So what if it happens again?

Let’s lay out the obvious fear critics of this ugly process have. What if county commissioners once again kick a neighborhood of Black voters out of a jurisdiction ready to vote next election and into one that doesn’t vote until 2024? Those voters would go six years without an opportunity to vote for a county commissioner. That the Census only verifies the population estimates used by the county last time proved so far off makes defending them that much harder.

While many neighborhoods were impacted by the 2019 redistricting, surely far fewer will be similarly affected by 2021’s. It’s those voters affected twice in a row who will have a case to make they have been treated unfairly. I’m no lawyer, but if a disproportionate number belong to a racial minority, that seems an easy complaint to write.

Jacob Ogles is contributing senior editor for SRQ MEDIA. 

Census estimates courtesy Sarasota County.

When it comes to career coaching and preparation, New College of Florida is all business.

We don’t wait to equip our students with the tools they need to thrive in the real world; we start working with them one-on-one as soon as they enroll. And when they arrive on campus, they find that a solid foundation for career success is built right into their academic experience.

It’s an incredible approach—unlike anything I’ve ever seen during my decades-worth of work in higher education.

So, you may be asking: What’s our secret? Well, since I became president of New College in July, I’ve done everything I can to make our approach to career education less of a secret.

First, every student at New College is paired with a career coach. We know that a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work for education, nor does it work for career preparation. By ensuring that each student has a career coach, we can provide the robust attention that career education deserves.

Second, a career focus is fully integrated into the academic program at New College. Our first-year seminars combine academic rigor with career exploration. Community leaders and alumni serve as professional mentors to our students, helping them hone the skills they need to flourish in every career sector. And we aim to have 100 percent of our students pursuing at least one internship for academic credit before they graduate.

We would be doing a disservice to our students if we didn’t give them every boost they deserve before they head out into the professional world—especially during an era of economic uncertainty. At New College, we nurture intellectual curiosity while giving students the practical experience to fulfill their dreams for the future.

And we do this while keeping higher education affordable. While many of our academic peers are private institutions (costing upwards of $75,000), New College is a public honors college—and our in-state tuition and fees (including room and board) hover right around $17,000. Our average net cost is approximately $6,000. This means that nearly 60 percent of our students graduate with zero debt (well above the national average of 42 percent), which gives them the financial freedom to pursue their big career ambitions.

After a decade or more in the workforce, our graduates earn a median salary of $106,300—the second-highest median salary among state universities in Florida.

Since 2019, student engagement with career education and services at New College has increased by 275 percent, and employer engagement has gone up by more than 1,000 percent. Our students just can’t get enough of our career resources, and we are thrilled to provide them.

Last academic year, 177 employers and graduate schools recruited students on campus through virtual services and fairs, and thousands more recruited through job postings in Handshake designed specifically for New College students. We also have active relationships with more than 7,000 professional organizations.

Our objective at New College is to make career pathways evident for students no matter what they choose to study—knowing that their skills will be transferable to numerous industries (not just one).

We point students toward professional internships and community engagement opportunities, like the Sarasota-Manatee Arts & Humanities Internship Program (a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative that allows students to pursue paid internships locally in areas like web development and youth outreach).

Also, New College is situated on the beautiful bayfront, so students can study red tide and water quality (conducting graduate-level research as undergraduates) without ever leaving campus.

New College attracts students who are bright, driven and ready to go places. We aim to give them everything they need to get there.

Patricia Okker, Ph.D. is the president of New College of Florida.