After conservative overhaul, New College of Florida faces federal civil rights investigation

SARASOTA, Fla. –The U.S. Department of Education has launched an investigation into New College of Florida’s trustees and administration following a civil rights complaint filed on Aug. 22, according to a letter sent Friday from the agency to the college's president.

The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights said it plans to investigate New College on the basis of disability discrimination to determine whether it "excluded qualified persons with disabilities from participation in, denied them the benefits of, or otherwise subjected them to discrimination in its programs, activities, aids, benefits, or services."

The federal agency also plans to investigate whether New College failed to ensure that its communications with individuals with disabilities were as effective as its communications with others.

The civil rights complaint filed against New College's leadership also alleged an ongoing trend of discrimination against "protected groups" such as LGBTQ students, and the creation of a hostile environment toward those students. It requested that federal agencies launch a formal investigation into the college's leadership and compel action to remedy damages the complaint claims leaders have caused.

What is the New College of Florida?

New College has been undergoing a conservative transformation since January when Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a new majority to its Board of Trustees tasked with shaping the small liberal arts school into the "Hillsdale College of the South." Hillsdale College is a private, conservative Christian liberal arts school in Michigan.

The trustees swiftly dissolved the college's diversity department, abolished the gender studies program, fired an LGBTQ librarian and denied tenure to five faculty members set to receive it.

Amid the changes, more than a third of faculty have left New College causing course cancellations and staffing vacancies for the fall semester.

New College did not respond to requests for comment about the complaint. The DOE was not immediately available for comment, and its open investigations web page was not updated to reflect the investigation into New College as of Saturday morning.

Jennifer Granick, a New College alumna and lawyer, helped compile evidence and interviews in preparation for the nearly 40-page complaint.

Following the confirmation of an investigation, Granick said it was a first step in ensuring all students have equal access to an education at New College.

"The ultimate goal is for (marginalized) students ... (to) be welcomed and to be able to get a good education because they are not being subjected to ridicule or exclusion or policies which disproportionately burden them and interfere with their ability to get an education," Granick said.

Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist, vocal opponent of diversity policy and trustee appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, was named several times in the complaint for allegedly creating a hostile environment for students. He took to social media to attack the DOE for its investigation.

“It’s time to abolish the Department of Education,” Rufo wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On his substack, he wrote that President Joe Biden was weaponizing the DOE against conservatives.

“We are ready for the fight,” Rufo wrote. “When Governor DeSantis appointed the new board of trustees, he told us: 'If the media isn’t attacking you, you’re not doing your job.' The same could be said of the Biden Administration.”

Students describe hostile environment, complaint says

Rufo's past posts Twitter, now known as X, are cited as exhibits in which he quotes New College students from news articles with laughing emojis, and posts about pressing misdemeanor battery charges against Libby Harrity, who was a student at the time but now attends Hampshire College.

Harrity allegedly spat on Rufo’s shoe at a protest on May 15, and Rufo later dropped the charges when Harrity withdrew from New College to attend Hampshire.

The complaint claims that Harrity was "forced" to withdraw because of the charges filed by Rufo and that her leaving New College was "exactly what (Rufo) wanted, pushing out an LGBTQ student leader who was not aligned with the 'little Hillsdale' mission."

Rufo has also posted on social media that he thinks being nonbinary, or identifying with a gender other than male or female, is "entirely fake." New College of Florida previously had a large LGBTQ population and has historically been seen as a safe space for the groups.

The removal of gender-neutral bathroom signage was also cited in the complaint. The college removed bathroom signs across campus that read "all gender restroom" or "gender neutral restroom" in favor of traditional bathroom signage. Students rewrote the gender-neutral language on the signs, but the college erased the writing, the complaint said.

The signage removal contributed to the creation of a hostile environment for nonbinary New College students, the complaint claims.

The filing also claims the Board of Trustees abolished the college's diversity program with no plan to support minority students. With the abolishment of the Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, Muslim students were left without access to food during Ramadan last spring, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. The outreach office's funding historically provided meals for Muslim students, since meal plan hours ended before they were allowed to eat.

The actions requested in the complaint include the federal departments ordering New College to implement mandatory training for staff, administration, and the Board of Trustees on supporting LGBTQ and minority students.

The complaint also asks that federal departments order the college's leadership to rescind discriminatory policies and directives, and provide safe and equivalent housing for students who wish to live on campus.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.