All semester, she had watched co-workers pack their shelves, say goodbye
August 22, 2023 11:52 AM Subscribe
A semester inside the siege: New College professor defends her progressive haven from DeSantis’ conservative coup. “If I just walk away,” she thought, “who will stand up for this place? ... I want to try to preserve the things that make New College unique and wonderful." Amy Reid, a professor of French language and the director of the gender studies program, has worked at New College of Florida her whole career — nearly half her life.
This was a devastating read. New College sounds like it was an amazing, unique place to get a liberal arts education, and to see it being normified like this-- a baseball team? the changes to the graduation ceremony?!-- in addition to the other stuff is frustrating.
I kind of want to send this to the educators in my family, but most of them live in Florida and of course are well aware of everything that's going on. I don't want to depress them even further.
posted by May Kasahara at 12:19 PM on August 22, 2023 [14 favorites]
I kind of want to send this to the educators in my family, but most of them live in Florida and of course are well aware of everything that's going on. I don't want to depress them even further.
posted by May Kasahara at 12:19 PM on August 22, 2023 [14 favorites]
Fuck, what a depressing rearguard she's fighting. Florida is terrifying right now, and the protections offered by tenure are far too fragile. I sympathize with the desire to try and protect and save what she can for the students, and I think it's fair to make DeSantis' thugs fight to gut the colleges they're aiming for. I just hope she's got an escape route set up for when there's not much more left to protect, because I think that is probably the end game unless Florida pulls off some big reversals in elected government next year.
The hostility is very real, and it is terrifying to watch the state of Florida crush its institutions of higher learning. I decided recently that if my postdoc finishes without lining up a job somewhere I feel safe living, I'll leave and seek a remote industry data science job: the geography-neutral, move-to-the-jobs philosophy of academia I have spent the last fifteen years of my life absorbing no longer feels feasible in the least. There's too many places working with state legislatures that openly want to crush their fractious academic institutions.
Even aside from the administrative pressure, New College's incoming class of freshmen will be changing dramatically in size and character this year--largely because the new president is heavily pushing to create and promote an athletic division, especially for whatever reason in baseball.
So... as her students transfer out, and this new class comes in, at what point does the institution stop being worth trying to preserve? What is our duty to students? Especially for someone teaching at a small liberal arts college--I've only ever worked at large public flagships--that has to be a deeply painful question to grapple with. Where do you go?
posted by sciatrix at 12:24 PM on August 22, 2023 [32 favorites]
The hostility is very real, and it is terrifying to watch the state of Florida crush its institutions of higher learning. I decided recently that if my postdoc finishes without lining up a job somewhere I feel safe living, I'll leave and seek a remote industry data science job: the geography-neutral, move-to-the-jobs philosophy of academia I have spent the last fifteen years of my life absorbing no longer feels feasible in the least. There's too many places working with state legislatures that openly want to crush their fractious academic institutions.
Even aside from the administrative pressure, New College's incoming class of freshmen will be changing dramatically in size and character this year--largely because the new president is heavily pushing to create and promote an athletic division, especially for whatever reason in baseball.
So... as her students transfer out, and this new class comes in, at what point does the institution stop being worth trying to preserve? What is our duty to students? Especially for someone teaching at a small liberal arts college--I've only ever worked at large public flagships--that has to be a deeply painful question to grapple with. Where do you go?
posted by sciatrix at 12:24 PM on August 22, 2023 [32 favorites]
As soon as I read the photo caption, i thought "there's no way gender studies will survive Rufo" (who did indeed start the entire CRT debacle).
The leave/stay decision has to be such a heartbreaking one. On one side, you're giving up to the bad guys and leaning your colleagues behind. On the other, you're facing a situation that will grind you down every day with its joylessness and antagonism.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:25 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
The leave/stay decision has to be such a heartbreaking one. On one side, you're giving up to the bad guys and leaning your colleagues behind. On the other, you're facing a situation that will grind you down every day with its joylessness and antagonism.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:25 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
When administrators told students and faculty to remove the pronouns from their email signatures, Reid refused.
These petty little fucks.
posted by brundlefly at 12:31 PM on August 22, 2023 [31 favorites]
These petty little fucks.
posted by brundlefly at 12:31 PM on August 22, 2023 [31 favorites]
largely because the new president is heavily pushing to create and promote an athletic division, especially for whatever reason in baseball
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Desantis played HS and college baseball.
posted by photoslob at 12:40 PM on August 22, 2023 [14 favorites]
I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Desantis played HS and college baseball.
posted by photoslob at 12:40 PM on August 22, 2023 [14 favorites]
The new administration aimed to destroy the old school and remake it in their own vision. Looks like they succeeded at the first part: Chaos at New College of Florida With the start of the semester two weeks away, students are grappling with absent professors, canceled classes and severe housing woes.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:42 PM on August 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:42 PM on August 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
Good thing Desantis' paramilitary program has gone so poorly, otherwise the dissenters would have been rounded up months ago.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:44 PM on August 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 12:44 PM on August 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
you're facing a situation that will grind you down every day with its joylessness and antagonism
Not just that. Yesterday I read a resignation letter from a New College professor of gender studies (the first time I saw Amy Reid's name, in fact; she was cc'd as the program director). It was awful. He (correctly) deemed Florida "the state where learning goes to die"--as well as "where medicine goes to die," given that his gender-affirming care is also in danger and his doctor is leaving the state because she can't practice ethically. He can no longer live, let alone teach, safely in Florida.
I have friends in Florida who are fighting the good fight, and my heart just breaks for them.
posted by dlugoczaj at 12:45 PM on August 22, 2023 [37 favorites]
Not just that. Yesterday I read a resignation letter from a New College professor of gender studies (the first time I saw Amy Reid's name, in fact; she was cc'd as the program director). It was awful. He (correctly) deemed Florida "the state where learning goes to die"--as well as "where medicine goes to die," given that his gender-affirming care is also in danger and his doctor is leaving the state because she can't practice ethically. He can no longer live, let alone teach, safely in Florida.
I have friends in Florida who are fighting the good fight, and my heart just breaks for them.
posted by dlugoczaj at 12:45 PM on August 22, 2023 [37 favorites]
At this point is it not the entirety of education throughout the state, if everything the state controls, that is like this?
posted by Artw at 12:50 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 12:50 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
New College is an extreme situation and is somewhat DeSantis-specific, but things are tough overall in academia right now. The headlines the other day about West Virginia U's announcement that it was cutting 7 percent of faculty positions, including the entire world languages department, was just the latest of a long string of bad news. Lots of job cuts, lots of erosion of benefits and salaries, lots of retreat from gains that had been made in terms of diversity and representation. And, lots of burnout, and people with other options increasingly choosing to leave.
posted by Dip Flash at 1:07 PM on August 22, 2023 [15 favorites]
posted by Dip Flash at 1:07 PM on August 22, 2023 [15 favorites]
It was the best possible place in the world for so many really, really brilliant people. There's just a lot of folks out there who are being deprived of something deeply necessary. And we are all being deprived of those peoples' best versions of themselves.
The alumni community is totally devastated. It's like witnessing a murder in slow motion.
The student body is evacuating. About third -- maybe more at this point -- of faculty have quit. It feels like the game is over. Given the clear agenda and mandate of the board, the only real option ever was some pretty serious and nasty May '68 style direct action. But there's just not the critical mass of bodies.
As for the baseball...one the hand, it's very tempting to read it as playing out a super weird fantasy of forcing your child to play organized sports in order to turn them into a real man, only at an institutional-level. On the other hand, it is pretty clearly a strategic injection of high school athletes as a means of fast-tracking cultural change. On the third hand, it seems obvious that those two options aren't so different.
posted by voiceofreason at 1:13 PM on August 22, 2023 [28 favorites]
The alumni community is totally devastated. It's like witnessing a murder in slow motion.
The student body is evacuating. About third -- maybe more at this point -- of faculty have quit. It feels like the game is over. Given the clear agenda and mandate of the board, the only real option ever was some pretty serious and nasty May '68 style direct action. But there's just not the critical mass of bodies.
As for the baseball...one the hand, it's very tempting to read it as playing out a super weird fantasy of forcing your child to play organized sports in order to turn them into a real man, only at an institutional-level. On the other hand, it is pretty clearly a strategic injection of high school athletes as a means of fast-tracking cultural change. On the third hand, it seems obvious that those two options aren't so different.
posted by voiceofreason at 1:13 PM on August 22, 2023 [28 favorites]
When a colleague told her that a Bible verse had appeared on cups at the campus coffee shop, she had to see for herself. There it was, in red, with the name of the Bible chapter spelled wrong: “Phillipians” 4:13. Reid looked up the words. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
I would totally steal one of those if I was on campus.
But yeah, a sad read - I was aware of the main points, but less so all of the petty attacks/absurdity, like painting over murals or hiring a baseball coach before there is even a field.
I'll admit I'm morbidly curious who New College will hire to replace all of those fleeing. Plenty of people with PhDs are centrist or even small "c" conservative, but I'm skeptical they'll be able to find enough people on board with their MAGA brand of politics. I guess they can always poach from the "University" of Austin...
posted by coffeecat at 1:17 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
I would totally steal one of those if I was on campus.
But yeah, a sad read - I was aware of the main points, but less so all of the petty attacks/absurdity, like painting over murals or hiring a baseball coach before there is even a field.
I'll admit I'm morbidly curious who New College will hire to replace all of those fleeing. Plenty of people with PhDs are centrist or even small "c" conservative, but I'm skeptical they'll be able to find enough people on board with their MAGA brand of politics. I guess they can always poach from the "University" of Austin...
posted by coffeecat at 1:17 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
They could always just become a diploma mill with a sports team attached.
posted by Artw at 1:24 PM on August 22, 2023 [11 favorites]
posted by Artw at 1:24 PM on August 22, 2023 [11 favorites]
This makes me so mad. I'm not surprised, since Desantis is a septic pile that cannot abide anyone contradicting him, but the most likely outcome of this is the complete capsizing of the school -- small liberal arts colleges are under a lot of demographic pressure right now, and who is going to want graduates from a school with the baggage that the "transformed" college is going to have?
It's almost as if Desantis wants a population that is neither educated nor employed.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:41 PM on August 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
It's almost as if Desantis wants a population that is neither educated nor employed.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:41 PM on August 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
I had Prof. Reid for French back in the dawn of time! I was a terrible French student.
All of us alumni are just in a perpetual state of despondency -- except for a few awesome folks who are getting into the (losing) fight.
It's really freaking weird to be watching such a formative part of my life dismantled so comprehensively and with such evil intent. But of course I'm not one of the students and faculty on the front lines right now.
posted by feckless at 1:45 PM on August 22, 2023 [45 favorites]
All of us alumni are just in a perpetual state of despondency -- except for a few awesome folks who are getting into the (losing) fight.
It's really freaking weird to be watching such a formative part of my life dismantled so comprehensively and with such evil intent. But of course I'm not one of the students and faculty on the front lines right now.
posted by feckless at 1:45 PM on August 22, 2023 [45 favorites]
“ It's almost as if Desantis wants a population that is neither educated nor employed.”
Uneducated, definitely. But unemployed? Absolutely not. Florida has the worst unemployment claim procedure in the universe. It is designed to make you give up. And since the state declined to accept the Medicaid expansion, there is no statewide subsidized health insurance available to anyone making less than $100 of the federal poverty line unless they otherwise qualify for Medicaid (pregnant, have a child under 18, blind, disabled, over 65).
posted by toodleydoodley at 1:48 PM on August 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
Uneducated, definitely. But unemployed? Absolutely not. Florida has the worst unemployment claim procedure in the universe. It is designed to make you give up. And since the state declined to accept the Medicaid expansion, there is no statewide subsidized health insurance available to anyone making less than $100 of the federal poverty line unless they otherwise qualify for Medicaid (pregnant, have a child under 18, blind, disabled, over 65).
posted by toodleydoodley at 1:48 PM on August 22, 2023 [4 favorites]
But unemployed? Absolutely not.
He looks to me like he's set on driving business out as well. Who wants to expand into a state where the governor and legislature a clearly unhinged and might at any time decide to wreck your business or jail your employees. Best go elsewhere. If the hurricanes get any worse (and they will), tourism is going to tank during critical travel months, and then what are people going to do?
It's like watching children play with matches in a gasoline-soaked tent.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:58 PM on August 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
He looks to me like he's set on driving business out as well. Who wants to expand into a state where the governor and legislature a clearly unhinged and might at any time decide to wreck your business or jail your employees. Best go elsewhere. If the hurricanes get any worse (and they will), tourism is going to tank during critical travel months, and then what are people going to do?
It's like watching children play with matches in a gasoline-soaked tent.
posted by GenjiandProust at 1:58 PM on August 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
Just a reminder that the man attacking coastal elites and colleges attended Yale and Harvard.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:59 PM on August 22, 2023 [54 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 1:59 PM on August 22, 2023 [54 favorites]
Note: this not gloating over the current and future suffering of people in Florida. I know that many are as appalled as I am and have no way to get out, but there are a lot of people who are voting for something they do not want to receive....
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:02 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:02 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
Maybe rename the campus PragerU?
posted by nofundy at 2:13 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by nofundy at 2:13 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
You forgot uninsured.
posted by Artw at 2:18 PM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Artw at 2:18 PM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
This just eats me alive. I attended the state's flagship school, which consistently scores in the top 10 national public universities. It houses excellent law, engineering, business, and medical schools. Hmm...turns out you need qualified people to run a state government, NASA, Disney, and cancer research for a large elderly population. Faculty and staff are also fleeing, and goddamn it's such a waste of a good thing.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:20 PM on August 22, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:20 PM on August 22, 2023 [12 favorites]
Maybe rename the campus PragerU?
Florida approves conservative PragerU lessons for schools
posted by Artw at 2:20 PM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
Florida approves conservative PragerU lessons for schools
posted by Artw at 2:20 PM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
Florida approves conservative PragerU lessons for schools
For fuck sake, he's posing in front of my alma mater's bell tower.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:33 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
For fuck sake, he's posing in front of my alma mater's bell tower.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 2:33 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's not just New College, academic recruiting is suffering across the state. The unofficial state motto of "better than Alabama, in some ways" will likely have to be modified.
I can imagine this will affect alumni donations as well.
posted by credulous at 2:38 PM on August 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
I can imagine this will affect alumni donations as well.
posted by credulous at 2:38 PM on August 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
The situation in Florida is atrocious, but it's important to be aware of how widespread this movement on the part of MAGA politicians to ban all academic and support programs related to gender, race/ethnicity, and sexuality is. I'm a professor in the Wisconsin state university system, where, in addition to my regular fulltime work in my home department I direct the LGBTQ+ Studies Program (a more-than-halftime job I have done for many years in return for zero additional salary, or summer funds, or course buyout, or any other compensation. . .).
This summer, the Wisconsin state legislature, gerrymandered into permanent Republican control, voted to ban all DEI programs in the state university system, and cut $32 million from the university budget, which it stated was amount of "taxpayer money being wasted on divisive indoctrination efforts" (to paraphrase Assembly Speaker Robin Vos). This comes after years of successive budget cuts and a ten-year tuition freeze and years of faculty and staff taking pay cuts in the form of "furloughs" through which we were expected to just keep working. The situation is now somewhat improved in that Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vetoed the DEI ban, but he cannot restore the funding. Anyway: a few days after the legislative vote to ban DEI , I was giving a talk about the range of state bills attacking trans youth and adults, and there was a Democratic state legislator on the panel. When we were introducing ourselves and I told her I directed the LGBTQ+ Studies Program, she said, "Oh, but that's no longer legal. Well, unless Evers vetoes the ban; we'll see."
After doing some blinking, I responded by explaining the difference between DEI programs and academic programs. DEI programs provide student support services, which is deemed administrative work, in contrast to academic programs. The LGBTQ+ Resource Center and the LGBTQ+ Studies Program at my university are both vital and important. But the resource center organizes support groups and social activities for students, while the academic program teaches classes and sponsors academic talks. Academic programs are not part of the DEI system--and the very same legislature that voted for the DEI ban had spent years prior threatening sanctions against students and faculty for supposedly not sufficiently respecting the absolute value of free speech in academia. Legislators presented instructors as censorious ideologues, students as snowflakes in love with a victim narrative, and the legislature as the champion of teaching and discussing all ideas freely.
The image of DEI programs presented by Republican legislators is some kind of kink fantasy, in which cis straight white men are forced to prostrate themselves, declare themselves to be bad and deserving of punishment, and lick the boots of students who are trans and queer, of color and feminist. The reality is that university DEI programs are providing mental health services and tutoring and social support to college students, at a time when their levels of mental health challenges are very high. They have zero to do with the kink humiliation fantasy, they really are about inclusion, and it is ludicrous and cruel to cut social support to marginalized college students.
But even if the state ban were not vetoed, a DEI ban does not dismantle programs like Gender Studies or African and African Diaspora Studies or LGBTQ+ Studies, because they are academic programs, I explained to the Democratic legislator. But from her response, it was clear that not only did Republican Wisconsin legislators think they'd banned all academic programs examining race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and who knows what else (disability studies? Jewish studies and Islamic studies?), but that the Democratic legislators seemed to believe so as well.
The flip from "we are the party of free speech!" to "we are the party that bans books and entire academic disciplines!" happened with dizzying speed. But take it from me as a trans person--these legislative attacks can burst across the country in the space of months, shifting the landscape radically. The thing about the MAGA movement is that it is made up of people who believe that the situation is desperate, the American project is on the verge of failure, and the time has come to destroy or be destroyed. Most Americans, including non-MAGA Republicans, want to see the culture war cool down and Americans get along, but MAGA-sorts want it to go hot. And I have to admit some despair about what to do about this, because of the unpersuadability of this group. Take a look at Question 39 from this CBS/YouGov poll of Iowa voters last week, and what percentage of Republican voters there believe they are being lied to by various parties. The percentage of MAGA voters who said they said they believed they were being told the truth by Trump was 71%, in comparison to 63% for friends and family, 56% for conservative news sources, and 42% for religious leaders. Only 32% of Iowa Republicans generally believed they were told the truth by medical scientists. (The figures for Joe Biden and "liberal media" were 10% and 8% respectively.)
It is hard to persuade people with facts and logic and calls for empathy when they think you are a liar attacking their great leader with whom 99% say they identify. What we have to do is persuade others to stand up. And I don't want to be doomy, but my experience with resisting transphobic legislation and action causes me a lot of concern. It's not just "the face-eating leopards won't eat my face" problem. The fact is, frankly, that a lot of institutions and people are craven. This past year I was in a working group with medical and social scientists advising the HHS about creating guidelines for research with intersex and transgender populations, and then Libs of TikTok spread lies about hospitals supposedly performing "sex changes" on little kids, and several children's hospitals received bomb threats--and suddenly most of the medical researchers working with trans youth were pulled from the working group by the hospitals they were affiliated with. Hospital administrators are shutting down research on trans youth and clinics serving trans youth, rather than having the backs of threatened doctors and patients, handing a victory to the face-eating leopards who growled at them.
My conclusion is that we need to focus energy on teaching people who have not dealt with serious bullying before how to stand up to bullies. For people like concerned parents considering attending school board meetings to oppose book bans, we could teach basic mutual aid strategies, like forming a supportive group to attend together. But what we are to do about people like college administrators and corporate executives who would like to do the right thing for students and employees, but not as much as they'd like to avoid offending a wealthy donor or receiving negative conservative media attention. . . that's a big question to me.
posted by DrMew at 2:54 PM on August 22, 2023 [111 favorites]
This summer, the Wisconsin state legislature, gerrymandered into permanent Republican control, voted to ban all DEI programs in the state university system, and cut $32 million from the university budget, which it stated was amount of "taxpayer money being wasted on divisive indoctrination efforts" (to paraphrase Assembly Speaker Robin Vos). This comes after years of successive budget cuts and a ten-year tuition freeze and years of faculty and staff taking pay cuts in the form of "furloughs" through which we were expected to just keep working. The situation is now somewhat improved in that Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, vetoed the DEI ban, but he cannot restore the funding. Anyway: a few days after the legislative vote to ban DEI , I was giving a talk about the range of state bills attacking trans youth and adults, and there was a Democratic state legislator on the panel. When we were introducing ourselves and I told her I directed the LGBTQ+ Studies Program, she said, "Oh, but that's no longer legal. Well, unless Evers vetoes the ban; we'll see."
After doing some blinking, I responded by explaining the difference between DEI programs and academic programs. DEI programs provide student support services, which is deemed administrative work, in contrast to academic programs. The LGBTQ+ Resource Center and the LGBTQ+ Studies Program at my university are both vital and important. But the resource center organizes support groups and social activities for students, while the academic program teaches classes and sponsors academic talks. Academic programs are not part of the DEI system--and the very same legislature that voted for the DEI ban had spent years prior threatening sanctions against students and faculty for supposedly not sufficiently respecting the absolute value of free speech in academia. Legislators presented instructors as censorious ideologues, students as snowflakes in love with a victim narrative, and the legislature as the champion of teaching and discussing all ideas freely.
The image of DEI programs presented by Republican legislators is some kind of kink fantasy, in which cis straight white men are forced to prostrate themselves, declare themselves to be bad and deserving of punishment, and lick the boots of students who are trans and queer, of color and feminist. The reality is that university DEI programs are providing mental health services and tutoring and social support to college students, at a time when their levels of mental health challenges are very high. They have zero to do with the kink humiliation fantasy, they really are about inclusion, and it is ludicrous and cruel to cut social support to marginalized college students.
But even if the state ban were not vetoed, a DEI ban does not dismantle programs like Gender Studies or African and African Diaspora Studies or LGBTQ+ Studies, because they are academic programs, I explained to the Democratic legislator. But from her response, it was clear that not only did Republican Wisconsin legislators think they'd banned all academic programs examining race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and who knows what else (disability studies? Jewish studies and Islamic studies?), but that the Democratic legislators seemed to believe so as well.
The flip from "we are the party of free speech!" to "we are the party that bans books and entire academic disciplines!" happened with dizzying speed. But take it from me as a trans person--these legislative attacks can burst across the country in the space of months, shifting the landscape radically. The thing about the MAGA movement is that it is made up of people who believe that the situation is desperate, the American project is on the verge of failure, and the time has come to destroy or be destroyed. Most Americans, including non-MAGA Republicans, want to see the culture war cool down and Americans get along, but MAGA-sorts want it to go hot. And I have to admit some despair about what to do about this, because of the unpersuadability of this group. Take a look at Question 39 from this CBS/YouGov poll of Iowa voters last week, and what percentage of Republican voters there believe they are being lied to by various parties. The percentage of MAGA voters who said they said they believed they were being told the truth by Trump was 71%, in comparison to 63% for friends and family, 56% for conservative news sources, and 42% for religious leaders. Only 32% of Iowa Republicans generally believed they were told the truth by medical scientists. (The figures for Joe Biden and "liberal media" were 10% and 8% respectively.)
It is hard to persuade people with facts and logic and calls for empathy when they think you are a liar attacking their great leader with whom 99% say they identify. What we have to do is persuade others to stand up. And I don't want to be doomy, but my experience with resisting transphobic legislation and action causes me a lot of concern. It's not just "the face-eating leopards won't eat my face" problem. The fact is, frankly, that a lot of institutions and people are craven. This past year I was in a working group with medical and social scientists advising the HHS about creating guidelines for research with intersex and transgender populations, and then Libs of TikTok spread lies about hospitals supposedly performing "sex changes" on little kids, and several children's hospitals received bomb threats--and suddenly most of the medical researchers working with trans youth were pulled from the working group by the hospitals they were affiliated with. Hospital administrators are shutting down research on trans youth and clinics serving trans youth, rather than having the backs of threatened doctors and patients, handing a victory to the face-eating leopards who growled at them.
My conclusion is that we need to focus energy on teaching people who have not dealt with serious bullying before how to stand up to bullies. For people like concerned parents considering attending school board meetings to oppose book bans, we could teach basic mutual aid strategies, like forming a supportive group to attend together. But what we are to do about people like college administrators and corporate executives who would like to do the right thing for students and employees, but not as much as they'd like to avoid offending a wealthy donor or receiving negative conservative media attention. . . that's a big question to me.
posted by DrMew at 2:54 PM on August 22, 2023 [111 favorites]
Thanks, DrMew. I also teach for a Wisconsin system school, and because my field is computing-adjacent it's about to get roflstomped -- again -- by a bunch of greedy tunnel-visioned goons who can't lick tech-industry boots long and hard enough. I walked out of yesterday's all-staff meeting (quietly and non-disruptively, I'm not a goon) after about ten minutes of listening to the goon squad's so-called leader yelling about COMPYOOTAYSHUN, THE FYOOCHUR UV ERRYTHING.
I seriously had to fight to get them to include ONE PERSON on the goon squad from anything at all non-profit.
I don't think the program I teach in will exist by the time its next accreditation cycle rolls around. I can probably stick it out to retirement by teaching undergrads, but I likely won't -- I'll take a pay cut and go do something else.
We did at least poach someone from a public university in Florida this year. It honestly feels like a rescue.
posted by humbug at 3:07 PM on August 22, 2023 [9 favorites]
I seriously had to fight to get them to include ONE PERSON on the goon squad from anything at all non-profit.
I don't think the program I teach in will exist by the time its next accreditation cycle rolls around. I can probably stick it out to retirement by teaching undergrads, but I likely won't -- I'll take a pay cut and go do something else.
We did at least poach someone from a public university in Florida this year. It honestly feels like a rescue.
posted by humbug at 3:07 PM on August 22, 2023 [9 favorites]
New College sounds like it was an amazing, unique place to get a liberal arts education
It really was.
posted by penduluum at 3:11 PM on August 22, 2023 [13 favorites]
It really was.
posted by penduluum at 3:11 PM on August 22, 2023 [13 favorites]
This article has real ‘ferrying the Danish Jews to Sweden’ energy.
I hope she gets out before she gets hurt too badly.
posted by bq at 3:57 PM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
I hope she gets out before she gets hurt too badly.
posted by bq at 3:57 PM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
The flip from "we are the party of free speech!" to "we are the party that bans books and entire academic disciplines!" happened with dizzying speed.
That's a big advantage of bullshit -- you can easily reshape it into whatever form is convenient at the moment.
posted by bjrubble at 4:33 PM on August 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
That's a big advantage of bullshit -- you can easily reshape it into whatever form is convenient at the moment.
posted by bjrubble at 4:33 PM on August 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
She is a goddamned hero.
But in Florida, she will probably get stomped on.
What a terrible bunch of evil fucks the GOP is in Florida. A shame that what appers to have been a great school has been turned into this. Props to all the students who have said, "Fuck this". And the profs who have resigned.
But an amazingly terrible, sad story.
posted by Windopaene at 4:42 PM on August 22, 2023 [7 favorites]
But in Florida, she will probably get stomped on.
What a terrible bunch of evil fucks the GOP is in Florida. A shame that what appers to have been a great school has been turned into this. Props to all the students who have said, "Fuck this". And the profs who have resigned.
But an amazingly terrible, sad story.
posted by Windopaene at 4:42 PM on August 22, 2023 [7 favorites]
I lived through the global canary in the mineshaft when I was a graduate student at Central European University and the illiberal Fidesz regime kicked the US accredited university out of Hungary as a political show of force
>”The fact is, frankly, that a lot of institutions and people are craven.”
Repeated for truth but there’s also another aspect of liberal institutions at work here. And I’m not using ‘liberal’ as a pejorative, just factually. During times when liberals are in control, institutions work to hold back, demote or expel the strongest communitarian voices in the name of efficiency and “progress”. The way to future-proof an institution like this against fascist takeover would have been for the board seats to be majoritarian elected by faculty, students and alumni. Stakeholders like students and faculty without actual controlling stakes are, in the end, just consumers and employees. Sustainability flows from the buy-in and true power and equity held by the community. Without that, there is nothing sustainable
Unfortunately, career climbers, administrators and managers almost universally oppose giving up power to the people who make up the core community of an institution. This happens regardless of political affiliation or benevolence
Which is all to say, institutions are craven by design
posted by Skwirl at 4:53 PM on August 22, 2023 [21 favorites]
>”The fact is, frankly, that a lot of institutions and people are craven.”
Repeated for truth but there’s also another aspect of liberal institutions at work here. And I’m not using ‘liberal’ as a pejorative, just factually. During times when liberals are in control, institutions work to hold back, demote or expel the strongest communitarian voices in the name of efficiency and “progress”. The way to future-proof an institution like this against fascist takeover would have been for the board seats to be majoritarian elected by faculty, students and alumni. Stakeholders like students and faculty without actual controlling stakes are, in the end, just consumers and employees. Sustainability flows from the buy-in and true power and equity held by the community. Without that, there is nothing sustainable
Unfortunately, career climbers, administrators and managers almost universally oppose giving up power to the people who make up the core community of an institution. This happens regardless of political affiliation or benevolence
Which is all to say, institutions are craven by design
posted by Skwirl at 4:53 PM on August 22, 2023 [21 favorites]
I’ve read that DeSantis was a JAG officer at Guantanamo, and what I would dearly like to know is how actively he participated in the torture of inmates there.
Because everything he does has strong overtones of malicious cruelty and gleeful delight in causing people he disagrees with to suffer.
posted by jamjam at 5:05 PM on August 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
Because everything he does has strong overtones of malicious cruelty and gleeful delight in causing people he disagrees with to suffer.
posted by jamjam at 5:05 PM on August 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
Which amounts to almost cosmic levels of irony that he should be the popular Governor of a state his party's policies will end up waterboarding in its entirety in the very near future.
posted by jamjam at 5:15 PM on August 22, 2023
posted by jamjam at 5:15 PM on August 22, 2023
During times when liberals are in control, institutions work to hold back, demote or expel the strongest communitarian voices in the name of efficiency and “progress”.
I’m curious to hear what examples of this process you have in mind.
The way to future-proof an institution like this against fascist takeover would have been for the board seats to be majoritarian elected by faculty, students and alumni.
Unfortunately for New College, it’s part of the State University of Florida system. The school and its facilities are explicitly owned by the state.
posted by bq at 5:26 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
I’m curious to hear what examples of this process you have in mind.
The way to future-proof an institution like this against fascist takeover would have been for the board seats to be majoritarian elected by faculty, students and alumni.
Unfortunately for New College, it’s part of the State University of Florida system. The school and its facilities are explicitly owned by the state.
posted by bq at 5:26 PM on August 22, 2023 [2 favorites]
This makes me so mad. I'm not surprised, since Desantis is a septic pile that cannot abide anyone contradicting him, but the most likely outcome of this is the complete capsizing of the school -- small liberal arts colleges are under a lot of demographic pressure right now, and who is going to want graduates from a school with the baggage that the "transformed" college is going to have?
I assume that part of the half-baked plan is to re-position the school as a competitor with the other small conservative colleges like Hillsdale College. (Link goes to a recent New Yorker profile of the school.) There aren't that many competitors in the space of "conservative politics plus serious academics," so they might really find a niche, though including the conservative Catholic schools that market might be already saturated.. To do this they'll need to turn over most of the faculty and rebuild the student body from the ground up. If this was a private, endowment-funded school that depended on alumni donations they could never take that kind of scorched earth approach, but with state funding they have the finances and freedom to do it.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:48 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
I assume that part of the half-baked plan is to re-position the school as a competitor with the other small conservative colleges like Hillsdale College. (Link goes to a recent New Yorker profile of the school.) There aren't that many competitors in the space of "conservative politics plus serious academics," so they might really find a niche, though including the conservative Catholic schools that market might be already saturated.. To do this they'll need to turn over most of the faculty and rebuild the student body from the ground up. If this was a private, endowment-funded school that depended on alumni donations they could never take that kind of scorched earth approach, but with state funding they have the finances and freedom to do it.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:48 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
I keep expecting a voter backlash but Florida seems to have gone further and further to the right as time has gone on.
posted by interogative mood at 5:55 PM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 5:55 PM on August 22, 2023 [5 favorites]
When we were introducing ourselves and I told her I directed the LGBTQ+ Studies Program, she said, "Oh, but that's no longer legal. Well, unless Evers vetoes the ban; we'll see."
She said what?! I--that is not a simple error to make! Especially if you're dealing with a significant fraction of people trying to squash one or both of these programs! I'm so confused by the level of confusion on behalf of the legislature. DEI programs also provide support for staff and faculty--I'm helping organize a LGBTQ+ bowling event for grad students/postbaccs/postdocs/research techs across disciplines next month, for example, and both the funds for that event and some of the salary of the person doing the lion's share of the organizing for a number of different groups comes from DEI funds--in our case at UMN, funds through the Graduate Program in Neuroscience.
Basically, DEI stuff is about retaining, supporting, and recruiting diverse people, regardless of the specific research they do. (That's why this bowling night, for example, is getting advertised to people in as many departments as we can find contact information for--the point is to create a networking space beyond the undergraduate level to help build support networks for marginalized scientists at the next level up, without necessarily bringing in the conflicts of interest that can happen when faculty are in the room.)
On the flip side, kyriarchy studies (for lack of a better overarching term aimed at the multidisciplinary fields devoted to Studying That Axis of Marginalization and Impacts) is equally important but largely irrelevant to the question of whether any specific scientist in a given pipeline gets retained: those are branches of actual scholarship that create their own domain knowledge and research, not attempts to create support structures and recruit diverse individuals for the university. Totally dissimilar things; I'm frankly horrified that your legislators aren't distinguishing them. I'll go nudge a few Wisconsin friends to write letters to that effect when I'm done here.
My conclusion is that we need to focus energy on teaching people who have not dealt with serious bullying before how to stand up to bullies. For people like concerned parents considering attending school board meetings to oppose book bans, we could teach basic mutual aid strategies, like forming a supportive group to attend together. But what we are to do about people like college administrators and corporate executives who would like to do the right thing for students and employees, but not as much as they'd like to avoid offending a wealthy donor or receiving negative conservative media attention. . . that's a big question to me.
There's also that aspect of Midwestern conflict avoidance that I've been grappling with, too: it seems like there's generally a feeling that too-open resistance to nasty shit means that you're the person bringing the conflict, not the person who brought the ostensibly polite but awful stuff in the first place. "Meet me in the middle, says the dishonest man," and that.
I have had some good success by politely but firmly asking really painful questions that are designed to highlight moral dissonance in a calm, polite, friendly tone. (Yes, yes, tone policing sucks, but I'm thinking about what I'm finding effective here, and I'm translating my style from the more colorful registers I'm used to after a decade in Texas.) Ask people who they are and who they want to be. Get them thinking about whether they want to be seen as a bigot or as someone who takes a principled stand, that kind of thing. (Yeah, DrMew, I'm teaching my granddad to suck eggs a bit here, and I figure a lot of this is probably obvious. But it can be useful to lay some of it out.)
I've found that it's important to offer people the flattering moral high ground of being a crusader against bigotry--basically, you encourage people to think of themselves as being Captain American Punching a Nazi writ small. You can lay groundwork when you teach this by coaxing people to take small stands against the loud bullies so that they learn how much of the MAGA protests are just hot air in a forum that feels lower stakes and safer to them. Ridicule the "concerns" about children's gender affirming care with infographics or talking points that emphasize the specifics of what is happening and then sadly decry the emotional need to control things that keeps people from understanding the situation. This particular misunderstanding is a great example: if you play your cards right, you can ridicule the "concerns" about DEI programs by derisively pointing out that the people trying to ban them don't even know what they are. Obviously you want the legislators to be doing that instead, so you explain this to them in a way that will let them feel clever and well informed because they have bothered to talk to someone who actually works in your area and the GOP hasn't. Humanize the issue, emphasize the real and potential costs, and create an emotional attachment to the idea of being the wise person telling nasty, inattentive bullies to get lost.
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to find incredibly low stakes things to call these assholes' bluff on so people can get their feet wet on resistance. A lot of people genuinely do not realize just how easy it often is to stare these fuckwits down, and they spook at every empty, bloviating gesture because they would never make a gesture like that unless they really meant it. Once they call one bluff and those fuckwits cave immediately, though--whooee, it's a heady feeling to know you've made a real difference, and it's usually way easier to get people to resist again next time--and to do it harder.
What you want to do is to build folks up the way you build up any kind of drive for conflict or hunting: you give them easy successes at first and you build them up and make them feel really good about themselves, you cheer and stomp your feet and you really reward the smallest little things. Does this mean you might wind up praising people and handing out cookies for really minor stuff? Yep! Will it feel like you're praising people for doing the bare minimum? Oh, probably. Don't be condescending about it, it's like anyone learning to do something new; it's always much harder and more intimidating at the beginning. And I find that this is especially true for women, who more often face social consequences for this kind of work but are nevertheless more likely in my experience to try if you give them a little encouragement.
posted by sciatrix at 6:40 PM on August 22, 2023 [32 favorites]
She said what?! I--that is not a simple error to make! Especially if you're dealing with a significant fraction of people trying to squash one or both of these programs! I'm so confused by the level of confusion on behalf of the legislature. DEI programs also provide support for staff and faculty--I'm helping organize a LGBTQ+ bowling event for grad students/postbaccs/postdocs/research techs across disciplines next month, for example, and both the funds for that event and some of the salary of the person doing the lion's share of the organizing for a number of different groups comes from DEI funds--in our case at UMN, funds through the Graduate Program in Neuroscience.
Basically, DEI stuff is about retaining, supporting, and recruiting diverse people, regardless of the specific research they do. (That's why this bowling night, for example, is getting advertised to people in as many departments as we can find contact information for--the point is to create a networking space beyond the undergraduate level to help build support networks for marginalized scientists at the next level up, without necessarily bringing in the conflicts of interest that can happen when faculty are in the room.)
On the flip side, kyriarchy studies (for lack of a better overarching term aimed at the multidisciplinary fields devoted to Studying That Axis of Marginalization and Impacts) is equally important but largely irrelevant to the question of whether any specific scientist in a given pipeline gets retained: those are branches of actual scholarship that create their own domain knowledge and research, not attempts to create support structures and recruit diverse individuals for the university. Totally dissimilar things; I'm frankly horrified that your legislators aren't distinguishing them. I'll go nudge a few Wisconsin friends to write letters to that effect when I'm done here.
My conclusion is that we need to focus energy on teaching people who have not dealt with serious bullying before how to stand up to bullies. For people like concerned parents considering attending school board meetings to oppose book bans, we could teach basic mutual aid strategies, like forming a supportive group to attend together. But what we are to do about people like college administrators and corporate executives who would like to do the right thing for students and employees, but not as much as they'd like to avoid offending a wealthy donor or receiving negative conservative media attention. . . that's a big question to me.
There's also that aspect of Midwestern conflict avoidance that I've been grappling with, too: it seems like there's generally a feeling that too-open resistance to nasty shit means that you're the person bringing the conflict, not the person who brought the ostensibly polite but awful stuff in the first place. "Meet me in the middle, says the dishonest man," and that.
I have had some good success by politely but firmly asking really painful questions that are designed to highlight moral dissonance in a calm, polite, friendly tone. (Yes, yes, tone policing sucks, but I'm thinking about what I'm finding effective here, and I'm translating my style from the more colorful registers I'm used to after a decade in Texas.) Ask people who they are and who they want to be. Get them thinking about whether they want to be seen as a bigot or as someone who takes a principled stand, that kind of thing. (Yeah, DrMew, I'm teaching my granddad to suck eggs a bit here, and I figure a lot of this is probably obvious. But it can be useful to lay some of it out.)
I've found that it's important to offer people the flattering moral high ground of being a crusader against bigotry--basically, you encourage people to think of themselves as being Captain American Punching a Nazi writ small. You can lay groundwork when you teach this by coaxing people to take small stands against the loud bullies so that they learn how much of the MAGA protests are just hot air in a forum that feels lower stakes and safer to them. Ridicule the "concerns" about children's gender affirming care with infographics or talking points that emphasize the specifics of what is happening and then sadly decry the emotional need to control things that keeps people from understanding the situation. This particular misunderstanding is a great example: if you play your cards right, you can ridicule the "concerns" about DEI programs by derisively pointing out that the people trying to ban them don't even know what they are. Obviously you want the legislators to be doing that instead, so you explain this to them in a way that will let them feel clever and well informed because they have bothered to talk to someone who actually works in your area and the GOP hasn't. Humanize the issue, emphasize the real and potential costs, and create an emotional attachment to the idea of being the wise person telling nasty, inattentive bullies to get lost.
I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to find incredibly low stakes things to call these assholes' bluff on so people can get their feet wet on resistance. A lot of people genuinely do not realize just how easy it often is to stare these fuckwits down, and they spook at every empty, bloviating gesture because they would never make a gesture like that unless they really meant it. Once they call one bluff and those fuckwits cave immediately, though--whooee, it's a heady feeling to know you've made a real difference, and it's usually way easier to get people to resist again next time--and to do it harder.
What you want to do is to build folks up the way you build up any kind of drive for conflict or hunting: you give them easy successes at first and you build them up and make them feel really good about themselves, you cheer and stomp your feet and you really reward the smallest little things. Does this mean you might wind up praising people and handing out cookies for really minor stuff? Yep! Will it feel like you're praising people for doing the bare minimum? Oh, probably. Don't be condescending about it, it's like anyone learning to do something new; it's always much harder and more intimidating at the beginning. And I find that this is especially true for women, who more often face social consequences for this kind of work but are nevertheless more likely in my experience to try if you give them a little encouragement.
posted by sciatrix at 6:40 PM on August 22, 2023 [32 favorites]
I'll admit I'm morbidly curious who New College will hire to replace all of those fleeing. Plenty of people with PhDs are centrist or even small "c" conservative, but I'm skeptical they'll be able to find enough people on board with their MAGA brand of politics
I assume that part of the half-baked plan is to re-position the school as a competitor with the other small conservative colleges like Hillsdale College. (Link goes to a recent New Yorker profile of the school.) There aren't that many competitors in the space of "conservative politics plus serious academics," so they might really find a niche
GMU in Virginia comes to mind as a public university that has successfully branded itself as a haven for conservatives - skewing Libertarian, they get a lot of their academic credibility from having a bunch of prize-winning econ people, but they’ve also got an Antonin Scalia School of Law.
posted by atoxyl at 7:22 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
I assume that part of the half-baked plan is to re-position the school as a competitor with the other small conservative colleges like Hillsdale College. (Link goes to a recent New Yorker profile of the school.) There aren't that many competitors in the space of "conservative politics plus serious academics," so they might really find a niche
GMU in Virginia comes to mind as a public university that has successfully branded itself as a haven for conservatives - skewing Libertarian, they get a lot of their academic credibility from having a bunch of prize-winning econ people, but they’ve also got an Antonin Scalia School of Law.
posted by atoxyl at 7:22 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
But that’s a big research university so yeah, I assume the plan for New New College has to be to compete with the other conservative liberal arts schools. I knew an alum and he made it sound like a great place so believe me I’m very sad to see what’s happening to it. But I am cynical enough to think that there is probably a market for what they will be selling.
posted by atoxyl at 7:31 PM on August 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by atoxyl at 7:31 PM on August 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Antonin Scalia School of Law
I’m using the original proposed name here. They fairly swiftly changed “School of Law” to “Law School” for reasons you can figure out. No joke.
posted by atoxyl at 7:34 PM on August 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
I’m using the original proposed name here. They fairly swiftly changed “School of Law” to “Law School” for reasons you can figure out. No joke.
posted by atoxyl at 7:34 PM on August 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
I went to New College, one of many oddballs who found a home there. I'm sad other Florida students won't have New College to mess around and find themselves while being passionate about education. I'm sure I could have muddled along without attending the school, but it fed my curiosity and wonder and desire to connect withl others, which had been pretty dormant in high school.
I'm glad Dr. Reid is going down fighting even though it seems like a sunk ship. Desantis is attacking community and further isolating students who need a place to find home.
posted by ajarbaday at 7:37 PM on August 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
I'm glad Dr. Reid is going down fighting even though it seems like a sunk ship. Desantis is attacking community and further isolating students who need a place to find home.
posted by ajarbaday at 7:37 PM on August 22, 2023 [10 favorites]
I did not go to New College, but friends did, and during my college search time, it was heavily pushed to me by my high school advisors as a way for a Florida resident who could not afford a smallish liberal arts college like, say, Oberlin, to still have that kind of education on an in-state student's budget. This factor really hasn't come up a lot in most of the discussions I've seen -- that a big part of the purpose of the institution and the way it was sold to families was that it was much friendlier in financial terms to working and middle class students than most other similar schools.
Only fascists are going to be offered that kind of college education in FL now, I guess.
posted by verbminx at 9:02 PM on August 22, 2023 [13 favorites]
Only fascists are going to be offered that kind of college education in FL now, I guess.
posted by verbminx at 9:02 PM on August 22, 2023 [13 favorites]
In a dark time, it has been a small joy to me to watch Ron DeSantis’ presidential dreams die so publicly.
posted by ryanshepard at 9:04 PM on August 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by ryanshepard at 9:04 PM on August 22, 2023 [6 favorites]
This factor really hasn't come up a lot in most of the discussions I've seen -- that a big part of the purpose of the institution and the way it was sold to families was that it was much friendlier in financial terms to working and middle class students than most other similar schools.
And if I remember right, Florida has or had a program like Georgia's HOPE scholarship which totally covered in state tuition for residents if you could keep your GPA above a certain threshold, yeah? The HOPE was absolutely invaluable to me as a student who didn't trust my parents not to try to control me in exchange for tuition and finances; for me, it meant a lot of freedom.
I think Florida had been undermining that program for some time, but that combined with a SLAC that is also a public university would have been one hell of an opportunity for students. What a shame.
posted by sciatrix at 9:12 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
And if I remember right, Florida has or had a program like Georgia's HOPE scholarship which totally covered in state tuition for residents if you could keep your GPA above a certain threshold, yeah? The HOPE was absolutely invaluable to me as a student who didn't trust my parents not to try to control me in exchange for tuition and finances; for me, it meant a lot of freedom.
I think Florida had been undermining that program for some time, but that combined with a SLAC that is also a public university would have been one hell of an opportunity for students. What a shame.
posted by sciatrix at 9:12 PM on August 22, 2023 [3 favorites]
> I assume the plan for New New College has to be to compete with the other conservative liberal arts schools.
And to give a public salary and a title to right wing ideologues, who faux neutrality-obsessed organizations will be pressured to treat as on par with faculty at other US state colleges.
posted by smelendez at 10:26 PM on August 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
And to give a public salary and a title to right wing ideologues, who faux neutrality-obsessed organizations will be pressured to treat as on par with faculty at other US state colleges.
posted by smelendez at 10:26 PM on August 22, 2023 [8 favorites]
[this is sad]
posted by dg at 10:59 PM on August 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by dg at 10:59 PM on August 22, 2023 [1 favorite]
Florida's a story I've been aware of, but not really following that closely from this side of the Atlantic. I knew it was bad, but I hadn't realised quite how bad.
I'm really sorry for the Floridians on here.
posted by MattWPBS at 1:24 AM on August 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
I'm really sorry for the Floridians on here.
posted by MattWPBS at 1:24 AM on August 23, 2023 [2 favorites]
I left my unionized and tenured position in Ohio higher ed recently for the wild unknowns of self-employment and not a day goes by that I don't feel like I got on one of the final life rafts off the Titanic. I still have some guilt about not staying and fighting the good fight, but I gave it a good decade and I started seeing the writing on the wall when other unionized and tenured librarians elsewhere in the state started getting laid off. What's happening to public education (K-12 and higher ed) right now in red states is completely terrifying. Ohio is like, two steps behind Florida, and there's so much bullshit going down here that we now have a new activist group dedicated simply to tracking all of the legislation.
I think people who don't live in these states comfort themselves with the idea that it can't happen to your blue state, but please believe me when I say that anti-public education Democratic figures like Rahm Emanuel are everywhere. They will absolutely be happy to gut public education too under a slightly more palatable banner than the MAGA/DeSantis playbook. Support your local education unions, they're one of the last lines of defense we have.
posted by mostly vowels at 7:53 AM on August 23, 2023 [14 favorites]
I think people who don't live in these states comfort themselves with the idea that it can't happen to your blue state, but please believe me when I say that anti-public education Democratic figures like Rahm Emanuel are everywhere. They will absolutely be happy to gut public education too under a slightly more palatable banner than the MAGA/DeSantis playbook. Support your local education unions, they're one of the last lines of defense we have.
posted by mostly vowels at 7:53 AM on August 23, 2023 [14 favorites]
Every year I receive my property tax statement, which is usually the most anodyne thing ever. This year it contained "11 Commandments For Civil Servants" on the back, basically a bunch of passive-aggressive suggestions for county employees to be nice to people. It was a weird thing to see in a customer-facing document.
I'm just saying, the brown M&Ms seem to be everywhere.
posted by credulous at 7:58 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm just saying, the brown M&Ms seem to be everywhere.
posted by credulous at 7:58 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
In a dark time, it has been a small joy to me to watch Ron DeSantis’ presidential dreams die so publicly.
Unfortunately, his public failures are likely to mead to more efforts to be the "big strong man" at home.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:04 AM on August 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
Unfortunately, his public failures are likely to mead to more efforts to be the "big strong man" at home.
posted by GenjiandProust at 8:04 AM on August 23, 2023 [3 favorites]
Unfortunately, his public failures are likely to mead to more efforts to be the "big strong man" at home.
Maybe in the short term, but he's committed an unforgivable sin for a would-be strongman: he looks weak, and it's happening repeatedly, on a national stage. He lacks Trump's talent for spinning failure into a combat narrative in which he's the embattled hero.
The kind of people who vote primarily for a boot on the necks of their enemies can't tolerate weakness. My guess is that this is the beginning of the end for DeSantis.
posted by ryanshepard at 11:48 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
Maybe in the short term, but he's committed an unforgivable sin for a would-be strongman: he looks weak, and it's happening repeatedly, on a national stage. He lacks Trump's talent for spinning failure into a combat narrative in which he's the embattled hero.
The kind of people who vote primarily for a boot on the necks of their enemies can't tolerate weakness. My guess is that this is the beginning of the end for DeSantis.
posted by ryanshepard at 11:48 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
NYT: Florida Considers Tough Discipline for College Staff Who Break Bathroom Law
According to the board’s proposal, colleges will be forced to fire employees who twice use a bathroom other than the one assigned to their sex at birth, despite being asked to leave.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:52 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
According to the board’s proposal, colleges will be forced to fire employees who twice use a bathroom other than the one assigned to their sex at birth, despite being asked to leave.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:52 AM on August 23, 2023 [1 favorite]
This isn't strictly on topic, but Behind the Bastards is doing DeSantis this week (part 1). It's a rough ride, with allegations of possible involvement in torture and partying with his underage students. Part 2 will also be illuminating, I am sure.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:57 PM on August 23, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:57 PM on August 23, 2023 [5 favorites]
partying with his underage students
Every fucking time with the groomer panic folks.
posted by Artw at 3:01 PM on August 23, 2023 [11 favorites]
Every fucking time with the groomer panic folks.
posted by Artw at 3:01 PM on August 23, 2023 [11 favorites]
In addition to Hillsdale, a number of other right wing "liberal arts" colleges exist. Patrick Henry is probably the most famous, since it was explicitly founded to turn homeschoolers and segregation academy grads into Republican operatives. Thomas Aquinas is a Catholic knock off of actual Great Books colleges. And then there are the places that used to be more or less legitimate liberal arts colleges with a Christian affiliation that have been converted into mini-Bob Jones/Liberty Universities, places like Shorter College in Georgia and Montreat College in NC.
None of those are public. The public liberal arts colleges are still out there, still offering great educations. Georgia College, UNC-Asheville, St. Mary's College of Maryland, University of Minnesota Morris... New College of Florida used to be on the list with institutions like that where you can get all the benefits of a private liberal arts education for a fraction of the cost. It's really very sad.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:36 PM on August 23, 2023 [7 favorites]
None of those are public. The public liberal arts colleges are still out there, still offering great educations. Georgia College, UNC-Asheville, St. Mary's College of Maryland, University of Minnesota Morris... New College of Florida used to be on the list with institutions like that where you can get all the benefits of a private liberal arts education for a fraction of the cost. It's really very sad.
posted by hydropsyche at 4:36 PM on August 23, 2023 [7 favorites]
New College was the first target for a reason.
posted by azpenguin at 7:37 AM on August 24, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by azpenguin at 7:37 AM on August 24, 2023 [7 favorites]
I hadn't made the Derek Black connection, but that story certainly put the college on the radar of white nationalists who otherwise would never have heard of it because it doesn't have a football team.
posted by hydropsyche at 9:53 AM on August 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by hydropsyche at 9:53 AM on August 24, 2023 [3 favorites]
CNN Aug 27: Students, professors report chaos as semester begins at New College of Florida
Classes are scheduled to begin on August 28, but Chai Leffler is already struggling to navigate his fourth year at the school.posted by spamandkimchi at 3:28 PM on August 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Leffler is an urban studies major, but he said most of his professors have resigned.
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posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 12:11 PM on August 22, 2023 [4 favorites]