Secrets, speed, and self-dealing may be greases that perform Tallahassee, but in the real world you can make monumental mistakes and generational regrets. If the proposal moves forward, we’ll dig into this further later, but let’s look at some red flags about the idea of relocating the University of South Florida’s Sarasota Manatee Campus to the University of Florida at New College.
According to Joe Gluters of Sarasota, a Republican Sen., state lawmakers are “negotiating” plans for New College to take over USF’s nearby local campus near Sarasota Manati County. Gluters said the idea would be to combine a new university, USF’s local campus and the Ringling Museum, near Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, all within miles of each other.
First of all: Tallahassee’s Republican leaders are “negotiating” this idea in the same way that hijacked planes “negotiated” with the control tower. The move comes after Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed this year that New College would take over the Ringling Museum from Florida State University. I admitted to The Times/Herald that “certainly the main scenario” was to fold all three under the New College. Richard Colcoran, former Republican House Speaker of New College, DeSantis Crony, was set up in 2023 to remake New College into a more conservative mold.
At this stage, there are more questions than answers thanks to behind-the-scenes manipulation. But it’s already enough about the acquisition to raise a serious alarm.
Very different schools. Why should a small, fledgling university with narrower academic expertise absorb one of Florida’s best universities? New College has around 700 students and 90 faculty members compared to USF Sarasota’s 2,000 students and 250 staff. New College offers limited courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. In contrast, USF offers dozens of programs in many more fields, from nursing, education and business management to biomedical, marketing and hospitality management. Integrating USF into a new university is like folding the FBI into the Gulfport Police Station. If anything, the starting point for discussion must be the other way around by exploring the new university’s future as an independent institution.
I fell into a secret. The transaction has been in operation for months almost entirely in closed rooms. Even now, in the middle of the 2025 legislative meeting, there was no consolidated bill to discuss, the language of bills to consider, the open meeting, students, staff, or outreach to the Sarasota area business community. Both of these are public institutions supported by taxpayers. “There was zero community input,” John Horn, a manatee restaurateur who works on USF’s Hospitality and Tourism Schools’ advisory board, told WUSF News last week. “It was done behind closed doors.” If there is a compelling reason to do this, why don’t supporters scream from the roof?
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Loss to Sarasota Manatee. Refusing to attract Sarasota and Manatee residents and local leaders is not just a lightning of the community that supports all three institutions. It also leaves people who are completely at risk in the dark. The document, drafted by New College and obtained by WUSF, stated that students registered with USF-Sarasota can transfer to USF campus in Tampa or St. Petersburg, attend New College or study online, and USF-Sarasota employees could be reassigned to these same distant campuses. These students and employees chose USF-Sarasota for reasons. Forcing them to commute for hours is impossible for some and difficult for many. Last week’s emergency meeting of USF-Sarasota teachers and administrators did nothing to alleviate anxiety or clean the air.
There is no problem examining the mission of these campuses and examining the efficiency of possible apertures. But that’s not something you do behind closed doors. And New Colleges shouldn’t build an empire before they’re tidying up. Earlier this month, New College Alumni Association chair Benjamin Brown suddenly resigned, citing lack of confidence in the school’s management and concerns over managing the $50 million contribution. The College Foundation is concerned about pre-Colcoran concerns, but this was another black eye for New College under current leadership.
Who knows what’s going on here? But it appears to be nothing more than an attempt to trap USF and Ringling and use students, staff and community as collateral to drape a new university DeSantis remake with academic and cultural legitimacy.
