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New College of Florida president Richard Corcoran is threatening to withhold the degrees of students who protested at the college’s May 17 commencement ceremony. Other consequences could range from mandatory enrollment in a class on civil discourse to suspension or even expulsion, Corcoran said in a statement obtained by The Sarasota Herald-Tribune.
Students booed and jeered at commencement speaker Joe Ricketts, a conservative billionaire and former CEO of TD Ameritrade, who talked about how he earned his wealth and warned of the dangers of artificial intelligence. Students also wore stoles representing the Palestinian flag and chanted “Free Palestine!” during the ceremony.
Ricketts previously drew backlash in 2019 after emails from him containing racist and Islamophobic sentiments were leaked to the public.
The students’ actions forced President Corcoran to cut Ricketts’ speech short. As Ricketts moved away from the mic, he could be heard mumbling under his breath, “I hate it, but they really don’t care what I have to say.”
New College, a public liberal arts college located on Florida’s Gulf Coast, has been surrounded in controversy since Governor Ron DeSantis overhauled the university’s board of trustees, appointing a number of conservative members in January 2023. In short order, they fired former president Patricia Okker, axed the DEI office and saw approximately one-third of the faculty flee the institution. Ever since, New College has been a prime example of conservative politicians’ efforts to reshape public higher education in the state.
Now the college says it has filed five conduct violation complaints, noting that student protesters “failed to respond to instruction” after being warned in advance of the consequences. Ahead of the ceremony, college officials posted a memo to the website, highlighting their expectations:
“While we are witnessing a descent into chaos all over the country, under the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida has maintained law and order … While we respect and honor the First Amendment, a commencement ceremony is not the time nor place to hold a political protest.”
In an opinion column published in The Wall Street Journal, Corcoran said students will receive due process through the school’s upper-level conduct hearings.
Students’ actions were “a disheartening reflection of the prevailing intolerance for diverse viewpoints in today’s society,” he wrote. “But that illiberal attitude hasn’t and won’t rule New College.”
