New College Defectors Form Online Learning Platform

New College of Florida students, parents, faculty and alumni are launching an online education platform aimed at preserving the spirit of the university, a public liberal arts college previously known for its flexible academic pathways and intellectual rigor, reports Inside Higher Ed. The platform, known as AltLiberalArts, will offer lectures and for-credit courses, taught by both former New College professors and big-name artists, scholars and activists.

“What is happening at New College of Florida is part of a national campaign to overtake public education and subvert a fundamental pillar of democracy," the AltLiberalArts website reads. 

The project comes in response to Florida governor Ron DeSantis’s efforts to restructure the college, in part by appointing a conservative slate of trustees to the board. Since January, the college has dismantled its gender studies major, lost about a third of the faculty and moved to replace the college’s previous independent education model with a “classical liberal arts” core curriculum.

Read the article in Inside Higher Ed

Post Date: 09-20-2023