From the Editor: Keep New College Independent

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- by Sarasota Magazine

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From the Editor: Keep New College Independent

I’m a New College of Florida alum and New College Foundation board member, and like everyone else in the New College family, I was shocked two weeks ago to learn that a Florida lawmaker had filed a bill (HB 7087) to merge two independent colleges—New College and Florida Polytechnic University—with two of the state’s huge universities. The original proposal put Polytechnic under the University of Florida and New College under Florida State University. For some reason last Friday, the bill was amended to ditch FSU and put New College under UF instead.

The logic for the consolidation, according to bill sponsor State Rep. Randy Fine, is that New College and Florida Polytechnic University cost too much per pupil compared to the other 10 universities in the state system.
I have great respect for elected officials watching out for our tax dollars, but I’m puzzled by this proposed shotgun wedding for New College, and I urge our lawmakers to slow down and rethink the reasoning.
Read the entire editorial here.