Florida New College students plan alternative commencement address

WASHINGTON — Students at New College of Florida have raised over $129,000 on GoFundMe to host an alternative commencement celebration in protest of what they've called a "hostile takeover" of the school.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, appointed a conservative majority to the liberal-leaning college's board of trustees in January. Not long after the appointments, the trustees voted to terminate the president of the college, Patricia Okker, replacing her with interim President Richard Corcoran, a former Republican speaker in the state House.

"The new administration that has spent the past four months attacking our students and community cannot, in good faith, celebrate our graduating students and their accomplishments," an event organizer wrote in the GoFundMe description.

"These people are afraid of change, and they’re afraid of real education, about real history, about real subjects that can actually lead to powerful impacts on the world," said K.C. Casey, a student organizer and New College graduating senior, in reference to the school's administration. "So we know that we are the kind of students that can make those changes in the world, and we’re going to do that."

Their alternative graduation, separate from one that the school has organized, is scheduled to take place Thursday. It will feature Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, as keynote speaker, and Okker will deliver a brief address at the ceremony, the event's organizers told NBC News.

"I am so excited to be coming to Sarasota to celebrate you," Wiley said in a video shared to Twitter. "You made it work through the dark days of the pandemic, and at the same time, you have been pushing back for academic freedom, for the right to learn and to be who you are."

The official ceremony hosted by the school will be held Friday, with Dr. Scott Atlas, who served as a White House Covid adviser under then-President Donald Trump, set to deliver the commencement address.

Atlas was a controversial adviser. During his time in the Trump administration, he had promoted a herd immunity Covid strategy and tweeted a false claim that masks do not work in preventing the virus's spread, which Twitter later removed.

New College of Florida touted its Friday event when asked for comment about the students’ alternative ceremony.

"We have an exceptional speaker lined up and look forward to celebrating our graduates, alongside their families and friends, at commencement," a representative for the school said in a statement. "From discussions with several students, a majority plan to attend graduation and are looking forward to it."

Leftover funds raised for the alternative commencement go toward future student programming, according to student organizers. "Sort of like mutual aid support and activities like Pride that the administration wouldn’t want to happen, and activism," Madison Markham said. "So that’ll be exciting to have students, like, kind of be given this legacy gift from our class."

On Monday, DeSantis signed a bill into law at New College to restrict how race and gender can be taught in Florida's public colleges and universities. The legislation also bans higher education institutions from using state or federal funding for diversity programs.

DeSantis, who as governor has leaned into culture war issues, is widely expected to declare a 2024 presidential run next week.