Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — known for his role as a “leading figure” in the conservative movement and his opposition to critical race theory, the idea that race is a culturally invented category used to oppress people of color — appointed six members to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees on Jan. 6, sparking debate among Emory University students.
Among the six new Board of Trustees members — all of whom are conservative-leaning — DeSantis appointed Professor Emeritus of English Mark Bauerlein, who taught at Emory from 1989 to 2018. Apart from Emory, Bauerlein is a senior editor for the First Things magazine, a journal centered around religious and public life.
Bauerlein has also published books such as “Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future” and is involved in consulting and education-related work. He released his most recent book, “The Dumbest Generation Grows Up: From Stupefied Youth to Dangerous Adults” in February 2022.
Bauerlein has also worked with Florida educators for about three years, helping them draft the new Florida English language arts standards, which guide curriculum from kindergarten to 12th grade.
“They asked if I would like to serve as a trustee to see about what might be right for this liberal arts college and the state system,” Bauerlein said.
As a member of the Board of Trustees, Bauerlein said he is tasked with consulting with faculty, administrators and the dean to investigate how to increase yearly applications or improve graduation and retention rates.
“Are there ways in which we might examine the learning outcomes of the curriculum that we offer?” Bauerlein said. “Are students leaving New College and hitting the job market or hitting graduate schools running? Let's get some data on that. Let's look at admissions policies, things like that.
The Board of Trustees’ first meeting will be held on Jan. 31, according to Bauerlein.
Biased or balanced?
During his second inaugural address on Jan. 3, DeSantis criticized “woke ideology” and stated that higher institutions should focus on “academic excellence and the pursuit of truth” rather than the “imposition of trendy ideology.”
During his first term, DeSantis signed the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” act, into law on March 28, 2022 to prohibit classroom discussion on sexual orientation and identity in kindergarten through third grade. He also signed the Stop W.O.K.E. Act — which stands for “wrong to our kids and employees” — and bans teaching certain race-related concepts, into law on April 22, 2022.
The decision to appoint the six conservative-leaning Board of Trustees members sparked debate in the Class of 2024 GroupMe chat on Jan. 7. Some students described the decision as “biased” and “discriminatory,” while others claimed it was fair to balance out the predominantly left-leaning mindset of most U.S. colleges.
Aqua Chen (24C), who participated in the discussion, expressed concern about the involvement of politics in higher education. Though Chen admitted that her views are “far left,” she said that she doesn’t believe “liberal” and “conservative” should be the only two sides of the issue.
“Both of them are basically just grifters who use common people’s concerns and take them to make money, make power, without actually contributing anything,” Chen said. “People think that just because we balance it between liberal and conservative, that suddenly makes it neutral and fair. That is anything but neutral.”
Chen added that mixing politics and education “constricts our minds” by involving our “specialized American mind of politics.”
Eileena Mathews (26C), who was also involved in the debate, said her views were much more neutral than some of the other people in the group chat.
“It’s important to talk about the impact of government on education, but at the same time, it’s a school of like 700 students, and still, largely, academia is majorly liberal,” Mathews said. “The issue of him adding conservative board members wasn’t, in the grand scheme of things, as big of a deal as some of the people were making it seem.”
According to the U.S. News and World Report, the New College of Florida is ranked No. 5 out of 18 positions in the top public liberal arts colleges category. Less than 700 students attend the school. Given the small size of the college, Mathews said that the response should have been proportionate to the impact of the Board of Trustees appointments — relatively small, considering that the decision wasn’t affecting Emory students.
Bauerlein’s beliefs concerning DEI
Bauerlein said he strongly opposes implementing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in colleges, calling the work performed under DEI “pedagogical malpractice.”
“I urge, and I’ve written this, that all DEI initiatives be eliminated from higher education, that DEI offices be absolutely closed, shut down,” Bauerlein said. “They lead students to develop bad ideas.”
Bauerlein, who has read manuscripts for Harvard University (Mass.), Yale University (Conn.), Duke University (N.C.) and other University presses, said that making evaluations without considering political criteria keeps peer review honest and liberal, “in the old sense of the word.”
According to Bauerlein, when academia incorporates DEI, the peer review process becomes dishonest.
“When you start saying, ‘Oh, we need to publish more writers who are not white men,’ the process has been corrupted,” Bauerlein said. “Right off the bat, standards go down. Peer review becomes politicized. This is the beginning of the fall of a discipline, and I’ve seen it happen many, many times.”
Bauerlein said that, if a theory arises from sound premises and good argumentation and evidence, “it would be fine.” However, if it turns into “politicized partisanship,” the Board of Trustees would step in, as it would be contrary to the mission of the college.
Whether or not the Board of Trustees plans to eliminate critical race theory — an academic concept that DeSantis has expressed extreme disapproval of — from the college is a tricky question, according to Bauerlein.
“We don’t want to shut out ideas,” Bauerlein said. “We want to keep the classroom open and liberal, in the old sense of the word, as reasonable ideas offered in a scholarly manner should be allowed in places, and students should be taught to take positions in properly academic ways.”
Update (1/20/23 at 12:30 p.m.): A former version of this article's headline stated that an Emory professor was appointed to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees. In fact, a former Emory professor was appointed.
