New College of Florida students host alternative graduation after changes at school
SARASOTA, Florida — Following what some students and supporters would describe as a tumultuous final semester, 90 students from New College of Florida’s graduating class celebrated in grand fashion at the student-led "Commencement On Our Terms" alternative graduation event on Thursday night, inside Sarasota Art Museum near downtown Sarasota.
Dozens of unique costumes that displayed many graduates’ individual personalities filled the museum courtyard as graduates embraced family members, faculty, alumni and friends among the crowd of around 400 guests throughout the evening.
Attendees spoke openly about the milestone moment among one another while the event’s guest keynote speaker, civil rights activist Maya Wiley, spoke directly to the numerous changes that have taken place over the past six months in an effort led by Governor Ron DeSantis to transform the liberal arts campus into a conservative Christian school like Hillsdale College in Michigan.
“You’re not just standing for yourselves, you’re standing for all of us,” Wiley said addressing the NCF graduates. “The dehumanization, the epithets do not speak to who New College truly is … when I stand here and look out, all I see are stars. So, thank you for lighting up our future.”
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NCF students tapped Wiley to speak while raising nearly $130,000 in support of the alternative commencement. Wiley, who leads the Washington, D.C.-based Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights, also spoke about recent Florida legislation that will go into effect this summer.
“This is positively dystopian,” she said, referencing Florida’s The Individual Freedom Act (HB 7), commonly known as the Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (Stop WOKE). “I don’t know a single university whose mission it is to be asleep.”
Wiley was among a handful of speakers who encouraged graduates to continue to persevere following their graduation night while acknowledging the students' achievements.
Former faculty members, including recently dismissed information librarian Helene Gold, passionately spoke to the graduates and received a standing ovation.
“It’s clear to me now that I was fired for being a troublemaker,” Gold said.
“I wear my dissent as a badge of honor. ... They clearly didn’t realize that they were dealing with the loudest librarian ever. Proudly wear your troublemaker badge of dissent like I do. Harness the power of what you read, study, and share. Your voice is so powerful."
New College graduate Sophia Brown said that the revamped administration's current goals for the students aren't aligned with what New College has offered its students for the past 60 years.
"They are not interested in celebrating the same students that they have ruthlessly attacked and mocked for months," Brown said. "They have not contributed, in any positive way, to my education or my New College experience."
The commencement, which was organized by New College seniors with support from the alumni-run Novo Collegian Alliance, was intended to provide an opportunity for graduates to celebrate their accomplishments and support one another while also making a united stance against the continued attacks on the school and its students.
Ousted former president Patricia Okker also addressed students for the first time since her February 1 dismissal. Okker called the event 'transformative.'
"You've transformed something that could have been very sad into a night of joy, a celebration of community and these amazing graduates... This is a magical moment, capture a detail that you will remember for decades. Savor the transformation you are undergoing right now."
New College's traditional graduation was scheduled for May 19. A substantial amount of students at the alternative commencement said they also planned to attend the traditional graduation on Friday, due to family traveling into the region and other obligations.
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Interim President Richard Corcoran announced that Dr. Scott Atlas would be the commencement speaker for the regular graduation ceremony on Friday at the Ringling Mansion.
Atlas, a radiologist, is the Robert Wesson Senior Fellow in health policy at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He was a controversial figure in former President Donald Trump's administration, serving as a special White House advisor during the COVID-19 pandemic. His views often contradicted the prevailing medical advice on how to combat COVID.