SARASOTA, FLORIDA — The Biden administration is investigating New College of Florida (NCF) over recent actions taken by the school’s leadership.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) issued a 78-page letter to NCF Interim President Richard Corcoran informing him that the school would be subject to a federal civil rights investigation concerning alleged discrimination against “persons with disabilities.”
“Specifically, the Complaint alleges that the College is failing to afford persons with disabilities an opportunity to participate in and benefit from the services, programs, and activities communicated through the College’s websites and third-party websites that is equal to opportunities afforded to others,” DOE attorney David Kutch wrote to Corcoran.
Kutch noted that the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) “determined that [the complaint] has jurisdiction,” but added that the investigation “in no way implies that OCR has made a determination with regard to [the complaint’s] merits.”
ALLEGATIONS FROM STUDENTS
The investigation was triggered by allegations from unnamed NCF students, faculty, and staff who claim the college’s trustees and administrators violated civil rights law by instituting “discriminatory policies targeting LGBTQ+ students, and [taking] other actions overtly hostile towards New College students, faculty, and staff on the basis of race, gender, religion, and disability.”
“The Administration scraped off or removed ‘all-gender’ and ‘gender neutral’ restroom signs from single-stall bathrooms and replaced them with signs indicating that only men and women, or ‘families’ were welcome in the bathrooms,” one part of the complaint states. “In their haste, some of these new signs were not ADA compliant.”
Another portion stated: “Members of the Board of Trustees have personally insulted specific New College students, parents, and faculty based on perceived disability and gender prejudice, calling them “hysterical” and mentally ill, intentionally misusing pronouns, and otherwise denying the individual’s gender identity.”
The complaint also contended that the Board’s decision to abolish NCF’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) office and Gender Studies program violated federal Civil Rights law.
TRUSTEE RUFO REACTS
NCF trustee Chris Rufo – a conservative thought leader and journalist who frequently mocks Left-wing ideologues – denounced the complaint as “wholly without merit.”
“This is a brazen attempt to subvert the democratic governance of New College and entrench left-wing ideological programs under the guise of civil rights law,” Rufo wrote on Friday. “Although the complaint is wholly without merit, this does not mean it will automatically fail. The Biden Administration has demonstrated repeatedly that it is willing to weaponize the federal law enforcement apparatus against school board parents and other conservative reformers.”
True to form, Rufo pilloried the notion that his alleged “misgendering” of someone who prefers “ze/zir” pronouns should be deemed illegal – calling it “madness.”
BREAKING: President Biden's Department of Education has opened a civil rights investigation into New Collge of Florida, following a complaint that, in part, alleged that I "misgendered" the college's former DEI director, who uses "ze/zir" pseudo-pronouns. This is madness. pic.twitter.com/bqhp5dGi4j
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) September 8, 2023
Rufo is among the six new trustees DeSantis appointed in January who were tasked with resuscitating the failing institution that had become overwhelmed by a destructive Leftist paradigm and leadership.
“We are ready for the fight,” Rufo continued. “When Governor DeSantis appointed the new board of trustees, he told us: ‘If the media isn’t attacking you, you’re not doing your job.’ The same could be said of the Biden Administration.”
