‘I’m not wanted’: Florida universities hit by brain drain as academics flee

Ron DeSantis's slew of laws attacking teaching of race and gender issues sees state's colleges struggle to fill faculty posts

With the start of the 2023-24 academic year only six weeks away, senior officials at New College of Florida (NCF) made a startling announcement in mid-July: 36 of the small honors college's approximately 100 full-time teaching positions were vacant. The provost, Bradley Thiessen, described the number of faculty openings as ridiculously high", and the disclosure was the latest evidence of a brain drain afflicting colleges and universities throughout the Sunshine state.

Governor Ron DeSantis opened 2023 with the appointment of six political allies to the college's 13-member board of trustees who vowed to drastically alter the supposedly woke"-friendly learning environment on its Sarasota campus. At its first meeting in late January, the revamped panel voted to fire the college president, Patricia Okker, without cause and appoint a former Republican state legislator and education commissioner in her place.