iStockphoto / Thomas Bender-USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Feb. 28, 2003; Sarasota, FL, USA; New College of Florida's, College Hall photographed from the backside facing Sarasota Bay located on the Bayfront side of the Campus
At one point in its history, the New College of Florida, which was founded in 1960 and located in Sarasota, was one of the most elite schools in the state.
In the 2000-2001 academic year, 56 percent of its students had an SAT score north of 1,300 according to the school’s fact book.
These days, times have changed for the once prolific higher education institution, and it now finds itself in the news for all the wrong reasons.
The school was recently at the center of a report by John Oliver on his show, “Last Week Tonight,” where Oliver discussed the school board’s to even the enrollment gender gap in the school.
Prior to political activist Christopher Rufo being named to the board in 2023, two-thirds of the school’s students were women.
In order to address the “problem,” the school added a significant number of male athletes. Of 328 new students in 2023-24, 115 were athletes, including 70 new members of the baseball team.
New College Of Florida Doesn’t Have A Baseball Field
The current baseball roster for the Mighty Banyans (a fig tree, for those who are curious) lists just 50 players. However, those 50 players have to commute to the nearby IMG Academy in Bradenton to practice and play, because New College of Florida does not have a baseball field!
Thanks to a a $1 million gift from developer and Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority Board member Carlos Beruff, the school is currently in the process of building a baseball stadium that is set to open at the end of this summer.
However, there are growing doubts as to whether or not that will actually happen.
The largest problem is that the school doesn’t actually own enough land to build the whole facility! New College is right across the street from Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, and the Federal Aviation Administration has set restrictions on where it can build.
“Baseball field construction is still not allowed,“ retired airport properties director John Schussler said while reviewing documents in February.
Additionally, the state of Florida recently passed legislation allowing the school to move $2.5 million from its housing auxiliary fund to help pay for the stadium.
New College Only Just Added Intercollegiate Athletics
At the time of the initial roster boon, New College of Florida didn’t even have an intercollegiate athletics program, only club sports.
Prior to the start of the 2024-25 academic year, the school joined the NAIA’S Sun Conference and now competes primarily against other schools within the state of Florida.
The school is the newest member of the conference, which started in 1990 and currently features 10 members. But it’s also the smallest member with just 852 undergraduate students. Meanwhile, competitor Keiser University, located in West Palm Beach, Florida, has over 20,000 students.
Of those 852 students, 448 are women compared to 385 men, narrowing the gap that Rufo believed was a major problem. However, the school’s academic makeup has seen a significant dip according to its latest published fact book.
Was the change worth it? That depends on what you value from a college. But one thing is certain: the New College clearly made some drastic changes to its makeup without much foresight.