‘Recapturing Higher Education:’ DeSantis Appoints Christopher Rufo to Board for New College of Florida

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) appointed senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and prominent anti-Critical Race Theory activist Christopher Rufo to the Board of Trustees of the New College of Florida. Rufo announced that his goal is to abolish “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and replace it with “equity, merit, and colorblindness,” and hire new faculty with expertise in “constitutionalism, free enterprise, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles,” among other goals.

“I’m proud to announce that Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed me to the Board of Trustees of the New College of Florida,” Rufo announced in a tweet on Friday. “My ambition is to help the new board majority transform New College into a classical liberal arts institution.”

“We are recapturing higher education,” he added.

I'm proud to announce that Gov. Ron DeSantis has appointed me to the Board of Trustees of the New College of Florida.

My ambition is to help the new board majority transform New College into a classical liberal arts institution.

We are recapturing higher education. pic.twitter.com/wu7OKRhzhM

— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 6, 2023

Rufo, a noted critic of Critical Race Theory (CRT), added that the action items on the agenda for transforming New College of Florida include abolishing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” and replacing it with “equity, merit, and colorblindness.”

Additionally, Rufo plans to shift the university to a classical liberal arts model, restructure the administration and mission statement, create a new core curriculum and academic master plan, and restructure the academic departments to reflect the new pedagogical approach.

Rufo is also seeking to hire new faculty with expertise in constitutionalism, free enterprise, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles, and establish a graduate school for training teachers in classical education.

Last year, Rufo told Breitbart News that the fight against CRT has shifted to a nationwide battle — as seen with Glenn Youngkin’s (R) victory in Virginia — and noted that it is both a bipartisan and multiracial movement with support from Republicans, independents, and “even many Biden-supporting Democrats.”

Rufo has also explained that drag queens fit squarely within the left’s desire to destroy families, saying that the left’s goal is “the destruction of sex, the reconstruction of child sexuality, and the subversion of middle-class family life.”

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