The radical Left has spent decades turning American colleges into indoctrination camps where Western civilization goes to die.
One Republican governor finally had enough and did something about it.
And the New York Times is fuming after DeSantis saved this failing Florida college.
DeSantis Rescued A Dying College – And The Times Can't Stand It
New College of Florida was circling the drain when Ron DeSantis stepped in.
Enrollment was cratering.
Buildings designed by I.M. Pei were literally covered in mold.
The place was falling apart while students designed their own majors in gender theory and grades were "optional."
The Times described it as "a draw for nonconformists, where grades were verboten and students designed their own classes and majors."¹
Translation: a taxpayer-funded playground where rich kids could avoid real education while the buildings rotted around them.
DeSantis executed what the Times breathlessly labeled a "conservative takeover" in early 2023.
He appointed new trustees, installed a new president, and demanded the college actually teach something beyond left-wing ideology.
https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/2005683823850168614?s=20
The results?
Enrollment jumped from under 700 students to over 900.²
Faculty hiring increased from 105 to 125.³
Buildings once covered in mold are being renovated.
The school that was collapsing is now stable.
But to the New York Times, this success story is a scandal.
Their latest front-page attack asks: "Has one ideological bubble replaced another?"
You can't make this up.
The paper that spent years defending a failing school suddenly cares about "ideological bubbles" when conservatives fix the mess leftists created.
Homer Replaces Gender Studies – And Liberals Are Losing It
Here's what has the Times clutching their pearls: New College ditched gender studies and made Homer's "The Odyssey" required reading for all freshmen.
Let that sink in.
Reading a 3,000-year-old foundational text of Western civilization is now considered controversial by the New York Times.
The college also eliminated DEI offices, ended mandatory diversity training, hired conservative professors, and created actual athletic teams.
You know, things normal colleges do.
Some professors left.
About 200 students transferred out.
The Times treats this like a tragedy instead of addition by subtraction.
Good riddance to activists who wanted taxpayer funding for their woke sandbox.
Meanwhile, the facts tell a different story.
New College is signing Trump's Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education – preferential federal funding for schools that follow federal policies and reject DEI nonsense.⁴
https://twitter.com/RonDeSantis/status/2006383626234061159?s=20
A Charlie Kirk statue is coming to campus to honor the assassinated conservative leader who fought for young Americans.
The Times frames all of this as "moving toward the ideological right" like it's a disease.
No – it's called fixing a broken institution.
Florida Leads While The Times Whines
DeSantis didn't just save one college.
He's transforming education across Florida while the Times writes hit pieces.
Florida now ranks #1 in education by U.S. News & World Report.⁵
Under DeSantis, 71% of Florida schools earned A or B grades in 2025, up from 64% the year before.⁶
More than 500,000 students participate in school choice programs.
Charter school enrollment crossed 400,000 for the first time.⁷
The state eliminated DEI in public universities.
Banned classroom instruction on gender ideology.
Passed a Teachers' Bill of Rights.
Invested record amounts in teacher pay and school safety.
These are real results – not the fantasy world the Times lives in where failing schools with moldy buildings somehow represent educational excellence.
New College President Richard Corcoran put it bluntly: the old New College was "a little Club Med" for people who were "all ideologically the same."⁸
Now it's becoming what DeSantis promised – Florida's premier public liberal arts college centered on merit, free speech, and classical learning.
https://twitter.com/nickgillespie/status/2006057813131350149?s=20
The Times interviewed philosophy professor April Flakne, who normally teaches Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir's theories on feminism and totalitarianism.
Now she's teaching "The Odyssey."
Some of her colleagues grumble that students would rather read something "more relevant to their lives."
More relevant than Homer?
What – another screed about microaggressions?
The arrogance is staggering.
Democrats Lost The Monopoly – And They're Panicking
The Times report includes a telling detail buried in their propaganda: enrollment is up, faculty hiring is up, state investment is stabilizing the school, and buildings are being renovated.
Those are the metrics of success.
But the Times presents them as warning signs because the wrong people are succeeding.
This is what terrifies them.
For decades, conservatives complained about universities becoming left-wing echo chambers.
But nobody did anything about it until DeSantis showed them how.
New trustee Christopher Rufo – whom the Times treats like a Bond villain – explained the stakes: "If we can take this high-risk, high-reward gambit and turn it into a victory, we're going to see conservative state legislators starting to reconquer public institutions all over the United States."
That's exactly what's happening.
https://twitter.com/CommiesOnCampus/status/2005639688661668107?s=20
And the Times knows it.
The panic isn't about academic freedom or quality education.
It's about power.
Leftists controlled higher education for so long they thought it was their birthright.
DeSantis proved you can fix these institutions – and voters will reward you for it.
He won re-election in a landslide after his education reforms.
Florida families have a publicly-funded option that doesn't sneer at Western civilization.
Students are enrolling.
Buildings are getting fixed.
Real education is happening again.
The New York Times can write all the hit pieces they want.
Ron DeSantis just proved conservatives can win this fight.
¹ Anemona Hartocollis, "New College of Florida Was Progressive. Then Gov. DeSantis Overhauled It.," The New York Times, December 28, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ Florida Department of Education, "Florida Department of Education Celebrates Major Milestones Achieved in 2024," FLDOE.org, December 27, 2024.
⁶ Executive Office of the Governor, "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Positive Achievements in 2025 School Grades," FLGov.com, 2025.
⁷ Florida Department of Education, "Florida Department of Education Celebrates Major Milestones Achieved in 2024," FLDOE.org, December 27, 2024.
⁸ Anemona Hartocollis, "New College of Florida Was Progressive. Then Gov. DeSantis Overhauled It.," The New York Times, December 28, 2025.
