Florida New College students plan alternative graduation against Trump pandemic adviser
School officials tapped Scott Atlas to speak at the commencement. The students have a different plan.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — New College of Florida students, with help from alumni, this week are hosting a private graduation ceremony separate from the school’s official commencement in the face of a campus takeover at the hands of Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The students, who have fundraised $100,000 for the event, want to hold a ceremony “on our terms” after school officials tapped Scott Atlas, a top adviser to former President Donald Trump during the Covid-19 pandemic, to speak at their commencement. On Tuesday, they announced that Maya Wiley, an attorney and former MSNBC commentator who is president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, will be the keynote speaker during the alternative graduation.
“We’re now guaranteed a graduation surrounded by the New College community members that truly want to celebrate who we are, rather than those attempting to change our culture,” Madison Markham, a graduating senior and one of the students planning the event, said in a statement.
The official New College commencement featuring Atlas, who also advised DeSantis, is set to unfold on Friday and cap off a whirlwind semester at the Sarasota university that is currently being reshaped by a slate of trustees appointed by the Republican governor.
But on Thursday night, students will host their own ceremony featuring “fun bonding activities,” bands and speakers including Wiley. The group that orchestrated the ceremony, aided by alumni groups Save New College and the Novo Collegian Alliance, said it came together because the “new administration that has spent the past four months attacking our students and community cannot, in good faith, celebrate our graduating students and their accomplishments.”
New College students and many alumni have opposed the DeSantis appointed board at every turn but have been unable to slow down the significant changes taking shape on campus.
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New College of Florida students will host a graduation ceremony separate from the official one after school officials tapped Scott Atlas, a top adviser to Donald Trump during the Covid-19 pandemic, to speak at their commencement. https://t.co/haecN1x1DV
— POLITICO (@politico) May 16, 2023
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