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Photo illustration by Justin Morrison/Inside Higher Ed | Sebastian Wilczewski and tapui/iStock/Getty Images
Another battle is brewing at New College of Florida, this time between the administration and the NCF Foundation. President Richard Corcoran and the Board of Trustees are seeking to exert more authority over the direct-support fundraising organization, including the power to remove members without cause.
Some critics say that Corcoran and the board are trying to assume more control over the foundation so they can use its restricted funds—which are reserved for scholarships, endowed teaching positions and other designations—to support new athletic programs and other expensive initiatives.
But NCF administrators have largely brushed off such concerns, alleging that the foundation misspent funds prior to Corcoran’s appointment, which prompted the need for additional oversight by the board.
Board Changes Approved
It’s the latest in a series of clashes that have played out at the small, public liberal arts college since early 2023, when Florida governor Ron DeSantis appointed a new cohort of trustees to engineer a conservative overhaul of the institution he declared had drifted off course.
The board promptly removed the president and installed Corcoran, a former Republican lawmaker, who has butted heads with faculty over shared governance and redesigning the core curriculum, and faced scrutiny from the Florida Board of Governors for rampant spending.
Now Corcoran and his trustees are raising concerns among donors and alumni who fear they are abusing their power to redirect restricted funds.
At a meeting Tuesday, the Board of Trustees approved two changes that alarmed critics. First, the board amended NCF regulations to allow Corcoran to remove members of the foundation board without cause. Then the trustees voted to allow the college’s board chair to appoint up to three representatives to the foundation board. Critics noted that the current board chair, Debra Jenks, had already appointed three members to the foundation, and alleged that administrators had deliberately misinterpreted the board’s authority to name “at least one” member. Historically, “at least one” has meant that NCF trustees appointed only a single member.
Changes to the NCF regulations have riled some alumni who worry that if officials are allowed to stock the foundation board, they will tap restricted funds to pay for athletics and Corcoran’s million-dollar salary as expenses add up. By law, Florida universities are allowed to spend only $200,000 in public funds on presidential salaries, leaving foundations to fill the gap.
Ben Brown, an ex officio member of the foundation and chair of New College’s Alumni Association, expressed concern in a recent letter to the board that regulatory changes “would facilitate a reduction in the checks-and-balances upon its financial management.” He added, “Having all members of the Foundation’s Board serve at the pleasure of one person, the President of the College, would essentially concentrate the oversight of the Foundation’s finances instead of having multiple independent sources of oversight.”
In a follow-up interview with Inside Higher Ed, Brown, an attorney in New York, argued that NCF is wading into “murky legal terrain.” He said it was unclear whether the Board of Trustees could force the foundation to update its bylaws to accept the regulatory changes handed down.
Brian Cody, a New College graduate who served as student trustee in 2004 and 2005 and was previously a member of the foundation board, noted similar concerns. He fears that the changes are an attempt to tap restricted funds to pay for Corcoran’s salary, newly established athletic programs and increased lobbying efforts, which he believes may already be happening.
“The foundation has lots of dollars that are restricted,” Cody said. “They’re meant for scholarships; they’re meant for very specific uses. And when we look at the top-level budgets they’re giving their trustees in these public meetings, our back-of-the-napkin math is that there’s no way they can pay for Corcoran’s salary and athletics and these lobbyists without using restricted dollars.”
Patrick McDonald, the faculty representative on the Board of Trustees, expressed worry about the long-term impact of the move.
“The president, no matter who they are, will have the ability to dismiss the [foundation] board and in so doing bypass any meaningful oversight,” he said at Tuesday’s board meeting. “That I see as a real threat to the endowment, and I don’t see a benefit that outweighs that risk.”
McDonald and student trustee Olivia Mikkelsen stood alone in voting against the board changes.
Trustee Matthew Spalding argued that the regulatory changes were “straightforward” and that New College’s Board of Trustees has fiduciary power over the foundation. He added that FLBOG regulations give NCF the ability to create “conditions, controls and requirements” for direct-support organizations and delegate oversight authority of the foundation to the president.
Trustee Mark Bauerlein also argued that the board could step in if necessary.
“I share Trustee McDonald’s concern over the consolidation of power, but if we saw the president or anyone else in the upper leadership exercising that power in an arbitrary or capricious way, or personal way, we have the duty, the obligation to respond, and that we will,” Bauerlein said during the board meeting.
For their part, NCF officials have cast the foundation as adrift. Alex Tzoumas, chief audit executive and chief compliance officer at the college, said a recent audit of the last six fiscal years found that the foundation had tapped restricted funds and operated at a deficit at times. Tzoumas argued the foundation was in “dire straits” until the new administration arrived.
Officials also argued that some Florida colleges have similar regulations in place.
By Wednesday, Corcoran had used his newfound power, ostensibly removing Susan Burns and Larry Geimer from the foundation board. A memo sent by Corcoran and obtained by Inside Higher Ed provided little explanation for the removal; the president wrote to Burns that he had “determined it is in the best interests of New College of Florida and the New College Foundation” to remove her as a board member. A New College spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
The Fallout
The changes come at a time when the New College Foundation is also under new leadership; Corcoran tapped Sydney Gruters, a political operative and wife of Republican state lawmaker Joe Gruters, to lead the organization despite having no prior experience in higher education. Director of donor relations Alice Rothbauer is another hire from conservative political circles.
Cody believes the changes to regulations will harm donor relations, particularly among alumni. He said that alumni donations have suffered since the new board was swept in last year and started making changes, including eliminating NCF’s diversity, equity and inclusion office and a gender studies program, both of which prompted outrage among alumni and parents.
“Alums have very much stopped giving to the foundation,” Cody said.
Brown, the foundation board member and Alumni Association head, expressed similar concerns. He is worried not only about a potential financial crisis for the New College Foundation but also about the implications for direct-support organizations across the state. Trustee Chris Rufo has framed the conservative overhaul of NCF as a blueprint for recapturing public universities, and Brown wonders if other foundations are in for similar fights.
In his letter to the board, Brown cited “an emerging statewide issue regarding the degree of control exercised by State University System institutions over their affiliated [foundations].” Brown also noted ongoing litigation between Florida Atlantic University and the foundation for the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, which is part of FAU.
The HBOI Foundation, a direct-support organization for the oceanographic institute, sued FAU in 2017. The legal action came after FAU leaders asked the foundation to donate to a new football facility, which the organization refused to do, arguing that its funds can only be directed to marine research. The foundation alleged FAU violated the memorandum of understanding established when it absorbed the then-freestanding oceanographic institute in a 2007 merger.
The slow-moving case is currently before the Florida Supreme Court.
At New College, Brown wonders what a possible takeover of the foundation might mean for both institutional finances and the purported independence of such organizations across the Sunshine State. He expects that other foundations are watching as the fight plays out.
“The statute that governs [DSOs] is ambiguous and murky in a lot of ways, and this attempt to assert authority on the part of Richard Corcoran could provoke various anxieties and concerns and questions among all those other direct-support organizations,” Brown said.