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Richard Corcoran, the interim president of New College of Florida, has asked seven faculty members to relinquish their bids for tenure, according to faculty union leaders, The Tampa Bay Times reported. The paper noted that the professors’ only remaining hurdle to tenure was approval by the Board of Trustees.
The move comes amid a self-declared “hostile takeover” by conservative trustees appointed by Republican governor Ron DeSantis. The trustees appointed Corcoran, a former Florida lawmaker, as president, giving him a $400,000 raise over his predecessor, Patricia Okker, who was pushed out due to what the board considered liberal drift under her leadership.
The seven faculty members had already been approved for tenure by school administrators, including Bradley Thiessen, who briefly served as interim president after the board’s ouster of Okker in late January, the newspaper reported. Corcoran formally joined NCF as interim president in February.
Faculty sources told The Tampa Bay Times that Corcoran has no authority over previously approved tenure bids, but the Board of Trustees must ultimately sign off on the appointments.
Tenure has been increasingly under fire in Florida, with DeSantis often calling the concept into question. Corcoran’s push to limit tenure at New College comes against the backdrop of proposed higher education reforms in Florida that critics argue will undermine academic freedom and severely harm state institutions.
