SARASOTA, Florida \u2014 Jones Hogsed knew all about the political firestorm at New College of Florida when he was trying to decide whether to enroll here two years ago.<\/p>\n
The public liberal-arts school long had a reputation for being far left, with an intellectual culture centered around identity politics. New College also had just been upended by Republican governor Ron DeSantis, whose supporters wanted to shape it into the \u201cHillsdale of the South,\u201d a nod to the proudly conservative college in Michigan.<\/p>\n
Hogsed was worried about both extremes, including what he described as the false premise that \u201cserious academia is primarily a \u2018conservative\u2019 effort.\u201d He came to New College anyway\u2014and just finished his sophomore year. What he found turned out to be very different.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really not a battlefield of political views,\u201d said Hogsed, who is from Orlando and studies literature and philosophy. He sees \u201cdivides in a few different ways,\u201d but \u201cnone of them are political.\u201d<\/p>\n