{"id":98172,"date":"2025-12-29T00:25:31","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T00:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/98172\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T00:25:31","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T00:25:31","slug":"usf-supporters-decry-proposal-for-new-college-to-take-over-sarasota-manatee-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/98172\/","title":{"rendered":"USF supporters decry proposal for New College to take over Sarasota-Manatee campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee advocates are speaking out against the proposed takeover by the New College of Florida<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The proposal \u2014 a draft bill included in Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 $117 billion 2026-27 state budget<\/a> \u2014 would force USF Sarasota-Manatee to hand over its buildings and facilities to New College by July 2026.<\/p>\n

New College\u2019s Dec. 17 public meeting focused on the campus\u2019s new master plan, but two speakers during public comment, including former USFSM President Laurey Stryker, raised concerns about the proposed takeover.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou argue that new land and facilities are needed, but you are asking our employees and community to sacrifice the campus that offers 40 accredited undergraduate programs,\u201d Stryker said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, USFSM is in the midst of a campus growth, including its first on-campus dormitory, which opened last year and cost $43.9 million. The university branch also recently broke ground on a $6.5 million STEM facility.<\/p>\n

Along with the buildings and facilities on USFSM\u2019s campus, New College would also take on USF\u2019s $53 million debt from the new dorm building if the draft bill becomes law.<\/p>\n

New College President Richard Corcoran addressed the proposal at the Dec. 17 meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201c(DeSantis) has language in there for the USF campus, which is significant. \u2026 It\u2019s exciting because it\u2019s move-in ready,\u201d Corcoran said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to go through the legislative process. His budget is a recommendation, but obviously he\u2019s been a tremendous advocate for New College and what\u2019s going on here, so we feel pretty good about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two public comments at the meeting pertained to DeSantis\u2019 proposal for New College to take over USFSM.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Scott Perry, an associate professor at USFSM and the vice president of the USF Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate, criticized New College\u2019s direction and leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn three years, this board and this president have turned a once-renowned institution into a national embarrassment and a disgrace to academics everywhere,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n

After the board directed Perry to focus his comments on the campus master plan, he raised opposition to the master plan and the USFSM proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now there is a proposal to reward this grossly incompetent and scandal-ridden leadership with the property, facilities and prestige of my campus to add to your North Campus,\u201d Perry said. \u201cIt is outrageous that anyone would contemplate throwing good money after very bad money in such a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stryker, who served as USFSM\u2019s president from 2000 to 2007, said she supports New College\u2019s expansion, but not by way of taking USFSM\u2019s facilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I\u2019m speaking for dozens of former and current USF supporters about the New College master plan,\u201d Stryker said. \u201cThe plan, mentioned at a number of NCF board meetings, is to evict our 2,000 local students, 300 faculty and staff in exchange for the property and facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stryker continued, \u201cThe campus and dorm donors, legislators, student fees and employees built this campus over the past 25 years. But the governor has now formally proposed this plan to take over the campus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stryker also sent a letter to the Bradenton Herald, signed by 25 USFSM supporters, including current and former board members, regional chancellors and student government representatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust last fall, we opened our first on-campus residence hall and student center \u2014 critical steps toward expanding opportunity and elevating student life,\u201d part of the letter reads. \u201cThese hard-won gains will not be surrendered.\u201d<\/p>\n

The USFSM branch\u2019s first on-campus dorm, which opened last year, is a six-story, 100,000-square-foot building with a residence hall, student center and other amenities.<\/p>\n

About 50,000 students are enrolled at USF across its three campuses, including about 2,000 students at the USFSM campus, according to WUSF.<\/p>\n

If the proposal is approved by the Legislature, USF would give New College the 11 buildings on USFSM\u2019s 32-acre campus by July. However, \u201cintellectual property\u201d and staff would be retained by USF.<\/p>\n

At a USF board of trustees meeting on Dec. 11, chairperson Will Weatherford said the decision is out of USF\u2019s control.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a policy matter that\u2019s going to be discussed, debated and worked through over the coming months of the legislative session,\u201d Weatherford said. \u201cWe don\u2019t control the outcome of that discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Corcoran, DeSantis also earmarked $25 million in recurring funds for the college, and about $30 million for a new multipurpose building in the upcoming state budget.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the best governor\u2019s budget (recommendation) we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Corcoran said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee advocates are speaking out against the proposed takeover by the New College of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[12179,7928,21670,412,135,137,136,51802,51804,51803],"class_list":["post-98172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-new-college-of-florida","tag-proposal","tag-richard-corcoran","tag-ron-desantis","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-usf-sarasota-manatee","tag-usfsm","tag-usfsm-president-laurey-stryker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}