Conservatives who have witnessed higher-education reforms fail to stop the spread of political correctness have good reason to be dismayed. There is, however, a promising tactic available to them right now, at least in some states, that requires little manpower and no extra cost. All it takes is a determined governor plus a few individuals experienced in academic politics and practice. Consider Florida.
In December 2022, a staffer in the office of Governor Ron DeSantis asked if I would serve as a trustee of New College of Florida, the small honors college in the state system founded in Sarasota in 1964. I agreed, as did Christopher Rufo, Charles Kessler, Matthew Spalding, and, later, Ryan Anderson. By the time of our first board meeting in late January 2023, word of our appointment had spread, and dozens of news stories fashioned a narrative: conservative vandals ruin liberal arts gem. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the hall with megaphones and placards, while 200 students, professors, parents, and activists crowded inside to deliver public comment laced with invective.
What happened next provided a lesson for the Right: a few conservatives and a strong governor can enact genuine reform—if they exploit the proper power center. Over the next several months, amid faculty and administrator hostility, media attacks, censure from scholarly associations, nonstop lawfare, and reproofs from politicians (California governor Gavin Newsom even came to Florida to commiserate with protesters), we fired the president and general counsel, hired a new president, ended DEI operations, denied early tenure to five candidates, abolished the gender studies major, recruited donors and new professors (sometimes over faculty opposition), and steered curricular revisions in a classical direction.
At every step, we had the backing of Governor DeSantis and steady consultations with New College president Richard Corcoran. It didn’t matter that the American Association of University Professors issued a report accusing us of malfeasance and tyranny, that media smears continued, or that the faculty formally sanctioned us. We had conservative principles and positive results on our side. Corcoran secured hefty funding from the state government to improve the college grounds and renovate dilapidated buildings. The college hired 40 new teachers, and in the 2023/2024 school year, New College secured its largest incoming classes ever. For years, the school’s enrollment had been stuck at below 700; now, it has more than 900 students, and we expect to reach four figures in the next year or two.
These events demonstrate the effect that the right trustees can have at a public university. Though conditions vary from state to state, trustees generally have the final say on many academic policies bearing on personnel, finances, and curriculum. Academic trustees are like stewards of a financial trust; they’re responsible for proper asset management. Six or seven trustees united by a common vision can chart an institution’s course. If they’re conservatives with academic savvy and a spine, they can overcome the woke hegemony of the faculty and administration, eliminate diversity statements, put activist departments on notice, ensure meritocratic admissions, and much more.
What happened at New College can be duplicated in red states with popular governors. One of the frustrating facts of life for residents of red states is the existence of public universities that are as woke as those in blue states. Unfortunately, trustees in such schools, with backgrounds in business, law, and party politics, frequently lack the knowledge and experience needed to advance conservative reforms. The board of trustees at the University of Tennessee, for example, boasts an ex-president of Pepsi, the state commissioner of agriculture, the CEO of Nashville Electric Service, the executive chairman of AutoZone, the ex-CEO of Tyson Foods, and the co-owner of Mountain View Auto Group. Such individuals are skilled in fiscal management but defenseless when it comes to fighting the academic Left.
We need governors to welcome the challenge of higher-education reform. The tactic is simple: appoint three trustees who can educate the others. If governors signal strong support, change can happen immediately. If they don’t want to do battle, they can be pressured to act. Ethics and Public Policy Center fellow Stanley Kurtz suggests a “pledge” method—that is, presenting candidates with a written promise ready for signing: “When in office, I shall appoint trustees to State U who shall end woke practices and restore the traditional mission of higher education.” Reformers at the Manhattan Institute, the National Association of Scholars, and similar organizations could meet with staffers, identify potential trustees, and lay out the advantages of this approach.
State universities once enjoyed strong feelings of loyalty from residents, especially those who attended the schools and still love the football teams. But this devotion is waning. Parents don’t like it when their kids come home from freshman year with tales of forced participation in LGBTQ programs, required courses in critical race theory, and campus speech codes.
The trustee solution is not about countering progressive politicization with a conservative variety. It is about reviving free inquiry and academic norms—the Ivory Tower rebuilt.
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