New College board member floats leadership shakeup, 'terminating' all employee contracts

A new president, new board chair and new legal counsel all will be up for discussion Tuesday when the New College of Florida board meets, along with the possibility of ending faculty tenure, terminating all employee contracts and rehiring anyone who fits into the school's "new financial and business model."

These are all ideas floated by new board member Eddie Speir in a recent Substack post. They could result in a big shakeup less than a month after Gov. Ron DeSantis reshaped New College's board in a bid to reinvent the 63-year-old Sarasota school.

Speir, a Christian school founder appointed by DeSantis to the board, wrote a Substack post over the weekend saying he wants to "Discuss need for new president and possible motion to give Pat Okker title of Interim President."

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New College President Patricia Okker has been on the job for less than two years, but DeSantis' push to transform the school has led to speculation about her future at the college and that only increased when Tuesday's board agenda was released with "President Okker's Employment Agreement" as one of the discussion items.

The agenda also includes "Election of the Board Chair and Vice Chair" and "General Counsel to Board of Trustees." Speir appears to be a driving force behind some of these discussions.

Tuesday's board meeting, which starts at 3 p.m. at the Sudakoff Conference Center, has been a subject of intense interest. It is the first meeting for seven new conservative board members, including six chosen by DeSantis.

Speir and other new board members have criticized the college's leadership.

Speir clashed with legal counsel David Smolker over his request to open the board meeting with prayer. He said Smolker initially denied the request, but in his latest Substack said that decision was reversed and an opening prayer will be allowed.

Speir writes in his Substack that he wants to "dismiss General Counsel from the Board, NOT the school." He also makes it clear that he wants to remove board Chair Mary Ruiz.

"My concern is that Chair Ruiz will not resign and/or delay resignation," he writes. "Thereby halting and/or delaying the necessary clarity that NCF needs as soon as possible."

New College Professor Amy Reid, director of the school’s gender studies program, urged board members to be more deliberative and not move “rashly” to replace leadership.

“We’ve heard a lot of saber rattling from individuals, but we still haven’t heard from the majority of the board” Reid said. “I encourage the board to find out more about the institution, to really look before they leap when it comes to leadership changes.”

It's not clear if a majority of board members would back a leadership shakeup at the college.

Mark Bauerlein, one of the board members appointed by DeSantis, told the Herald-Tribune recently that he has "no idea" if he would support Okker's removal.

"I haven’t seen any records about her, but our phone call the other day was pleasant and informative," Bauerlein said.

Speir has a long list of motions he plans to make at Tuesday's board meeting.

Among them is a proposal to identify "wokeness" as a "set of beliefs" akin to religion. He then wants to identify aspects of wokeness that are "shared values" worth preserving, that are "dogmatic" and should be excluded from curriculum and that are "pledges of fealty" that should be actively fought against.

"One such example of a pledge of fealty is the demand that woke pronouns are used," Speir writes.

Speir also wants to explore ending faculty tenure and "terminating all contracts for faculty, staff and administration and immediately rehiring those faculty, staff and administration who fit in the new financial and business model." He wants to board to send a letter to "the new counsel" seeking a legal opinion on the feasibility of such a plan.

Another motion Speir plans to introduce would remove some media members from the meeting.

"I move that we remove USA Today and its affiliates from the list of approved media outlets until an apology is received with a commitment from USA Today to adhere to its own policies," Speir writes, referencing Herald-Tribune parent company Gannett's flagship newspaper, USA Today.

The Herald-Tribune is part of USA TODAY Network - Florida. Speir is upset about comments made by Herald-Tribune readers.

The Herald-Tribune reached out to Speir for comment Monday morning and has yet to receive a response. When contacted for comment last week, Speir said "I'm still waiting for a formal apology" from the Herald-Tribune and the removal of reader comments.

New College Board of Trustees meeting

The New College of Florida Board of Trustees is meeting from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31 at Sudakoff Conference Center, 5845 General Dougher Pl Sarasota, FL 34243.

Visit the Herald-Tribune's website - www.heraldtribune.com - for live coverage of the board meeting. A full report on the meeting will be in Thursday's print newspaper.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Ron DeSantis' appointees to New College board could shakeup leadership