Protect California Public Colleges From Ideological Takeover

Pass legislation now that prevents any future governor from doing to California's public colleges what Ron DeSantis did to New College of Florida. What happened there should terrify anyone who cares about public higher education: a nationally ranked liberal arts college was gutted in under two years through board stacking, mass faculty firings, and the elimination of academic programs — not because the school was failing, but because it was ideologically inconvenient. The numbers tell the story. New College ranked 3rd nationally in producing doctoral graduates. After DeSantis installed a loyalist board and fired the president, more than a third of faculty left, 186 students transferred out, and the cost to produce a single degree ballooned to nearly $500,000 — compared to $150,729 at the University of Florida. Rankings collapsed from No. 100 to No. 135. Baseball recruits with lower grades were handed half the school's new merit scholarships while returning students were displaced to hotels. California must close the legal gaps that made this possible. That means binding limits on gubernatorial board appointments, statutory protections for academic programs and DEI offices, and transparency requirements for emergency spending. Our public universities belong to the people of this state, not to whoever holds the governor's office.