Stop the Hostile Takeover of New College of Florida

We, the undersigned, strongly oppose to this hostile takeover of a public university by a politician unfamiliar with the inner workings of an Honors College. Eighty percent of New College graduates pursue further education. New College is the ONLY public school, when adjusted for size, in the Top 30 producers of PhDs, beating out six of the eight Ivy League schools.(All rankings must necessarily be adjusted for size!) A full 12% of New College graduates earn PhDs in STEM fields, making NC the #9 producer of STEM PhDs out of ALL colleges and universities. New College ranks in the Top 10 of producers of PhDs in Sociology, Foreign Languages, and Anthropology and highly in other fields. New College is also a top producer of Fulbright Scholars. Despite having just .003% of Florida's student population, Novo Collegians account for 25% of all Florida's Fulbright winners. There have been 34 Fulbright grants award to New College graduates in just the past 5 years! One of the Florida legislature's chronic complaints is that it costs more per student to educate someone at New College than at the other state schools, but Novo Collegians account for only ONE-THIRD OF ONE PERCENT of the total state higher education enrollment costs. This accounts for a miniscule amount of the State's education budget, but the economic damages of such a change hurts the value of New College degrees and makes our workforce less competitive compared to other states. It is of the upmost importance that students have academic freedom, and access to a quality education which ensures ALL students -- including those with disabilities, those of vary economic experiences and cultural backgrounds and sexualities -- have an equal chance to succeed.