New College-USFSM-Ringling Consolidation DOA?

BRADENTON — On Friday, Florida Politics reported that Gov. Ron DeSantis' push to consolidate the University of South Florida Sarasota/Manatee and the Ringling Museum under a vastly expanded New College of Florida appears to be dead in the water.

Citing unnamed sources, the publication claims that legislation to execute the consolidation will not be heard in this year's annual legislative session. DeSantis targeted New College as part of his "war on woke" during his failed presidential campaign, installing loyal cronies who fired the school's president and set out to reimagine the liberal arts college as a "Hillsdale of the South," a reference to a private, conservative, Christian college in Hillsdale, Michigan.

After failing in his bid to win the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, the lame duck governor has continued to lose influence with the Republican-led state legislature, which has eagerly moved closer toward President Trump's orbit at DeSantis's expense.