SARASOTA — New College Faculty Chair Amy Reid was recently recommended for faculty emerita status by New College Provost David Rohrbacher, who described the professor as "an outstanding teacher and scholar, and an innovator in curricular development." The Division of Humanities voted 21-4 to confer emeritus status, only for the honor to be denied by New College President Richard Corcoran.
Reid's colleagues elected her chair of New College's faculty after Matthew Lepinski abruptly resigned from both his faculty chair position and his professorship at the college during an April 2023 board of trustees meeting. Lepinski's resignation was in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis' stacking of the board with allies and his installation of his former Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran as New College President, which led to five professors who had already cleared the usual hurdles to achieve tenure not being approved by the board at Corcoran's direction.
In her faculty chair role, Professor Reid served as an ex officio member of the New College Board of Trustees and became known for her independent stances. Corcoran's basis for the unusual denial of emeritus status was that he had not found her adequately supportive of his agenda during New College's transformation. Corcoran wrote that he recognized Professor Reid's contributions to New College but disagreed that she should be honored with the title of emeritus.
"When I became president with a mandate for change from the Board of Trustees, there was
need for reasoned and respectful exchange between the faculty and administration," Corcoran wrote in an email response to Rohrbacker. "Regrettably, Professor Reid was one of the leading voices of hyperbolic alarmism and needless obstruction. In her letter of resignation, Professor Reid wrote that 'the New College where I once taught no longer exists.' She need not be burdened by further association with it."
Reid's teaching and research career has spanned nearly three decades, and an Emeritus title is a common honor for such lengthy and distinguished service. Faculty who achieve the honorary title of Emeritus have access to the use of New College stationery and a divisional mailbox; a New College email account; status as a nonvoting member of the faculty; borrowing privileges at the Jane Cook Library; a New College I.D.; and free parking.
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chrisluvspoodles
They’re very big on free speech as long as it’s in line with their ideas.
Tuesday, October 21 Report this
johnschussler
Professor Reid will no longer have free parking at New College. She will not be able to park in the northeast corner of the New College East Campus and walk to the SRQ airport terminal like everyone else who has a New College parking sticker can do (and many do without a parking sticker). There are often 30-40 cars parked there. Free airport parking for New College affiliated people while the rest of us pay $16 per day when we fly out of SRQ. That is airport land leased to New College, so the airport authority could stop that practice if it wanted to; but New College is their politicly connected pet tenant. The Federal Aviation Administration has twice rejected the airport authority's proposals to sell that land to New College, but the airport authority is trying again to please the governor. The traveling public can park in remote lots and take shuttle busses to the terminal.
Tuesday, October 21 Report this
RRICH69176
"Free" speech is disappearing...expressing one's thoughts which do not align with those "in power" can have untold consequences.
Wednesday, October 22 Report this
Graciela0107
The previous writer’s comment about the professor’s loss of parking privileges is so inappropriate and ridiculous. That comment should be left for an instance in which a parking privileges issue arises at SRQ airport. To convey a faculty emerita title to a professor who has distinguished herself for her knowledge and capacity to enrich the lives of students is the highlight of someone’s career. To have it denied for what we know to be strictly political reasons is a travesty. Corcoran has to go!!!
Wednesday, October 22 Report this
conrope
The headline says "who showed independence" and in the article "he had not found her adequately supportive of his agenda".
How did she demonstrate her independence? What agenda specifically did she not support". Nothing in the article to answer that.
The devil is in the details. No way of knowing if her free speech rights were infringed upon based on this reporting.
Thursday, October 23 Report this