The shocking real reason DeSantis targeted New College is foretelling of things to come
The shocking real reason DeSantis targeted New College is foretelling of things to come
by SemDem for Daily Kos
Community
Thursday, June 08, 2023 at 12:52:49p EDT
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/6/8/2162143/-The-shocking-real-reason-DeSantis-targeted-New-College-is-foretelling-of-things-to-come
"SNIP.......
I have yet to see in the media the full, true story of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ war on Florida’s public honors college, New College of Florida. The narrative has been that this is a small college that DeSantis is trying to take over for his culture war and leave it at that. It is true that DeSantis is effectively destroying Florida’s universities with the help of his supporters’ openly hostile resentment of higher education. And yes, he’s making Florida toxic to not just out-of-state students, but Florida’s own students and professors who are deciding it’s best to leave the state and go somewhere less oppressive. Not to mention the medical students who are canceling their residencies in Florida due to abortion laws. But there’s so much more than that.
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Fearing he would be kicked out of New College if they knew about his hateful beliefs, Derek (the heir to a White Supremacy empire in the US and David Duke's godson) tried to hide his family lineage from the other students. Unfortunately for Derek, it wasn’t long before the student body found out who he was because someone Googled his name. So many people protested his presence at the school that the campus had to be shut down for a day. Many demanded he be expelled, which New College did not oblige. Administrative leaders made the decision to resist student calls to expel him.
However, there was a progressive Jewish organization on campus that took an interest in Derek. In a remarkable act of kindness, they invited Derek each week to their homes for dinner to share in Shabbat services. (Shabbat is the Jewish Sabbath, a weekly holiday of spiritual enrichment and offers a respite from the hectic pace of the rest of the week.) Isolated, Derek eventually took them up on the offer.
Over time, the students were able to engage him on his beliefs. More importantly, just by being friendly toward him they showed that the stereotypes he had been groomed to believe weren’t true. Derek had written and said terrible things about Jews, that they were the puppet masters of society and used a scheme of multiculturalism to keep down the “white race.” One student named Allison Gornick, who originally called for his expulsion and refused to be in the same room with him, decided to try to talk with him instead.
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