Letter of Support for Novum Collegium Fidelis
The following is the text of the Novo Collegian Alliance’s letter of support for the Novum Collegium Fidelis project. This letter is also available as a downloadable PDF. We are hopeful that this idea takes firm root and flourishes, and are pleased to support it as a means to advance the necessary public conversation about the College’s crisis and the fate of its historic mission.
Dear New College Alumni, Students, and Other Community Members:
Novo Collegian Alliance, a not-for-profit organization composed of New College alumni and other supporters of the College community1, announces its endorsement of the proposal entitled Novum Collegium Fidelis, which was initially developed by Nathan Allen (’90) and reported in Suncoast Searchlight.2 Novo Collegian Alliance’s board has studied the proposal in detail, including through multiple conferences with Mr. Allen.
The proposal, conditional on philanthropic, governmental, and community support, is aimed at transitioning New College to a fully private, not-for-profit liberal arts college within ten years of its adoption.
We have carefully monitored New College’s business situation and consider the College to be in a state of unparalleled crisis, involved in gross waste of its resources and, in the absence of new leadership and a new, credible business plan, unable to maintain its academic standards without an unjustifiable level of public expenditure. Academic program quality has declined precipitously since Richard Corcoran assumed the President’s Office, with a startling lack of pushback from the College’s Trustees.3 It is precisely in this environment that creative proposals are worth considering.
The current situation is a tragedy as, historically, the College has been life-transforming for generations of students, achieved amazing academic results, and helped put Sarasota on the map as a city rich with cultural life. Since becoming a publicly-sponsored College in 1975, New College developed a record of returning the public investment with impressive academic results, enabling top-tier, personalized education for Florida residents from a variety of backgrounds at in-state tuition rates. But, this record has been marred by the failures of the current administration.
We support this proposal as a means to advance the necessary public conversation about the College’s crisis and the fate of its historic mission. In broad brush, it represents an intelligent and credible plan to transition the College to a private college while still taking many students at in-state tuition rates during the ten-year transition period. It offers a real hope of restoring New College’s historic academic strengths and repairing the badly damaged relationship between New College and its traditional core alumni and community supporters.
By supporting the proposal and being involved in its development from this point forward, alumni can put their stamp on it. The proposal thus far has been presented in a broad-brush, conceptual form with much still to be determined. Our intention is very explicitly to restore the College’s adherence to its original, unique, and innovative academic program, including eschewing grades in favor of narrative evaluations, using a “contract” system alongside block tuition, emphasizing original undergraduate research, respecting the professionalism and academic freedom of faculty, and maintaining ample space for an organic and vibrant student culture. We are also committed to excellence, and to reflecting well on the Sarasota/Manatee community that has supported the College so generously over so many years.
We also believe the proposal, if successful, can strengthen salutary ties between the College and the Sarasota/Manatee community, including collaborations with other cultural institutions, and further involving the College in the artistic, cultural, and intellectual life of the community.
Our participation as endorsers of the proposal is made with our express expectation that any future version of New College be constituted so as to have substantial alumni representation on its governing board (e.g., one-half alumni representation) and the board of any associated foundation (e.g., one-third alumni representation), and that Novo Collegian Alliance will be included in the decision-making process related to the proposal, and in institutions that will become increasingly formal as time goes on.
We will avidly monitor the unfolding of the proposal and other events in the life of the College in order to realize the best interests of the community we represent, never afraid to adjust our positions or take decisive actions as events require.
Very truly yours,
The Board of Novo Collegian Alliance, Inc.
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1 Novo Collegian Alliance was formed in March, 2023, in the wake of the appointment of a new slate of Trustees to New College’s Board by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The organization was formed in part due to widespread perception of the need for an unaffiliated alumni-centered organization with an independent voice. Since forming, Novo Collegian Alliance has produced policy analysis related to New College, and engaged in direct support for students including hosting alternative graduation ceremonies, offering students emergency funds, and funding student research and travel. The entirety of Novo Collegian Alliance’s Board is New College alumni, elected by Novo Collegian Alliance’s membership.
2 Suncoast Searchlight, Alice Herman, Sept. 5, 2025, “Privatization push emerges at New College as ex-insider breaks with DeSantis allies,” available at https://suncoastsearchlight.org/new-college-florida-privatization-nathan-allen-desantis/.
3 To illustrate, since 2023 New College has fallen from 76th place to 122nd place in U.S. News & World Report’s “National Liberal Arts Colleges” ranking, the lowest ranking the College has ever received on that measure, and the average SAT scores for students entering the College reached their lowest level ever in Fall, 2023 and have hardly changed since then.