As such, the New College of Florida has recently reinstated a course on “wokeness” taught by Andrew Doyle. This change is just one step in the college’s larger cultural redesign. Doyle, who describes “wokeness” as a “guerrilla movement, or a sort of cult,” hopes to investigate its impact over corporate America, higher ed, K-12, and medicine. This announcement comes as the university has experienced a wave of faculty and staff departures in keeping with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s anti-”woke” crusade.
The New College’s controversial move to cut Kevin Wang’s contract within a few months of his arrival used state law SB 846 to do so. This law requires non-commonwealth schools to not hire certain individuals or partner with certain entities without the express approval of the independent board of governors. Wang helped teach Chinese language and culture at the college for almost two years. After he fled to the U.S. from China and sought asylum, he lost his job.
“I faced political repression from the Chinese Communist Party for criticizing Xi Jinping and the CCP’s domestic and foreign policies, resulting in the loss of my teaching position and my freedom to teach, research, and express myself in China,” said Kevin Wang.
Wang’s dismissal serves to reiterate opaque and harmful provisions of SB 846. This law limits the ability to hire people hailing from “countries of concern” including China, Russia, and Iran. The law, enforced since July 2023, additionally restricts state universities from collaborating with selected foreign collaborations.
“May not accept any grant from or participate in any agreement with any college or university based in a foreign country of concern,” states SB 846.
Wang lamented his experience as a Chinese researcher coming to the U.S. only to face the same barriers he had experienced in China. He’s getting ready to move out of Florida, but he plans to pursue his Venezuelan asylum case from within the U.S.
“I never expected to face such a distressing experience after escaping persecution from the CCP in China, only to encounter a somewhat similar situation at New College in the United States,” Wang remarked.
The New College of Florida recently hosted controversial speakers such as Ed McMullen and Ibram X. Kendi. One of these is blogger Steve Sailer, who has been called a “white supremacist.” Sailer spoke on how “periods of heightened activism correlated with increased crime rates.”