Tag: First They Came for My College

By Richard Ades

Jan. 6, 2021, will forever be remembered as the day rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol and tried to overthrow the lawful results of a presidential election.

That’s enough to relegate any date to permanent disgrace, but Jan. 6 re-earned its infamy just two years later. That’s when Florida governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis began what amounted to a hostile takeover of one of his state’s most prestigious schools: New College of Florida.

As recounted in the documentary First They Came for My College, the story is both sad and—as suggested by the title—cautionary. Directed by Patrick Bresnan (Rabbit Hunt) with help from students both in front of and behind the camera, the film lays bare a strategy that’s subsequently been followed by other politicians eager to undermine what they see as “woke” educational practices.

The doc begins with archival footage that reveals what made New College so special. Since opening in 1959, the school has prided itself on promoting independent study and freedom of thought without state interference.

Gaby Batista, one of several students who make regular appearances in the film, explains that New College has always practiced what she calls “radical acceptance.” One apparent result is a student body with a high percentage of gay and trans students. Another is a curriculum with liberal-minded subjects such as race and gender studies.

But on Jan. 6, 2023, that all changed. The doc shows what happened.

At a board meeting, six DeSantis-appointed college trustees make their first appearance, including ultraconservatives Christopher Rufo (famed for his attacks on “critical race theory”) and Matthew Spalding (who would later play a major role in Project 2025). At the same time, the college’s popular president is fired and immediately replaced by Richard Corcoran, an interim president who’s amenable to the new trustees’ applecart-upsetting plans.

After observing these proceedings, a student ruefully observes that tyrannies always have an advantage over democracies when it comes to speed, since one person can make changes faster than a group can decide what to do about them.

It becomes obvious that the newly appointed trustees intend to take full advantage of that speed, quickly targeting the tenure that protects the jobs of professors who support the college’s longtime traditions. But it also becomes obvious that neither New College’s students nor its parents and alumni intend to let those traditions die without a fight.

New College student Gaby Batista speaks at a rally against the school’s conservative takeover.

In meeting after meeting, despite being limited to one minute apiece, these critics don’t spare the decibels as they complain about the school’s new rightward drift.

While recording responses to New College’s forced metamorphosis, director Bresnan particularly focuses on the staff of The Catalyst, a student newspaper run under the guidance of Professor Maria Vesperi. Week after week, the young journalists meet to complain and commiserate as they attempt to report on the changes happening around them.

From time to time, Bresnan also takes a look at the artistic efforts—including painting, theater and filmmaking—that have always been a big part of New College life. These interludes offer a break from all the political turmoil, but the break isn’t completely tension-free, since it shows us what could be lost once the new trustees complete the school’s transformation.

And the transformation does continue apace, past the end of the semester and throughout the following school year. Covering it all with sensitivity and drama, Bresnan’s film benefits greatly from composer Michael Montes’s evocative score.

First They Came for My College manages to be at once uplifting, depressing and infuriating. It offers portraits of tenacity in the face of change, along with a virtual blueprint for the kind of political tyranny that has become all too common in our supposedly free society.

Rating: 4½ stars (out of 5)

First They Came for My College is currently showing in Gainesville, St. Petersburg and Miami, Florida, and opens next week in Milwaukee, Austin and New York City. An Oct. 22 screening is planned at the Wexner Center in Columbus, Ohio. For a list of other upcoming screenings, visit firsttheycameformycollege.com/screenings.