Episode 178: If You’re Not A Fan Of New College of Florida Baseball, Unfollow Us Now
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Aug 19 • 57M
Episode 178: If You’re Not A Fan Of New College of Florida Baseball, Unfollow Us Now
Chris Rufo brings sports to Florida.
Journalists Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal scour the internet for its craziest, silliest, most sociopathic content, part of an obsessive and ill-conceived attempt to extract kernels of meaning and humanity from a landscape of endless raging dumpster fires.
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This week on Blocked and Reported, Jesse and Katie check in on Chris Rufo and the New College of Florida, where taxpayers are footing the bill for a brand new mediocre baseball team.
Episode 148: “Chris Rufo Takes Over New College Of Florida, Plus Adventures In Genealogy”
Michelle Goldberg: “At a College Targeted by DeSantis, Gender Studies Is Out, Jocks Are In”
Conor Friedersdorf: “Ron DeSantis Chose the Wrong College to Take Over”
Tampa Bay Times: “New College of Florida culture shifts again by adding new sports”
Chris Rufo: “D.E.I. Programs Are Getting in the Way of Liberal Education”
Episode 178: If You’re Not A Fan Of New College of Florida Baseball, Unfollow Us Now
I am a prof at a small public liberal arts college that has had declining enrollment for the past decade. If the enrollment of New College ends up doubling over the next few years because students and their parents are attracted to an institution that does not suffer the sort of progressive capture that afflicts practically every other non-Christian small liberal arts college, Rufo will be able to declare mission accomplished. I suspect there will be other small colleges that seek to emulate this model.
A demographic cliff is approaching and young men are increasingly rejecting higher education. This is partly explained by academic deficits and job market forces, but it’s also driven by the perceived hostility of liberal arts colleges toward conservatives & (white) men. A related problem is the gender imbalance that exists at small liberal arts colleges that are over 60% female, so straight college women aren’t going to find boyfriends or potential husbands when they are in college. If New College can attract more conservative young men to increase their enrollment, conservative young women will follow. I assume the tuition is relatively low, considering it is a public institution, so I actually think this experiment may end up being successful in the long term. Small public liberal arts colleges everywhere are desperate to increase enrollment, but they are not actively targeting the group that possibly has the most growth potential, i.e. conservatives and young men.
Hate to say it, but getting rid of the Gender Studies program will probably help with their rankings.
The ballooning of these types of "studies" programs in schools has not been great for kids who go into massive debt to get a degree that will not help you get a job.