A documentary explores the right-wing takeover of New College of Florida, showcasing the impact on students, faculty, and the broader implications for higher education, highlighting themes of community, resilience, and the fight against ideological agendas.
A new documentary offers a case study about a college takeover and young people learning to resist in real time.When I told coworkers and friends I was going to see a documentary about the right-wing takeover of a small public Florida college, the reaction was immediate and unanimous: Why would you do that to yourself? Too depressing.
I’d be too angry.But what stayed with me wasn’t only the anger. It was the stubborn, surprising insistence on community, joy and showing up anyway.after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a slate of conservative trustees in 2023, including activist Christopher Rufo, with the explicit goal of transforming the school. firing of the college’s president Patricia Okker, the dismantling of diversity programs, the exodus of faculty and students. In many ways, New College has become a proving ground for a broader ideological project targeting higher education. And yes, the villains here are unmistakable. The film does not soften them. You see the smirks, the contempt, the casual cruelty of powerful men talking about students as abstractions, problems to be solved. You hear the language—about “woke ideology,” about “fixing” a college—and you watch as decisions with enormous human consequences are made with breezy yet violent certainty. There are moments that feel almost surreal in their bluntness: My entire theater groaned in unison as students pleaded to keep programs alive, only for trustees to dismiss their concerns as manipulation; as policies reshaped an entire campus, while the people most affected are given seconds to speak; as adults with immense power picked fights with students, then Even those who have spent decades in academia say they feel unmoored by what’s happening. A journalism professor in the film calls it a “trial by fire,” adding, “I’ve been doing this for 29 years, and I’ve never seen it like this.” “Powerful forces have come onto our campus,” warns Amy Reid, a leading voice in the fight for academic freedom andfollows the political takeover of New College of Florida, offering a stark look at the right-wing push to reshape higher education and the students living through it. The film also captures the way these students are forced into a kind of premature political adulthood. They are asked to be strategic, composed, articulate—to master systems that were not designed for them—while also processing the loss of the institution they chose . They are learning, in real time, what it means to fight for something that may not be saved. And still, they show up.is not a story of victory. There are losses here—real, irreversible ones. Programs dismantled, faculty gone, students leaving or planning their exits. The film does not pretend otherwise. But it also doesn’t let that be the only story. What it offers instead is a record of resistance in its most unglamorous, most human form: messy, procedural, emotional, sustained. A blueprint—not for how to win, exactly, but for how to refuse to disappear. By the end, I understood why my friends didn’t want to see this movie. It will make you angry. But it might also remind you where to look.. Classroom wants to hear from educators and students being impacted by legislation attacking public education, higher education, gender, race and sexuality studies, activism and social justice in education, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. She is also a mentor editor for The OpEd Project. Before becoming a journalist, she was a Texas public school English teacher. She is based in Austin, Texas. Connect with her on
Higher Education Political Activism Student Resistance Ideology Documentary
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