Student letters addressed to Dr. Patricia Okker
Letters from New College students to their former president. Photo courtesy of Nickolas Steinig

Student letters addressed to Dr. Patricia Okker

Current students were invited to submit open, unsigned letters to Dr. Patricia Okker, for initial “delivery” via publication in the Catalyst. The full text of each submission appears below. Dear former president Okker,I am sorry to hear about your termination. I sincerely hope that you…

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Ringling exhibit “Glimpse of the Artist” co-curated by New College student, celebrates Newtown art
Art created by students of Emma E. Booker, featured at the "Glimpse of the Artist" exhibit. Photo courtesy of Lauren David.

Ringling exhibit “Glimpse of the Artist” co-curated by New College student, celebrates Newtown art

Within Sarasota, there is a hidden gem which has been pushed to the sidelines throughout the town’s history: the celebrated African American community, Newtown. However, in recent years, the community has begun shifting into the spotlight as one of Sarasota’s most vibrant, artistic and historic…

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DeSantis takes aim at College Board for “indoctrination” and lacking “educational value”
DeSantis has suggested earlier this month that Florida could do away with College Board entirely--but it's not yet clear how, when or what it might be replaced with. Image created by Caspian Rizzo

DeSantis takes aim at College Board for “indoctrination” and lacking “educational value”

Over the past few weeks, a dizzying flurry of announcements have come from Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office concerning Florida’s high school curriculum. Most recently, the governor has taken aim at the College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) African American studies curriculum, lambasting it as woke indoctrination.…

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Florida student athletes required to identify gender assigned at birth
An empty locker room. (Courtesy of flickr.)

Florida student athletes required to identify gender assigned at birth

The Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) has been fighting controversy in recent weeks after discussing the possibility of requiring student athletes to answer questions about their menstrual history on the state-wide pre-participation physical evaluation form. The form has included questions about menstrual history since…

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Artificial Intelligence or just text prediction? How ChatGPT and other Open AI programs function
An AI-generated New College student. Photo courtesy of Basil Pursley and DALL-E

Artificial Intelligence or just text prediction? How ChatGPT and other Open AI programs function

OpenAI, the renowned artificial intelligence research laboratory, has made groundbreaking progress in the field of natural language processing with its state-of-the-art language model, ChatGPT. As one of the largest language models in the world, ChatGPT has been able to generate coherent and realistic text in…

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New College’s basketball team outlasts Ringling in 43-42 victory
The New College team in a timeout huddle. (Photo taken by Janie Day.)

New College’s basketball team outlasts Ringling in 43-42 victory

In Fall 2022, the recently-established New College basketball team provided a place for students to learn the basics of the sport and jump on the courts for a pick-up game or two. While the team’s primary purpose is to be a source of Novocollegian sportsmanship…

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Board of Trustees approves Corcoran’s Interim President contract: NCF faces uncertain future
The Board of Trustees (BOT) and a handful of other New College administrators present for the Special BOT Meeting on Feb. 13 via Zoom. Photo taken by Sophia Brown

Board of Trustees approves Corcoran’s Interim President contract: NCF faces uncertain future

After a deeply disruptive Jan. 31 meeting, the New College Board of Trustees (BOT) was not expected to meet again until the end of February. However, on Feb. 6, it was posted on the New College website that a Special BOT Meeting would be held…

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Tiffany Stained Glass comes to Selby Gardens
Reference photos used by Tiffany Studio Artisans. Taken by Qadira Locke.

Tiffany Stained Glass comes to Selby Gardens

Selby Botanical Gardens has brought Louis C. Tiffany’s “Pursuit of Beauty in Nature” to the Downtown Sarasota Campus in an exhibition featuring a variety of pieces from Tiffany Studios, including pieces that use Favrile glass. On display until June 25, every piece features designs that…

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“You are not alone”: words from Representative Anna Eskamani to the New College community
A protest sign outside of the Sudakoff Center on Jan. 31. (Taken by Sophia Brown.)

“You are not alone”: words from Representative Anna Eskamani to the New College community

Since the Jan. 6 announcement of six new conservative-aligned Board of Trustee (BOT) members appointed at New College of Florida, Representative Anna Eskamani (District 47- Democrat) has spoken out frequently and firmly in opposition to the decision. Taking to social media platforms like Twitter and…

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Who is Richard Corcoran? A look at our incoming Interim President
A photo of Richard Corcoran, flanked by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Photo courtesy of Getty Images

Who is Richard Corcoran? A look at our incoming Interim President

On Jan. 31, the New College of Florida’s Board of Trustees (BOT) fired former President Patricia Okker and proposed replacing her with an interim, Republican politician and education administrator Richard Corcoran, effective Feb. 27. Corcoran’s base salary will sit at $699,000, approved when his proposed…

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