by Jay Waagmeester, Florida Phoenix
February 16, 2025

Gov. Ron DeSantis has proposed transferring the Ringling Museum from Florida State University to New College of Florida, a move the receiving end is “super excited about.”

In his budget proposal released earlier this month, DeSantis included language that would transfer the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the Ringlings’ Ca’d’Zan mansion, and the Ringling Circus Museum, located less than a mile from the New College campus in Sarasota. 

“Obviously, we’d be super excited about it. We think it’s an amazing partnership in the making,” New College President Richard Corcoran said Thursday during a Board of Trustees meeting.

The Ringling property was turned over to the state in 1946 and has been under control of FSU since 2000. It is home to more than 10,000 pieces, including Peter Paul Rubens masterpieces.

FSU is host to a master’s degree in fine art and department of art history. 

Corcoran said the transfer would allow his liberal arts college an opportunity to expand enrollment, faculty, and resources. 

“We’re a liberal arts school, they’re just a beautiful art museum, everything, grounds, historical buildings,” Corcoran, former speaker of the Florida House, said. “It would be a wonderful fit, we’d be side-by-side. I think we could just create greater synergies and greater resources working together.”

Lawmakers would have to approve the shift. Legislative leaders have been more willing to push back against the second-term governor’s wishes, as seen during his initial immigration-focused special session. 

FSU did not respond to a request for comment before this story was published. 

Alan Derschowitz to campus

Meanwhile, New College plans a speaker series this spring semester featuring Trump-aligned figures including Alan Derschowitz and Russell Brand, in keeping with its new emulation of Hillsdale College. 

The college’s Socratic Stage Series will culminate with Derschowitz presenting a forum titled, “Justice or Politics? The Weaponization of Law in Modern America.” He also will deliver the spring commencement speech and help with fundraising events for the institution around the same time, Corcoran said. 

“He’s prolific in his writings and commentary,” Corcoran said of Derschowitz. The attorney will be joined by Steven Donzinger, a disbarred attorney known for representing Ecuadorian farmers harmed by oil drilling in that country.

Derschowitz, a former Harvard Law School professor, is known for representing President Donald Trump in his 2020 impeachment trial, Jeffrey Epstein in 2006, Harvey Weinstein in 2018, and was a member of the “dream team” representing O.J. Simpson in his 1995 murder trial.

“We’re trying to strike that balance where we expose our students to all the different aspects of dialogue and debate, and I think we’re doing a really good job on that,” Corcoran said. 

Brand, recently sued for sexual abuse, converted to Christianity last year. The British actor will present “Thinking without Permission: A Conversation with Russell Brand on Free Speech, Censorship, and Cultural Power.”

Speech topics will include gender in academia, the creation of the Hebrew Bible, the future of medical education, immigration policy, and “how the transformation of America’s media is reshaping society.” 

‘Game changer’ to have a engaged board

As part of his update to the Thursday, Corcoran noted that he gets “asked a bunch, a ton at everything I go to” for tips. 

He said it is a “rich blessing” and “game changer” to have a board of trustees “who’s engaged, who understand academics, who understand higher education, who understand the business components.” 

DeSantis replaced many of the New College trustees with conservatives at once in 2023. That board ousted former President Patricia Okker and named Corcoran as her replacement and since has largely supported his push to make the college more conservative. 

Since then, former U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse was named president at University of Florida (since resigned), Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nunez was named president at Florida International University, and former House majority leader Adam Hasner was named president at Florida Atlantic University. 

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