Corcoran’s alumni Town Hall a dismal failure

Yesterday, August 28th at 6:00 PM ET, New College Of Florida’s president Richard Corcoran held a Town Hall with alumni. The event, organized in good faith by the New College Alumni Association, was to have been an opportunity for alums to present questions to President Corcoran about alumni concerns with many issues related to the operation of the college since he assumed the presidency.

The questions covered a wide range of topics, including fiscal policy, programmatic issues, student housing, library policy on book destruction and more, and ugly derisive comments made on social media by College trustees. There were approximately thirty questions presented well in advance of this advertised 90-minute session. There was also a commitment to enable chat functionality as a way to have dialogue between the alum participants and Richard Corcoran.

What actually happened was a webinar with chat disabled, cut short to 45 minutes. In the program President Corcoran did not answer a single question that was submitted. Instead, he held forth with a rosy collection of platitudes about the current state of the College. Richard Corcoran spent the majority of the 45 minutes discussing construction and landscaping, with almost no details about academics, student life, or vision for the long-term success of Florida’s honors college.

His refusal to discuss any of the specific and substantive questions submitted reinforces our opinion that Richard Corcoran is operating in an autocratic manner, totally contrary to the spirit of cooperation and inclusivity that had been a hallmark of New College prior to his assumption of the Presidency. There were also questions related to his fiscal decisions and policy in his operating the College which were not addressed.

If President Corcoran’s aim was to engage the alumni community with events at New College, last night’s performance did just the opposite. It was a dismal failure, with alumni universally lamenting the lack of substance and disregard for the submitted questions. It served only to heighten the belief among a majority of alumni that many decisions about running New College that Richard Corcoran has made are a detriment to the continued success of New College. His decisions are completely contrary to the original goals, mission, and academic philosophy of the founders of New College. Continuing opacity and poor decisions on the part of President Corcoran can only lead to further distrust by the alumni and will damage New College.

The alumni of New College, and the Novo Collegian Alliance, stand ready to help New College succeed as the honors college of the state university system of Florida. From his actions last night, it is clear that President Corcoran does not value our assistance, nor does he seem willing to engage with alumni in any meaningful way, unless alums are aligned with his own philosophy of what New College should be. That is disappointing indeed.