Corcoran's Top Tier Student Housing: A Moldy Trailer Park
“...we will not move forward in any way shape or form that does not adequately and completely improve the housing situation for our students… and the worst case scenario that you could possibly anticipate happens, I would resign in disgrace or you guys should fire me on the spot." – Richard Cocoran, June 2023
Richard Corcoran can’t seem to learn from his past.
After spending millions of taxpayer dollars for temporary student housing inappropriate for Florida’s humidity or hurricane season, Corcoran’s “Banyan boxes” dorms are now sitting unused and students are living in hotels, potentially costing millions more in taxpayers’ dollars.
This situation is emblematic of what seems to be Corcoran’s track record of rushed and bungled decisions.
The story begins when President Corcoran rushed to bring a new surge of students to New College (with diminished SAT scores), only to find in May 2023 that there was harmful mold in the 50 year old Pei dorms. Because it was determined renovations would not be completed in time for the new academic year, viable options had to be found quickly, and this was only months into Corcoran’s interim presidency at New College of Florida. Students who had signed contracts for on-campus housing for the 2023-24 academic year were moved into nearby hotels while new students, mostly student-athletes, were moved into existing students’ housing.
A year later, to increase on-campus housing, Corcoran spent $3MM on what appear to be “Black Diamond workforce lodging,” typically used to house workers in remote mining camps and oil fields. He convinced the Board of Trustees to back the purchase by calling them "modular temporary dorms." At the time, questions were raised about whether the units were constructed to handle Florida’s humidity and hurricane season
Based on the public meeting record, it was not clear if these particular temporary dorms units had ever been used in Florida. Corcoran’s untested and rushed decision in June 2024 to get these temporary dorms in place for a semester starting only two months later struck many as doomed to failure.
The dorms were not ready for the start of the semester, so students had to stay in hotels for the first few weeks.
The “Banyan Boxes” at the start of the Fall 2024 semester.
When students were finally assigned to the temporary dorms (unlovingly called “Banyan Boxes” by many, in reference to the school’s new masco) and moved in, complaints about the living conditions began immediately, with some students describing the supposedly brand new units as dirty, dusty, and moldy.
Then Hurricane Milton hit.
After evacuating for the hurricane, students returned to their dismal boxes only to find the days spent without power and air conditioning had apparently exacerbated the existing mold growth. In an email dated October 31, 2024, the New College administration informed Banyan Box residents that they were to be moved a third time, back to hotels, and some of those students were then told before winter break to pack up all their things in preparation to move to a different hotel in January:
As of January 2025, students are still not back in those dorms.
The fact New College students, many of them in college for the first time, had to move three to four times in their first semester due to poor decision making by the President is unconscionable.
Corcoran called for “Top Tier Housing” as part of his strategy for growing New College – which does not bring to mind mold-filled modular dorms.
Note that there are currently no approved plans to build permanent dorms at New College. It seems Corcoran is going to continue to use millions of taxpayer dollars to pay for hotels and temporary dorms, and not get to the real business of building safe housing for Florida’s honors college students.
This brings us back to his own response to concerns raised about his handling of student housing from June 2023:
“… and the worst case scenario that you could possibly anticipate happens, I would resign in disgrace or you guys should fire me on the spot."
We’re waiting.
