Questions for Richard Corcoran
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Q: Was hiring Taryn Fenske for $15k per month since July a good use of taxpayer money?
She’s listed on the My Florida Marketplace vendor bidding system. Was there bidding for her procurement? (reference)
Q: Are the admissions videos she produced actually going to attract honors students to apply?
If her marketing talents really were worth it, then why was one of only two videos she produced taken down from social media? Was it because the only footage of “Professors Who Actually Teach” in fact showed a trans faculty member who already fled the campus? (reference 1, reference 2) Does Yale advertise like this? Does Wharton? Does Hillsdale?
Q: Why was comedian Andrew Doyle paid $40,000 to teach a four-week-long Independent Study Project for four students?
Another professor hired to teach the same kind of project for the same amount of time was paid $6,000. (reference)
Q: Have New College Foundation donors been informed how their funds are being allocated?
Funds with names like “Faculty Development Endowment” and “Bob Johnson Endowment for Academic Excellence” were allocated, not to faculty nor academics, but to the president’s salary and athletics programs. Has this been reconciled with donor intent? (reference)
Q: When will the university have a 2023-2024 budget?
Q: Why is the position of provost, the highest academic post in the university, now being filled by a lobbyist with no Ph.D and no teaching experience?
In actual conservative universities, like any other institutes of higher learning, the provost typically has 10+ years of faculty experience. At Hillsdale, the provost has more than 30. (reference) At New College, the position has just been given to the still-new dean of students, who at least one conservative commentator already thinks should be fired for his lapses in judgment. (reference, Feb 9 program, at 18:50)
Q: The new athletic department is provisionally accepted to the NAIA. Who is the faculty athletics representative?
The original hand-written NAIA application had a staff person sign instead of a teacher tasked with overseeing academic standards. (reference) Currently, the lobbyist dean and provost is listed as interim faculty rep, despite also not being part of the faculty.
Q: If campus freedom is increasing, why have regulations recently changed so that administrators now control student government?
Specifically, that “legislation of the student government association shall be subject to the approval of the Vice President for Student Affairs prior to implementation”? (reference)
Q: If the campus is short on dormitory space, why were orders given to demolish B-dorm, a building that had just been renovated at taxpayer expense two years previously?
Now that the demo orders have been paused, why is B-dorm still empty? (reference)
Q: If New College was “circling the drain” before Corcoran was named president, how did 2022 see a record increase in enrollment?
That’s the year before he was hired… for double the salary of the president responsible for that increase. (reference 1, reference 2)
Q: If the new athletics department resulted in another boost to enrollment, what’s the net increase in the student body?
The net gain in students was either 7 or 8 last semester, but even more have transferred out this semester, including student-athletes who decided the school was not what they’d been told. (reference 1) … which is unsurprising, given that admissions officials had been instructed to lie to them. (reference 2)
Q: If an equally large group of student-athletes arrives next fall, will the current studentathletes be required to give up their dormitories and move to hotels?
Last year, notifications that upperclassmen had to move to hotels were made in some cases after they already started moving into their reserved housing. (reference)
Q: Are you still receiving information or advice from Robert Allen and Bridget Ziegler?
Q: If obliged to postpone his academic duties during trials for either the Jefferson County bigrigging scandal or the Elizabeth Cornell libel-for-hire case, will the university be able to prorate the president’s salary?
How about the salary of New College counsel Bill Galvano, who is also serving as Corcoran’s personal attorney? (reference 1, reference 2, reference 3)
Q: There’s a scholarship program for the Ricketts Great Books program. Is this a normal scholarship, or is it a reimbursement available only if the student finishes all classes in the program?
Are incoming international students informed of these terms? Currently the only two students are regular NCF students, and thus ineligible for the scholarship or reimbursement. (reference)
Q: How can the university hire assistant professor Jeffrey Scarborough without a faculty search committee?
This is required by the faculty handbook, as recognized by the Board of Governors. The professor is ostensibly teaching for a new division, the formation of which also requires a formal amendment to the faculty handbook. (reference 1, reference 2)
Q: What qualifies a “Presidential Visiting Scholar”?
Dr. Bruce Gilley (who has greater academic qualifications to be provost than the current lobbyist-provost) has faced scathing criticism from liberal media, but also faced serious questions about his academic bona fides from the conservative Cato Institute. (reference) If the aim is to create an institute dedicated to academic thought free from ideology, why not name scholars the Cato Institute can accept?
Q: Why have homeowners in The Uplands neighborhood adjoining campus, for the first time ever, been shut out of the New College Master Plan process?
As resident Don Popovich wrote to the Herald-Tribune, “Good leaders understand that you build support and value stakeholder input. We respectfully request that public input and transparency be made part of the Master Plan process.” (reference, scroll down) Please note that although Master Plan hearings have been held, no copies of a Master Plan have been provided, making it impossible for affected residents to even know what questions to ask. (reference)"