We think Tom Nichols is mixed up here. It's Corey A. DeAngelis who's the school choice evangelist who always outs opponents of school choice either having attended or currently sending their children to private schools. Christopher Rufo has taken a sledgehammer to critical race theory and academic queer theory in public schools, quite effectively, we might add.
Atlantic writer and True Conservative™ Nichols has dug up some dirt on Rufo, who sits on the board of trustees of New College of Florida.
Florida's government has the right to destroy its public colleges and hurt Florida students, and DeSantis is determined to exercise that right to the fullest.https://t.co/9lVkM4X6df
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 17, 2023
Nichols can't wait to vote for Biden again to restore norms.
Quietly, insidiously, DeSantis and his minions are destroying the infrastructure of Florida's entire state University system. It's a lot more than New College, which is the PR side show to the larger disaster-at-hand.
— Observations From My Sofa (@CraigHa33460047) August 17, 2023
AND: What he's doing to K-12 is even worse.
Your reminder that Christopher Rufo - who took such pride in being part of this destruction of public education - went to Georgetown. (And then to Harvard Extension School, where I taught.) DeSantis went to Yale and Harvard Law.
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) August 17, 2023
Public education for thee, peons... https://t.co/JPhUdywkyV
Dear God, how will Rufo ever recover from this publically available information getting out?
Previously, New College was the *lowest-performing public university in the state,* functionally insolvent, unable to meet recruiting targets, and at risk of being dissolved by the state legislature; half of all graduates failed to find employment or additional education within… https://t.co/vQD0qJRU1F
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) August 17, 2023
Recommended
The full post reads:
Previously, New College was the *lowest-performing public university in the state,* functionally insolvent, unable to meet recruiting targets, and at risk of being dissolved by the state legislature; half of all graduates failed to find employment or additional education within a year after graduation, the worst student outcomes of any public university statewide.
In the past six months, NCF has secured record public funds from the legislature, recruited the largest incoming class in its history, and is rapidly improving all campus facilities and designing a new classical liberal arts curriculum, putting the university on the path to long-term viability for the first time in decades. The charge of "destruction" is preposterous—the opposite is true.
And what is the implication of Tom's argument: that, because DeSantis and I attended private universities, we don't have standing to participate in the reform of public universities, a core function of democratic governance? Or is this just empty, populist signaling—"look at these conservative elites transgressing the natural order of DEI bureaucracy!"—to maintain favor with the MSBNC crowd?
Is Nichols also upset that Ron DeSantis and Rufo are rooting the DEI departments out of all of Florida's state schools?
The biggest issue I am beginning to see is a large and bloated commentary class critiquing every little step of people actually building things and providing real solutions to our present day problems.
— Anna Hitrova (@mountains_anna) August 17, 2023
Yes: "Here's a problem but please don't do anything about it!"
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) August 17, 2023
Keep it up, @realchrisrufo! pic.twitter.com/7QNQ1MS8LL
— Ron DeSwanson (@SwansonNation) August 17, 2023
I’m grateful for what you and @GovRonDeSantis have done here ❤️ Wishing you every success in reviving true classical education 👏
— Yo😐🦋🌮🍊⚖️ (@TheSpinDr7) August 17, 2023
Reminder that for all his academic preening, Nichols spent almost his entire career at the Naval War College. A place that only exists so mid grade officers won't get divorced.
— G3 Enjoyer 🇻🇦 (@EnjoyerG3) August 17, 2023
Obvious solution: make RDS governor of Massachusetts, and let him reform Harvard along with the many other universities in the state.
— Isengrimm3 (@isengrimm3) August 17, 2023
You're destroying the public education system by refusing to employ race hustlers, gender goblins, and pedophiles.
— L.A.S.C.H. (@TokenViceCop) August 17, 2023
Some 35 professors at New College quit because they can't teach under fascism.
The guy writes for The Atlantic, so he’s nothing but a globalist mouthpiece. He may as well say “I’m mad we can’t continue our communist brainwashing unabated at this Florida school.”
— Frank (@Mountaing0at11) August 17, 2023
By "destruction", maybe Tom means the destruction of New College's ideological orthodoxy.
— ovenjoybread (@ovenjoybread) August 17, 2023
On that count, the emphatic response: pic.twitter.com/jrKh5i7lwU
I cannot understand the mindset of someone that can look at the bloated, ineffective, incompetent bureaucracy of public education and all the mentally ill cultural vandals it employs and think “this must be preserved at all costs.”
— St. John the Philosopher (@johnphilosopher) August 17, 2023
When you make Tom take a break from begging for MSNBC's table scraps to come after you, you're on the right track.
— 3rd Coast Dad (@RossVSV) August 17, 2023
There's literally no one effecting as much real world change as you over the last few years. Keep pushing, we're behind you.
He's not wrong. And DeSantis isn't far behind. No wonder they're trying to destroy him and make Donald Trump the nominee.
***
Join the conversation as a VIP Member