Enrollment of women and minorities is surging at the New College of Florida, flying in the face of criticism that the university would become a right-wing hotspot after Governor DeSantis promised to overhaul its “woke indoctrination.” 

The public honors college at Sarasota, Florida, has seen almost a 300 percent increase in the enrollment of Black students — to 39 students from 10 — since its new leadership team closed the school’s office of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Under new leadership, Hispanic enrollment has nearly doubled, growing to 93 students from 47. The ratio of male to female students also came far closer to balance, with a 130 percent increase in men signing up for classes at the school since it expanded sports opportunities last year.

The data compare demographics between the fall of 2022 and the fall of 2023, shared with the Sun by the admissions director at New College, Bruce Abramson. Critics argued that the college would scare away minority students by becoming a beacon of conservatism after Mr. DeSantis appointed six members to the board of trustees last year. Its only full-time gender studies professor said in his resignation letter in August that Florida is “the state where learning goes to die.” 

On the contrary, New College has attracted a wide array of students hungry for a true liberal arts education. “If done correctly, a broad and open invitation should draw responses and participants capable of generating a full range of perspectives. That’s exactly the environment we’re trying to build,” Mr. Abramson says. “Demographic data can’t tell you whether or not we’re succeeding.”

When he came into his role last year, Mr. Abramson was tasked with fixing a crisis of enrollment at New College, which was failing to hit its goal of 300 students a class. The numbers have grown to 337 students in the 2023 year — the largest class since the university was founded in 1960 — from less than 200 students in 2020 and 2021.

Despite concerns that the university would become a bastion for right-wing Floridians, the number of out-of-state students grew to 71 students from 48, holding roughly the same fraction, one-fifth, of the entering class as it did a year earlier. The number of Florida residents held roughly steady as a large portion of the student body, while a few more international students trickled in.

The university’s move away from its focus on “inclusivity” appears to have bolstered enrollment. “While many students obviously attend colleges notwithstanding aspects they deem troubling,” Mr. Abramson says, “DEI-heavy institutions are likely to attract the least confident, most entitled members of all groups — while deterring those with self-confidence and community pride.”

The college has also shut down its gender studies curriculum in favor of expanding its sports program. This shift in priorities “broadened our potential market considerably and guaranteed an increase in experiential diversity,” Mr. Abramson says, while better serving underprivileged students. “America’s current gender obsession skews heavily towards communities of above average affluence and credentialing, and away from minority communities.  Many minority communities, on the other hand, maintain active and involved sports programs.”

“An explicit focus on character” is the next effort Mr. Abramson is spearheading to bolster recruitment at New College. “We are eager to enroll students blessed with strong, confident, senses of self and senses of community.” He says he often tells heads of schools and counselors: “I don’t care who you are, how you identify, or what you believe. I care how you present and how you represent.”