Florida Senate - 2024                            (NP)    SR 1820
       
       
        
       By Senator Gruters
       
       
       
       
       
       22-03049-24                                           20241820__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution designating February 7, 2024, as “New
    3         College Day” in Florida.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, New College is designated as the residential
    6  liberal arts honors college of this state and is the only public
    7  college or university in this state whose distinctive mission is
    8  to provide a liberal arts undergraduate education of the highest
    9  caliber to qualified students from around the world, and
   10         WHEREAS, New College’s new logos/techne curriculum combines
   11  classical education with next-generation skills to create a
   12  culture of intellectually curious students pursuing academic
   13  excellence and seeking a better understanding of the world
   14  within an educational environment of free speech and academic
   15  freedom, and
   16         WHEREAS, the New College academic system rewards risk
   17  taking and ambition through its individualized contract system
   18  for registration; develops skills in independent study and
   19  initiative through tutorials, independent study projects, and a
   20  required senior thesis; and encourages students not to passively
   21  receive information, but to engage and innovate, and
   22         WHEREAS, New College has earned top rankings from Forbes,
   23  The Princeton Review, U.S. News & World Report, Fiske Guide to
   24  Colleges, The Wall Street Journal, and others as one of the
   25  nation’s premier public liberal arts colleges, and it is also a
   26  national leader in Fulbright Scholarship recipients, and
   27         WHEREAS, New College enrolled its largest incoming class of
   28  first-year and transfer students last fall and has successfully
   29  recruited new faculty to enhance the quality and quantity of
   30  sought-after courses, including the addition of several
   31  excellent visiting professors and presidential scholars-in
   32  residence, and
   33         WHEREAS, New College added intercollegiate athletics and
   34  has been accepted to the National Association of Intercollegiate
   35  Athletics (NAIA) as a full member of the Sun Conference,
   36  adopting the mascot “The Mighty Banyan” and recruiting more than
   37  150 scholar-athletes to field six varsity sports teams, with
   38  additional sports planned for 2024-2025 and continued growth
   39  projected in the years ahead, and
   40         WHEREAS, New College recently announced plans to establish
   41  a Freedom Institute to foster free speech and the sharing of
   42  ideas and to combat cancel culture by promoting tolerance of
   43  opposing views and engaging such views in civil discourse, and
   44         WHEREAS, New College has begun the process of redefining
   45  what it means to be a liberal arts college, and it will take a
   46  concerted, multiyear effort in collaboration with support from
   47  the Legislature, Governor Ron DeSantis, and all statewide
   48  stakeholders to reestablish the college’s preeminence, NOW,
   49  THEREFORE,
   50  
   51  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   52  
   53         That February 7, 2024, is designated as “New College Day”
   54  in Florida in recognition of New College’s contribution as an
   55  outstanding institution of higher education.