Plans are underway for New College of Florida to take over the buildings and classrooms at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee campus in the coming weeks.
USF’s Board of trustees approved some of the details on Wednesday.
The handover of the state-owned land and assets, agreed in budget conference talks during a recent legislative special session, was backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and New College, where he installed a slate of conservative trustees to remake the small liberal arts school.
However, local business leaders who hire accountants, nurses and educators opposed the idea, along with many alumni, donors, students and the USF Faculty Senate. It was never fully debated in the Legislature but tucked into budget language that now awaits the governor’s signature.
Students who have already registered at the campus can complete their degrees there, so some professors and classrooms will stay.
USFSM campus board Chair Rick Piccolo described the plan as “difficult to endorse” but joined the rest of the trustees in voting for the joint transfer agreement on Wednesday.
“Many in the community believe both institutions are important to our region, and also agreed there may be additional synergies and efficiencies that could have been accomplished, but without the need to eliminate the unique identity of either institution,” Piccolo said.
“Obviously, a more collaborative approach was not selected by the governor and the Legislature. That said, we are grateful that the existing students presently enrolled at USFSM will be given the opportunity to complete their studies under the USF banner, and that the Legislature saw fit to provide the necessary funding to enable that commitment to be met."
USF plans to analyze what space it needs and offer the rest to New College, whose faculty and staff will move into any remaining space after July 1.
“It will be different, to say the least, to no longer see the USF identity on US 41,” added Piccolo, referring to the oceanfront campus’s signage on Tamiami Trail.
The transfer includes buildings, classroom furniture and fixtures. Not included are the 1,600 students, hundreds of employees, computers assigned to USF personnel, records, intellectual and intangible property, and the Florida Center for Partnership in the Arts.
WUSF broadcasts from a studio at USF Sarasota-Manatee but will vacate that space and move its live operations in Sarasota to another studio it owns near downtown. The headquarters of the radio station will remain at USF’s Tampa campus.
“Branding has come up several times,” USF general counsel Gerard Solis said at the trustees’ meeting in Tampa. “New College would be interested in changing some of the look and feel of the campus. We probably would feel the same way if the shoe were on the other foot."
However, Solis said the colleges have agreed that any rebranding could not apply to “any facilities that we're using for the teach-out.”
Also, “it can't create any confusion for our students and employees. Students have to know where to go for financial aid or to find their faculty member," he added.
He also said it cannot permanently alter any part of the buildings or the facilities.
“If you're talking about hanging up a sign, that's a lot different than removing something that is bolted to a wall," he continued.
Solis also pointed out that the whole deal falls through if New College is not able to get the financing it needs.
"If New College does not pay that — the debt service or assume the debt on the timeline already discussed, the facility agreement also is nullified," Solis said.
New College is already about $17 million in debt. It must start monthly payments of $166,617 to USF on July 1 and take responsibility for the entire $53 million in debt for the USF dorms by the end of December.
In addition, New College is taking on all the day-to-day operating, maintenance and repair costs of the 32-acre campus.
The budget agreed on by lawmakers for the next fiscal year reduced funding for New College by about 40%, down $25 million for the coming year.
