Rufo often talks about “the long journey through institutions”, a phrase coined in 1967 by German socialist Rudi Deutschke but often attributed to Italian communist Antonio Gramsci. Failing in their hope of an imminent revolution, new leftists of Deutschke’s generation sought to bore into political and cultural institutions, working within the system to change basic assumptions of Western society. Rufo’s attempt, he said, was “to steal the strategies and principles of the Gramscian left, and then to organize a kind of counter-revolutionary reaction to the long march through the institutions.”
There are many parts to this grand project. Rufo has been unique in fueling public education culture wars, first against critical race theory and then in stoking anger against teaching on LGBTQ issues. This year, he is turning his attention to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and with his colleagues at the Manhattan Institute will soon unveil model legislation to end such programs in state schools. In New College, he sees a chance to create a new type of educational institution to replace those he is trying to destroy. When we talked, he compared his plans to Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter.
Later this month, Rufo said, he will travel to New College with a “landing team” of board members, attorneys, advisors and political allies. “We’re going to do a top-down restructuring,” he said, with plans to “create a new core curriculum from scratch” and “encode it into a new academic master plan.” Given that Hillsdale, the template for this reimagined New College, teamed up with the Trump administration to create a “patriotic education” curriculum, this master plan will likely be heavy on American triumphalism. Rufo expects rapid progress, saying the school’s academic departments “are going to look very different in the next 120 days.”
Rufo has no regard for the values of those already at New College, who, like many other New Trustees, do not live in Florida. Speaking about New College’s current student body, Rufo said: “We are delighted to be working with them to make New College a great place to continue their education. Or we’ll be happy to work with them to find something that’s a better fit for them.
Of course, as both leftist revolutionaries and colonialists have learned over the years, replacing one culture with another can be more difficult than anticipated. New college students can’t go quietly. Steve Shipman, professor of physical chemistry and president of the faculty union, points out that the ten professors are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, which makes it difficult to dismiss them unless there is just cause. People like Rufo are “making statements to make an impact,” Shipman said. “And I really don’t know how viable some of those statements are on the ground.”