They shut down a 50 year old local university.
The community begged them not to. They did it anyway.
New College of Florida — ranked last in the state for cost efficiency — was just handed USF Sarasota–Manatee’s property, buildings, and debt. The nursing, teaching, and veterans programs this community built over five decades are gone. The bill comes to you and all of us, Florida taxpayers.
A school of roughly 900 students now spends about $91,000 per student/year — nearly ten times the state average — while it compensates its president, former House Speaker Richard Corcoran, nearly $1.3 million a year, and pays $270,000 per year to Sydney Gruters, wife of State Senator Joe Gruters. Meanwhile, NCF has fallen 59 places in the national rankings and was dropped from the Fiske Guide to Colleges after 40 years.
“THIS IS PATHETIC.” Depressingly, it is the exact sort of smash and grab we’re seeing in so many places right now….Costs ballooned…perks and bonuses…highest per student salary in Florida. Over $1 million a year [in salary]”. – John Oliver, HBO’s Last Week Tonight, June 2026
From the New College Boondoggle, to the Halls of Congress
At the center of the grift sits…
** Sydney Gruters **
Sydney Gruters — wife of Republican National Committee Chairman and State Senator Joe Gruters, was hired by Gruter’s Tallahassee friend, NCF’s President Corcoran, during the political takeover of New College to run its Foundation, the fundraising arm that controls the checkbook.
During her tenure, the New College Foundation drew whistleblower complaints over donor-restricted funds, a lawsuit from a donor family seeking the return of scholarship funds, the loss of $29 million in donations, and a demand from former board members for an audit. She resigned in April 2026 — not in protest, but to run for Congress.
The Next Target:
Florida’s 16th Congressional District
Sydney Gruters is now running for the FL-16 Congressional Seat; and attempting to export this brand of self-dealing, political corruption and cronyism directly to Washington, D.C.
With zero experience in higher education or fundraising, Sydney Gruters has been drawing a nearly $300,000+ paycheck connected directly to a system built on insider access, political deals and financed by taxpayers.
If we let them cash out in FL-16, we aren’t just electing a representative. We are validating a rigged casino where the one-armed bandits write the rules, deal the cards, and always — always — walk away with the pot.
This isn’t public service. It’s a private club — financed on your dime.
This is a private veranda at New College. Wine, cigars, a bay view for our public administrators of a failing college. While the programs the community built for USFSM were shut down this summer, this is what the institution being rewarded looks like from the inside.
It’s not just a conflict of interest. It’s a family business.
Her husband, Joe Gruters, controls the political machine – from DC, to Tallahassee, to Manatee & Sarasota. Now Sydney Gruters wants a congressional seat. Same family. Different jobs.
