BRADENTON, Fla. – The board of trustees of New College of Florida fired its president on Tuesday, replacing her with a former Republican House speaker as Gov. Ron DeSantis has continued his assault on the progressive state college.

The school has been too focused on racial and “gender ideology,” DeSantis said, and it will be reformed by a new board he put in place, which will get big money to recruit new faculty. DeSantis transformed the board of trustees earlier this year. 

New College President Patricia Okker called the action a “hostile takeover” in a speech to the board before the vote to remove her and said she would not go along with the “new mandate” at the school. 

“The vision we created together, is not the vision I have been given as a mandate here, and that is a hard reality,” said Okker.

The board installed former Republican state House speaker and education commissioner Richard Corcoran, a close ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis and ardent supporter of his education culture war battles, interim president. 

In his new post, Corcoran will be poised take the lead in the governor’s experiment in overhauling a public university to match his conservative approach to higher education.

DeSantis announced during an event in Bradenton that he wants $15 million “immediately” for faculty recruitment and scholarships at New College, with $10 million of that as recurring funds every year.