The University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus is set to transfer to New College next month.
The plan emerged out of the Legislature’s budget, which Gov. Ron DeSantis still needs to approve.
DeSantis is expected to issue his line-item vetoes by the end of the month, but he’s unlikely to strike out the campus transfer — it first appeared in his own budget proposal to the Legislature.
This week, USF trustees approved joint transfer and facility use agreements that outline the transfer’s logistics. New College is expected to approve the agreements at a trustee meeting on June 30.
Here’s what to know about how the campus transfer will work.
When will campus ownership transfer?
On July 1, New College will take over the campus and its facilities and take on all operating and maintenance costs.
The budget outlines that New College will also assume liability for any outstanding debt by the end of December. New College will start paying the debt service on the Atala residence hall on July 1, USF attorney Gerard Solis said at Wednesday’s trustee’s meeting.
New College will also take over Saraosota-Manatee’s fixtures, like desks, chairs and audiovisual equipment, Solis said. IP addresses, employee equipment and records will not be transferred, Solis said.
“They won’t get the bull or anything along those lines,” Solis said, referring to a large statue of USF’s mascot on the Sarasota-Manatee campus green.
What will happen to USF students at Sarasota-Manatee?
Students enrolled at the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus before July 1 will receive “priority” use of classroom space.
When a space is not being used by USF, the university expects New College to begin to use those spaces, according to a frequently asked questions page about the campus transfer on the USF website.
USF spokesperson Althea Johnson said the school is analyzing its space needs and usage and will update New College on vacant areas.
“We expect this will be an ongoing analysis and New College will gradually start to use more space over time as it becomes available,” she said.
Current USF Sarasota-Manatee students will be able to finish their degrees under USF faculty. No new USF students will be admitted to the Sarasota-Manatee campus after July 1.
USF has offered to extend and bill New College for certain things, like dining and IT services, to avoid a drop in those services, Solis said.
“That offer is still pending to New College as they assess their capabilities and what’s going to make the most sense,” Solis said.
What about Sarasota-Manatee faculty?
USF president Moez Limayem has said that a top priority in the transition will be to take care of faculty.
All employees will be retained, according to USF, and they will eventually have the option to transfer to either the St. Petersburg or Tampa campus. USF is exploring a voluntary buyout program for faculty and staff who are not interested in being reassigned to other campuses.
Most faculty will continue to work at the Sarasota-Manatee campus for at least a few years, until the newest class of students graduate from their programs.
Still, USF faculty union president Steve Lang said he worries for faculty who own a home or have kids enrolled in schools in Sarasota and would have to uproot their lives.
“The social and personal consequences are more likely to be disruptive for some of those faculty,” he said.
How is New College going to use the buildings and land?
New College president Richard Corcoran said in a statement on X after lawmakers struck the deal that the transition represents a “forward-looking opportunity to expand New College’s capacity.”
Asked about which New College departments and programs will begin to use USF Sarasota-Manatee spaces, and whether New College has plans to change or redevelop the campus, spokesperson Jamie Miller directed the Tampa Bay Times to Corcoran’s statement.
Miller also said New College is waiting for the governor to sign the budget before releasing any other updates.
According to the facility use agreements, New College may put up new signs as long the buildings are not used or shared by USF and the signs do not cause confusion for students or staff.
Any new signs must also not alter permanent building names or other permanent features of the buildings.
Will USF retain a presence in the Sarasota region?
USF will reach out to stakeholders in the Sarasota-Manatee community to determine how USF it can help continue the region’s growth, Limayem said in a statement to the university community after the budget deal was reached.
Former Sarasota-Manatee campus president Laurey Stryker said she worries for students who planned to transfer to that campus from the nearby State College of Florida, and for local high schoolers who want to stay in the Sarasota region.
“We’re still in the service area for USF,” she said.
USF has organized task forces to focus on academic continuity, shared governance and issues related to technology and facilities during the transition period.
Has USF lost a branch campus before?
There have been a handful of times when a campus or unit was broken away from the main USF campus in Tampa, according to Lang, the faculty union president.
In the 1980s and ’90s, USF operated a facility in Fort Myers that shared space with Edison Community College.
The branch campus closed when Florida Gulf Coast University opened in 1997, according to USF archives.
USF had a campus in Lakeland, too. About 15 years ago, legislation shaped by former state Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, transformed the Lakeland campus, also known as USF Poly, into the independent Florida Polytechnic University.
Like the upcoming change, the previous campus transitions also included “teach-outs,” in which current students, faculty and staff remained through the transition until the last freshman students graduated.
Some USF faculty chose to accept an equivalent position at Florida Gulf Coast University, Lang said.
“New College is so different than USF that it’s possible but unlikely that some people would do that,” he said.
Compared to earlier branch campuses losses, this one poses less of a financial strain.
As part of the Florida Polytechnic deal, USF Tampa lost $45 million in funding, and the St. Pete and Sarasota-Manatee campuses took cuts of up to $2 million. USF received $10 million to offset the cost of absorbing USF Poly faculty and staff.
A similar monetary transfer was included in the House’s budget bill this year, asking for around $23 million initially allocated to USF to go to New College. The Senate’s budget bill did not mention any monetary transfer, and it did not appear in the final budget.
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