The storied Sarasota honors school New College was founded as an academic sanctuary of sorts, designed to be impervious to political pressures and the shifting winds of academia. In the words of its founding president, George F. Baughman, it presented “an opportunity for the American people to build an institution of academic excellence, of academic freedom and the search for freedom, without the limitations of the state legislature or investigating committees.” Instead, according to the filmmakers behind a new documentary, First They Came For My College, the school has become ground zero for a broader political movement targeting diversity programs and college curricula on campuses around the country. Defined as a “hostile takeover” by the people who orchestrated it, the resulting overhaul has reshaped the school’s curricula and demographics and had profound effects on those who remain. We talk to the film’s producer, himself a New College alum, about why he hopes Floridians attend one of several state screenings on the film’s North American theatrical run.
Guest: Harry William Hanbury, producer, First They Came For My College, New College of Florida alumnus
Ride along
After spending 28 years in the Navy, one Jacksonville veteran continues to serve, with his new focus on combat-injured veterans. A onetime hospital corpsman, Bill Hayes manages Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride Jacksonville, a two-day event inviting veterans of any ability to join a 40-mile bike ride to demonstrate they aren’t defined by their injuries. The first ride on Sept. 24 is a round trip loop from Wounded Warrior Project headquarters on the city’s Southside to the USS Orleck and back. A second ride on Sept. 25 runs between American Legion Post 129 in Jacksonville Beach and Mickler’s Landing in Ponte Vedra Beach.
Guest: Bill Hayes, Soldier Ride manager at Wounded Warrior Project
Cell mate
Perhaps best known as the man behind the signature cello on Coldplay’s 2008 hit Viva la Vida, Dave Eggar nonetheless has a much broader musical range, performing classical, rock, bluegrass, folk and New Age music. The virtuoso, Julliard-trained pianist and cellist and multi-Grammy nominated composer was a student of both Aaron Copeland and Yo Yo Ma and has an equally star-studded list of musical collaborators, including John Legend, Paul Simon, Taylor Swift, David Bowie, Imagine Dragons, Evanescence and Beyoncé. He performs with his Americana/blues-inflected band Bristol Lightning at Friday Musicale at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Guests:
- Dave Eggar, cellist, pianist and composer
- Bryce Rabineau, mandolinist, Bristol Lightning
Topics and guests subject to change.