Particularly alarming for Ms. Goldberg: Among the six is culture warrior Chris Rufo, a high-profile (and oft-misconstrued) opponent of critical race theory, who told the columnist flatly: “We want to provide an alternative for conservative families in the state of Florida to say there is a public university that reflects your values.”

A center-right college in a demonstrably red state? Whoa. That’s some radical thinking, for sure. 

And it’s further evidence of those qualities that amaze many and delight (perhaps) a critical mass: DeSantis is the rarest of politicians: He says what he means, and means what he says.

Weird, right?

The hubbub over New College, an honors college that eschews letter grades in favor of narrative reviews while providing safe haven for the serial adopters of fluid pronouns, is the spotlight-grabbing event of the DeSantis administration’s far larger goal of exposing just how far and how deep woke culture has inveigled its way into Florida’s public university system. In a recent memo, state colleges and universities were directed to identify staff, programs, and campus activities in support of DEI and leftist race ideology.

Knowing how the state’s education dollars are spent: What a concept.

The iceberg’s tip: 

When asked what the governor would say to students concerned about the portrayal and the future of New College, a spokesman instead pointed to a value statement on the school’s website noting the college’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. That shows, spokesman Bryan Griffin said, that the focus has shifted from the core mission of educating students.

Figuring out how much Florida spends boosting similar “diversity, equity and inclusion” policies on campus is a key component to the larger strategy. For the moment, however, attention is focused on New College, a taxpayer-supported haven for what DeSantis called “trendy thinking,” conveniently espoused by London Weier, described by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune as a “fourth-year student.” (Whatever happened to “senior”?)

“It feels like as a community that lives on campus, eats on campus, goes to work, goes to school here, socializes here,” Weier said, “we have a spotlight on us right now that is characterizing us as a threat to the state and to some people in the state, and that is not a good representation of us and who we are.”

The alarm is not unexpected, or even altogether problematic. Lots of us are exactly like Sheldon Cooper, the uptight theoretical physicist who wasn’t telling just on himself when he declared for The Big Bang audience, “No, it’s not going to be fine, change is never fine. They say it is, but it’s not.”

So we should get that the folks invested in New College as it has become — young adults, faculty, staff, supporters, alumni — are quaking and angry. Know what? That’s the way it goes.

Lefty ideology and progressive principles have long enjoyed unchecked dominance in institutions vital to the preservation of American exceptionalism, eroding the concept to the point that it’s become taboo to mention the nation’s undeniably noble founding and idealistic purpose. For our constitutional republic to endure, the Neo-Marxist course is simply unsustainable.

Now, with the likes of DeSantis winding — boldly and without apology — the spring, the pendulum has begun its corrective swing.

The appointees also intend to dispense with the terms “diversity,” “equity,” and “inclusion” and replace them with “equality,” “merit,” and “colorblindness.” New professors credentialed in constitutionalism, free enterprise, civic virtue, family life, religious freedom, and American principles will be hired to the faculty, Rufo said.

And the Florida choir that re-elected Ron DeSantis by 19 points — as well as the larger congregation awaiting further developments — shouts, “Amen.”