The night before official commencement, students held their own ceremony.
By Farah Vallecillo
Original Air Date: May 23, 2025
Host: Friday night is official graduation time at New College, but the night before, it was Alternative Graduation for New College students—the third since the governor’s takeover of the campus in Sarasota. This off-campus event was probably the last one with a graduating class whose majority still remembers the pre-takeover college. WSLR News intern Farah Vallecillo—herself a New College student—was there to soak up the atmosphere.
Announcer: Safari Svensson!
[Audience cheers]
Announcer: Beaux Delaune!
[Audience cheers]
Farah Vallecillo: The walk of the graduation ceremony had the old New College feel. No Pomp and Circumstance. It featured a student in medieval dress, one wearing a bathrobe, a guy in flip flops and shorts and a manga-style character. It featured emotional support dogs and even a student in full regalia waving an oversize New College flag.
Seats were hard to come by. An estimated 300 to 400 packed into Holley Hall, the Sarasota Orchestra’s venue.
The contrast to the official ceremony—which went down 24 hours later on the bayfront lawn at the College Hall—is obvious and intentional. First and foremost, at the Alt Graduation, the students are more than just involved. The alumni of the Novo Collegian Association—who funded this year’s event to the tune of $20,000—put students in charge, to give them the graduation they deserve. Three students emceed the event, two of them wearing Palestinian keffiyehs. It featured two retiring professors. Also speaking was Amy Reid, the French professor, Gender Studies chair and hard-hitting faculty trustee who now works for PEN America. Reid gave shoutouts to the four students who graduated with a degree in gender studies despite the obstacles thrown their way.
Then, there was the contrast in keynote speakers. For the official ceremony, the college administration picked Alan Dershowitz, the controversial legal scholar and defender of Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein and Harvey Weinstein. According to the Herald-Tribune, the college pays Dershowitz $25,000.
For the Alt Graduation, the students picked Viet Tanh Nguyen. He is the author of The Sympathizer, a Pulitzer-winning novel that was turned into an HBO series. Nguyen, whose family came as refugees from Vietnam, talked about the contributions of immigrants to America. He highlighted the need for students to find their voice.
Viet Tanh Nguyen
Viet Tanh Nguyen: I was an English major and an ethnic studies major.
[Audience cheers]
VTN: People would always ask, “What are you going to do with an English major or an ethnic studies major?” None of the answers I gave likely satisfied anybody. Reading, writing, teaching—the acts of the humanities might have all seemed rather modest to people only interested in making money. Yet the humanities have always mattered—now more than ever, for many reasons. But the one I’m focusing on tonight is about finding your voice.
FV: A New College student who is graduating with a degree in computer science had a strong message for his peers. Safari Svensson not only caught attention with their outfit: Joker-style face paint, and a bathrobe, showing off his chest tattoos and six-pack.
Safari Svensson
Safari Svensson: I was working 60-hour weeks in a dingy Brooklyn kitchen, barely scraping by under the poverty line. A series of tragic health issues cost me my job and, soon after, my apartment. And there I was, at 19 years old: I had no home, no money and seemingly no future. I found myself living unhoused, jumping between friends’ couches and even sleeping in a tent in the woods, all the while battling Lyme disease, mono and kidney stones at the same time—a trifecta I would not recommend anyone trying in the audience.
Let’s just say college wasn’t really on the table for me or in my mind. In fact, the idea of attending university at all felt like a dream that people of my background would never even have the opportunity to pursue. Standing here today on this stage, I almost have to pinch myself. What used to be such a distant dream has now become my reality. While my personal struggles may seem a little tough to some, I can assure you that my story is anything but unique.
Getting to know all the wonderful people in my class these past three years, I’ve learned at least one thing: that every single person graduating today in this crowd has their own story.
FV: Safari said they were always different, and the world made them feel it, trying to force them into a box. They ended with a call to push back.
SS: But, while those people live in fear and insecurity, your divergence—your difference—every little single thing that makes you unique has helped you become quite the opposite of those people, because every day that you deny the status quo and what others seek to make you, you become that much stronger, that much more fearless and that much more resilient. Let me tell you: No great leader was ever made—no world-changing innovation discovered—no grand achievement ever met—by staying in your lane, trying to fit in and being like everybody else.
[Audience cheers]
SS: And the class of 2025 hasn’t just had to meet the challenges of a prestigious and rigorous honors degree program but simultaneously hurtle a consistent plight of new challenges since the sweeping changes made three years ago. People have tried to get rid of your major, make you feel uncomfortable, make you feel unsafe—to do anything to stop you from walking across this stage tonight. And “struggle” is quite an understatement, isn’t it? For so many, the past few years have been painful, depressing, demoralizing and maybe even hopeless, but against all odds, you did it. You have defied all expectations and accomplished what so many have tried to bar you from. You didn’t just survive, but you thrived, and no other degree program in this country can provide the unique and powerful kind of resilience this has all earned you. They told us to be silent, and we got louder. They told us to stay in line, and we got bolder. They told us to shrink back down, and we just stood up taller, because the class of 2025 didn’t bend under pressure. No. We became unbreakable.
[Audience cheers]
FV: Reporting for WSLR News, this is Farah Vallecillo.
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