Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis last year essentially conducted a takeover of the New College of Florida with the aim of transforming it into a right-wing educational institution on par with Hillsdale College in Michigan.
However, Vice News reports that many current students at New College aren't going down without a fight and have been organizing a "resistance" to what they call DeSantis' plan to "destroy our school."
As part of this, they organized an "alternate" graduation ceremony where they could celebrate as they saw fit -- and it attracted 90 of this year's 119 graduating students.
“It's the goal to graduate on our terms,” a student named Kacie told Vice. “The school they want to create is not the one students have been going to.”
FROM EARLIER: Trump's all-caps Memorial Day message: 'We must stop the communists, Marxists and fascist pigs!'
LGBTQ students say they've felt particularly targeted by DeSantis, which is why they made sure their graduation ceremony featured ample rainbow and pink-and-blue flags.
And Vice notes that this alternate graduation ceremony is just one of many events students have organized to protest against DeSantis.
"While DeSantis’ efforts would make New College less tolerant, students at the school have defied him by hosting inclusive chess tournaments, dances, garage sales, rallies, and, of course, protests," the publication writes. "In February, about 300 students and parents, some dressed in Handmaid’s Tale outfits, protested a board meeting held by the new right-wing administration."
"The fact is we are incredibly resilient students. We are queer students living in Florida," Kacie explained to Vice. "We have survived through this before and we're going to continue surviving through it."
