Open the Books - Part One

Is Sydney Gruters using restricted New College Foundation donations to pay Richard Corcoran's bloated compensation? Plus, the education of a New College President.

The Tampa Bay Times recently reported that two New College finance officials were fired in 2023 after raising concerns that the largest private donation in the schools history would be used to fund Richard Corcoran’s salary, a use which violates the terms of the donation. NCF Foundation Executive Director Sydney Gruters is conspicuously quiet regarding the controversy. Gruters is ignoring calls for financial transparency. Given Corcoran’s past lofty rhetoric about government service, he should have insisted on transparency from the outset. Their collective failure to put concerns to rest by opening the NCF Foundation books raises important questions. Does the NCF Foundation respect the constraints a donor imposes on the use of their dollars? Or, has the Foundation become a slush fund to pay Richard Corcoran’s improper compensation? Corcoran and Gruters can put public concern to rest by opening up the NCF Foundation books

Corcoran’s Compensation

What is Richard Corcoran paid by New College, and how do those numbers compare to other higher ed presidencies?

Approved in 2023, Corcoran’s compensation package includes a $699,000 base salary, $200,000 bonus, $100,000 in deferred compensation, an $84,000 housing allowance and a $12,000 car allowance. Corcoran was also provided $18,000 for moving expenses. Corcoran’s contract has a cash value of up to $6.5 million over five years and $7.5 million dollars with fringe benefits.

By any reasonable measure, Corcoran’s compensation grossly exceeds the typical salary for presidents at comparable institutions. The former president of New College, Patricia Okker, was paid a $305,000 base salary, a $40,000 housing allowance and an $8,000 car allowance. Okker’s compensation of $353,000 was reasonable. Corcoran’s is senseless.

According to Govsalaries.com, the average public college president “earns …$258,612. The salary range for a College President is usually between $238,601 and $300,468 per year, representing the 25th to 75th percentiles respectively.” President Okker’s salary was high by these measures. Among the fifty states, Florida pays their college presidents the third highest average amount: $321,589. However, Govsalaries.com reports that the highest public college salary in the US is $589,872. Their data is a few years old. They surely haven’t gotten word about Richard Corcoran’s New College windfall.

Let’s be clear: New College is a college, not a university. Universities offer a wide portfolio of undergraduate and graduate degrees, such as BAs in the Arts, BSs in the Sciences, Engineering and Nursing, Architecture, MDs in Medical School, JDs in Law School, Masters and PhDs in the Arts and Sciences. A university president has a much bigger job. Relatively speaking, Corcoran’s compensation eclipses that of university presidents.

Why?

Another way to compare academic salaries is cost per student. New College’s student population is about 700. Corcoran’s compensation is a whopping $1,571.43 per student ($1.1 million/700 students). The annual compensation for the President of Harvard University tops out at a potential $1.3 million. With a Harvard student body of 30,386 students, the price is $42.78 per student . Richard Corcoran’s per student compensation is over 36 times the amount paid to Harvard’s president (IF that president hits all their bonus benchmarks). UF’s student population is about 55,000, and their recent offer to Dr. Santa Ono included a base salary of $1.5 million. That’s a cost of $27.27 per student. Even with additional perks, a UF president’s salary is a dream deal compared to Richard Corcoran’s New College sting.

Under Florida law, public colleges and universities are allowed to spend only $200,000 in public funds on presidential salaries, leaving foundations to fill the gap. The public has a right to know how Corcoran’s salary is being funded, and who is providing those funds. The public has a right to know if a public college foundation’s restricted donations are being raided to pay exorbitant president compensation. The public has a right to know if dollars meant for scholarships and other student needs are lining Richard Corcoran’s pockets.

The New College Foundation’s Largest Ever Donation
Donors have a right to enforcement of their directives, even when those donors are no longer with us. Would you want your post-mortem financial legacy hijacked to pay a bloated salary to an inexperienced, politically-posturing NCF President? One who has a fundamentally different philosophy and intent for the institution you believed was worthy and effective long before he came along to remake New College into a “Hillsdale College of the Southeast”?

In January 2021, New College announced the largest donation in their history: a $4 million gift from the estate of Bob and Lee Peterson. According to the “News” section of the New College website, that gift “will likely be used to support New College students, endowment, and other critical elements of the college, as per the wishes of the Peterson family”. New College’s President at that time, Donal O’Shea, called the gift a “game changer for New College”. O’Shea said it “will make all the difference in the way that we can support our students.”

The New College Foundation Executive Director at that time was Mary Anne Young. In a statement she wrote “We were stunned by the Petersons’ generosity. They were known in Sarasota for their incredible philanthropy. Through the Petersons’ foresight, they made a transformational gift to New College, which will serve generations of students in the future.” She added the gift “couldn’t have come at a better time, as our students’ needs increase in every regard.”

The year 2021 was the largest fundraising year ever for New College. In 2021 the New College Foundation raised over 9 million dollars, with 4 million coming from the Peterson gift. New College’s banner fundraising year may have made it ripe for political plunder.

If the New College Foundation is being raided by Sydney Gruters to pay Richard Corcoran’s salary, the Peterson’s $4 million dollar gift may already be depleted. Recall Corcoran’s $6.5-7.5 million 5-year compensation package began in 2023. The public has a right to know how the New College Foundation is administering the funds entrusted to its care. But….

NCF Foundation’s independent oversight has been disabled by NCF Board of Trustees

In November 2024, the New College of Florida (NCF) Board of Trustees made changes which allow Corcoran to remove foundation board members without cause. This move and others have New College donors and supporters concerned that Corcoran is supervising a systematic dismantling of any independent oversight over New College Foundation spending and compliance with donor intent. Compliance with a donor’s specified intent is key to the success and long term viability of any non-profit institution.

Road to the New College Presidency: Why Corcoran?

Richard Corcoran had no experience in college administration when he became the President of New College. That’s not necessarily disqualifying, but it’s certainly a potential shortcoming. Corcoran does have a history of securing positions of power and lush compensation for himself. At the same time, his record of delivering on big promises is poor.

So what did Richard Corcoran do before becoming the President of New College? Where was this newly minted college president educated?

Education

Richard Corcoran attended the University of Florida, dropped out, and finished his undergraduate education at St. Leo University, graduating in 1989. During his years as a student, Corcoran served in the US Naval reserve from 1987-1993. Corcoran matriculated at Regent University School of Law and graduated with his JD in 1996.

Regent University began in 1977 as the Christian Broadcasting Network’s school of television, journalism and film. TV evangelist Pat Robertson founded the Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia Beach, VA. CBN’s flagship program was and continues to be The 700 Club. On the CBN website there is a description of the origins of Regent University:

Regent University is a bold innovator and a recognized model for Christ-centered and biblically anchored higher education in the United States. This vision for Christian leadership to change the world is being extended to thousands across the globe through expanded on-line, international and undergraduate programs.

The story of Regent University’s origins on the CBN website continues….

“Regent’s vision began in August 1975 at Disneyland’s Grande Hotel just outside Los Angeles, California. M. G.[Marion Gordon] “Pat” Robertson, Founder and President of the then fifteen year old Christian Broadcasting Network, bowed his head to give thanks for a lunch of cantaloupe and cottage cheese. He was seeking God about the decision to purchase a few acres of land in Virginia Beach, Virginia to build larger facilities for his rapidly expanding television ministry.”

The CBN website continues the story of the founding Regent University by connecting it to a (quite) long narrative about the first English settlement in Virginia, King James and his bible, along with various preachers and merchants who were given a charter for their “London Company”….

The London Company’s stated mission included a spiritual priority. In the Company’s published tract entitled A True and Sincere Declaration of the Purposes and Ends of the Plantation, they wrote:
“First, to preach and baptize into Christian religion and by the propagation of the Gospel, to recover out of the arms of the devil a number of poor and miserable souls wrapped up into death in almost invincible ignorance; to endeavor the fulfilling and accomplishments of the number of the elect which shall be gathered from out of all corners of the earth; and to add to our myte the treasury of heaven.”

Just as the first English settlement in the New World would be “an outpost for new world evangelism”, so too is Regent University’s mission.
Pat purchased the available acreage of prime commercial property. It was virgin land, preserved for this great purpose and described in the historical plats as “New Light”. CBN was awarded the first license for a Christian organization to build and operate a satellite communication dish beaming the message of Christ to the nations “from these very shores”. The Lord unveiled the plan for Regent University - to train men and women in the things of God and in useful employment taking the message of Jesus Christ to a waiting world trapped in what appears to be almost invincible ignorance.

Corcoran’s law studies at Regent University could be seen as training for a sanctimonius takeover of a highly regarded public honors college, to remake it into an institution with a particular agenda - aka the Hillsdale College of the Southeast. Since Corcoran’s ham-fisted confiscation of New College, the school has dropped from 76 to 122 in national ranking of public liberal arts colleges.

Coming Next: Open the Books, Part Two
Richard Corcoran's path to New College Presidency betrays his manifesto against government grifting. Corcoran's journey to leading NCF is a lesson in the spoils of political cronyism.