It’s far from over. That was the message that former State Sen. and current University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee (USF-SM) board member Lisa Carlton told a standing-room-only crowd at the "Save USF Sarasota-Manatee—Stop the Shutdown" rally at USF’s local campus on Wednesday.

USF-SM is in the crosshairs this 2026 Florida Legislative session. Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to transfer the local USF campus (its land, buildings and debt, but none of its programs) to his pet project, New College of Florida, starting July 1. The proposal (HB 5601) has already been approved by the House’s Higher Education Budget Subcommittee. So far, the Senate has not included the transfer in its bill.

Carlton was aiming her message to the more than 300 people who turned up to hear businesspeople, students, faculty and the former regional chancellor emeritus Karen Holbrook talk about the value of USF-SM to the community. The transfer is not a done deal, Carlton said, but citizens must make a case to elected officials that, in terms of community impact and the blow to local students and taxpayers, closing USF-SM would be a huge loss at a huge cost.

 

 

 

 

 

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USF-SM is a 50-year-old institution with 2,000 students and 40 accredited degree programs that align with nursing, teacher education, risk management and insurance, and cybersecurity and technology. Thirty percent of local accounting firm Kerkering Barberio’s staff are USF grads, managing partner Tracy O’Neill told the crowd. Blake Hospital hires almost all of USF-SM’s nursing graduates, according to Pariss Clark, Blake's chief nursing officer. Economic development professionals tout USF-SM as they recruit potential employers to the area. “It’s our hometown university,” said Dr. Anila Jain, current vice chair of the campus board. “This would close off our pipeline. You won’t have the skills to grow and develop your businesses. We won’t be able to recruit new companies.”

Students who want or need to stay close to home spoke of the immeasurable loss to their educational and professional goals if the takeover moves forward. “By staying home, I could focus on my studies,” said Angela Perez Cruz, a 2025 biomedical sciences grad who is headed to medical school. For students for whom cost is a major factor, going out of town would be prohibitive. "It would have changed my career trajectory," said Kiarra Louis, who's now a philanthropic leader with The Patterson Foundation.

USF-SM leaders also told the crowd that the university's accredited programs in nursing, education, accounting and hospitality take years of accreditation process at the state level to win approval. “None of these programs will go to New College,” Holbrook said. Just looking at the hospitality program, the “estimated time and costs before getting the first student is one-to-three years and $500,000,” said Laurey Stryker, former president of USF-SM. “Taxpayers and donors have [already] paid for an established over 20-year program.’’ In addition, USF leaders said, USF-SM’s operating cost of $22,217 annually per student is far from New College’s $83,000 a year; plus, 95 percent of all USF S-M grads stay local.

The Florida Senate Appropriations Committee meets on Monday, March 2. USF-SM leaders urge citizens to move fast and oppose HB 5601 that would shut down the local campus.

To learn more and to contact elected representatives, go to saveusfsm.org.