A trustee of a public liberal arts college in Florida blasted the Biden administration for launching a federal civil rights investigation after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) shifted the school in a conservative direction.

New College of Florida trustee Chris Rufo vowed to stand firm against a Department of Education civil rights investigation, which he said was politically motivated by a Democratic administration. Rufo and the other trustees were recently appointed by DeSantis to reform the college from a liberal bastion into a school modeled after the conservative Hillsdale College.

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In a post on his Substack, Rufo called the investigation a "brazen attempt to subvert the democratic governance of New College and entrench left-wing ideological programs under the guise of civil rights law."

"Last week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into the Sarasota-based university, where I serve as a trustee, for alleged 'discrimination on the basis of disability,'" he told the Washington Examiner in a statement. "They want to use civil rights law to force everyone to falsify reality and use absurd, ideologically loaded 'neo-pronouns.' I will never bend. I will never bow. I will never submit to the Biden administration's pronoun police."

Last week, in a letter to New College of Florida interim President Richard Corcoran, the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights said it was launching an investigation into the school for possibly violating federal civil rights laws protecting individuals with disabilities after a complaint was filed against the school.

"The Complainant alleges that the College is failing to afford persons with disabilities an opportunity to participate in and benefit from the services, programs, and activities communicated through the College’s websites and third-party websites that is equal to opportunities afforded to others," the department said in the letter.

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The complaint accused the school of violating federal civil rights law when the school eliminated gender-neutral bathroom signs.

The complaint also pointed to the trustees voting to eliminate the school's diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and gender studies department as possible civil rights violations. The complaint also noted that the school had fired DEI dean and chief diversity officer Yoleidy Rosario-Hernandez and that Rufo had misgendered Rosario-Hernandez by referring to the ousted dean as "she" rather than the gender-neutral pronoun "ze."

The Washington Examiner has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.