Nearly 14 months after Florida Atlantic University began its search for a presidential candidate and nine months after it failed, efforts to find a new leader have begun anew.
FAU's board of directors voted on Tuesday to reopen the investigation, which was launched in January 2023 but stalled due to alleged board failures. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody has ruled that straw voting used by search commissioners to anonymously rank candidates to narrow down the field violated the state's sunshine law. But critics have expressed concern that politics may be involved. They cited the board's failure to select Republican Rep. Randy Fine as one of the three finalists, even though Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis allegedly told Fine was qualified. It is claimed that the search was called off due to the following main reasons:
Due to these suspected anomalies, the search has been suspended since July.
After a process that lasted more than a year and resulted in the resignation of former FAU President Brad Levine, a new effort to find FAU's next president has now officially begun. In the meantime, the university is being led by interim president Stacey Volnick, who has held the position since September 2022, when his predecessor retired.
FAU President Search 2.0
When the FAU Board of Governors resumed its presidential campaign Tuesday, there were few fireworks at the meeting, a notable change for a board that has occasionally fallen into explosive action.
New Florida State University Board of Governors President Piero Bussani, who assumed the role after the Florida State University Board of Governors (FLBOG) pressured Levine to resign over an unsuccessful presidential search and Volnick's contract, said “internal We started a conversation about resuming the search. At the board meeting, he said it was casting a shadow on the university's performance and creating tension in the meeting.
“We are tired and frustrated that our reputations are being tarnished by negative opinions,” Bussani said.
He also vaguely referred to “personal attacks,” an apparent nod to an earlier conflict between Levine and Deputy Commissioner Barbara Feingold, who accused the former commissioner of errors in the investigation. He criticized the president and alleged “ethical violations” by some of the finalists. Scholar. Mr. Feingold was a financial supporter of Mr. Fine, according to campaign finance records.
In announcing the new search, Bussani emphasized the need for a fresh start.
“Please put the past in the rearview mirror,” he said at Tuesday's meeting, stressing the need to maintain civility among members and focus on the big issues.
The search has been stalled since July as FAU awaited direction from the Florida Governor's Commission. Following FLBOG's updated presidential search rules, the university is likely to hire a search firm and begin the process in earnest by June.
Bussani said FAU plans to name a new president “at the end of the year or soon thereafter.”
Presidential hiring trends
The FAU Board of Governors resumed its presidential search a day after Florida Tech named G. Devon Stevenson its new leader in a 7-6 vote. Florida Poly's board of directors was divided on whether the next president should have his STEM background.
Stevenson, who has been president of Northwest Florida State University for seven years, was one of five Florida Poly finalists. Although none of the finalists had political backgrounds, Republicans are increasingly filling top jobs at other Florida agencies.
In fall 2022, Republican state Rep. and DeSantis ally Ray Rodriguez was hired as chancellor of the Florida State University System. The search yielded only eight applicants, some of whom expressed concerns about the hiring process.three people said Inside higher education After applying, they were never contacted for an interview, which made me question the integrity of the search.
Rodriguez said in an interview Tuesday. Inside higher education Before applying for the job, he said he spoke with two members of the Florida Board of Governors and then with DeSantis' staff, but not with the governor himself. He said he doesn't know why there are so few applicants for the position, noting that the system has had no trouble filling other top jobs in the state.
Rodriguez described himself as a “hybrid” hire, citing his 16 years at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he held various positions, and his service as a member of Congress. Rodriguez also defended other political hires across the state university system.
Former Republican Sen. Ben Sasse also became president of the University of Florida in 2022. Then fellow former Republican state Rep. Richard Corcoran was elected president of New College of Florida amid a conservative overhaul of liberal arts colleges led by DeSantis, and now earns double the salary of his predecessor. It becomes. Mr. Corcoran was hired on an interim basis in early 2023 and was then given a permanent role. (NCF also recruits Republican political operatives from outside academia to various administrative positions.)
In May, after a search for a president at South Florida State University failed, the board hired Fred Hawkins, a former rodeo cowboy turned Republican state legislator who had no higher education experience and only a bachelor's degree. This makes him an unusual figure among university presidents. SFSC trustees told local media that all three finalists in the unsuccessful search were Democrats, adding, “The governor does not appoint all Republican trustees; we choose Democrats. I'm not expecting that.”
Earlier this month, Florida State University's Manatee-Sarasota campus hired Republican state Rep. Tommy Gregory as its next president. Mr. Gregory, a lawyer, has no traditional higher education experience, but in interviews with local media he emphasized that he served in the military as general counsel for an air mobility warfare center that had an educational component.
Elsewhere, DeSantis ally Henry Mack III, a former chancellor of the Florida Department of Education, lost the race for president of Florida Gulf Coast University by one vote last April. In October, Mack was selected as acting president of Broward College, but resigned hours later, citing his family reasons. However, a press release from Broward University said negotiations failed because “compensation and contract length could not be agreed upon.”
Rodriguez declined to comment on hiring within the 28-member University of Florida System, but maintained that the 12 universities under his leadership include presidents from a variety of backgrounds. did.
“If you look at the university system as a whole, there's a healthy mix of traditional academics, non-traditional but non-political people, and non-traditional people who are coming out of the political arena and taking on roles. But none of this is unprecedented,” Rodriguez said.
Specifically, former Florida State University presidents Talbot (Sandy) D'Alemberte (1994-2003), Thomas Kent (TK) Wetherell (2003-2010), and John Thrasher ( (2014-2021) all came from political backgrounds. . Also, former Lieutenant Governor Frank Brogan served as Premier from 2003 until 2010. Rodriguez also mentioned various other politicians.
While this may be commonplace on courses in the Sunshine State, it's less common elsewhere. According to the American Council on Education's latest Presidential Survey (which more than 1,000 leaders responded to), only 4.7 percent of respondents were from the “public sector/government.”
The DeSantis administration, Florida Department of Education Secretary Manny Diaz Jr. and University of Florida System Chancellor Kathryn Hebda did not respond to requests for comment. But Rodriguez largely brushed off concerns about the growing number of Republicans joining presidential candidates in Florida's education system, saying Florida is investing significant resources in its education system and schools across the country are struggling. In particular, he claimed that the number of students enrolled has remained strong.
Observers will be watching closely as the search for FAU resumes.
