Florida State presidential search called 'bizarre'

Florida State presidential search called 'bizarre'


"Florida State University's search for a new president took off in late March like a powerful jumbo jet, all parties buckled in for a smooth, efficient trip.
It didn't take long for FSU's presidential search advisory committee to encounter turbulence, however. And heading into the committee's next meeting this Wednesday, it now finds itself in unchartered waters.
Asked to describe the search, FSU English professor Eric Walker, a member of the committee, responded with a quick, one-word answer: "Dysfunctional."
National experts are also raising their eyebrows over a search that feels more like a political contest than an effort to hire a new leader at a major research institution. Jack Stripling, a senior writer at The Chronicle of Higher Education who covers university leadership including presidential searches, says he's not aware of any search quite like the one at FSU.
"I've talked to consultants who say it's bizarre even in a world of bizarre searches," Stripling said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE
While 16 individuals have applied for the vacancy at FSU, the two front-runners far ahead of the pack are state Sen. John Thrasher and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricky Polston. No sitting presidents have applied, nor have any provosts from major universities.
Welcome to the world of higher education in 2014. What's happening at FSU, experts say, mirrors the changing landscape across the country. FSU may just be at the front-end of the trend.
Michael Bastedo, an expert in university governance at the University of Michigan's Center for the Study of Higher Education, points to former Indiana governor Mitch Daniels becoming president at Purdue as the best example of a politician segueing into academia.
"We are at a changing time. There isn't really good national data on this, but overall there seems to be a trend for public universities selecting state political figures to be president," he said. "They're almost always political figures from inside that state who had some interaction with the university. It's becoming increasingly common."
It doesn't always work, either. Billy Bulger moved from the statehouse in Boston to the presidency at University of Massachusetts. He stepped down when his brother Whitey, a former mob boss and convicted killer, was brought to trial.
A less dramatic example is the historic College of Charleston, where the state's lieutenant governor, P. George Benson, was one of three finalists for that school's vacant presidency. He was hired, and a backlash began. The other two finalists wrote letters criticizing the process, and Benson was reported to have ties to the Confederacy.
"As much as the particulars of Florida State's situation are unique, the notion of political figures entering into the process of a presidential selection in higher education is something people may still struggle with, but it's not uncommon anymore," Stripling, at the Chronicle, said. "The politics of this process have always been with us, it's just far more pronounced when you have sitting politicians engaged in it. From a national viewpoint, I think you'll see people seeing this as a manifestation of a longstanding practice in higher education.
"It does say something about the state of the presidency and its evolution," he added. "It's a very political job; first and foremost, a fundraising job."
FSU's SEARCH
Some believe FSU's search went sideways long before the search committee met for the first time and selected head hunter William Funk to guide the process.
Almost as soon as Eric Barron was hired by Penn State University to be its next president on Feb. 17, rumors began circulating that Thrasher, a powerful state senator and a devoted FSU graduate, wanted the job.
Thrasher did nothing to dispel the talking mill at the Capitol, and the rumors took on a life of their own during March and April when the Legislature was in session.
Thrasher even made a bold move in early April, proposing millions of dollars for FSU to begin establishing its own engineering school and effectively dismantling the 32-year-old partnership program between FSU and Florida A&M.
The effort was welcomed by administrators at FSU, eager to elevate the university's national ranking, but it made Thrasher a lightning-rod for criticism for students from both schools. The measure failed to make it into the final budget, but the Legislature did provide the Board of Governors with $500,000 to commission a study of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.
At the search committee's last meeting, on May 21, Funk told the 27-member panel that every potential candidate he approached declined to apply because they believed the job was going to Thrasher. That was when the divided committee voted 15-9 to follow Funk's recommendation to give a thumbs up or down on Thrasher at the June 11 meeting in order to either end the search, or open it back up as a "normal" search.
Even that plan went awry during the past week, after Polston submitted his application to be FSU's next president. Following Polston's move, FSU Trustee Ed Burr, who chairs the search committee, decided to cancel the interview with Thrasher for this Wednesday and to re-open the search.
"Ricky Polston entering and applying was impactful," Burr said.
The two front runners are a politician and a judge, both with bachelor's and law degrees from FSU, but no experience in higher education.
This is also why FSU's search now feels more like a contest between heavy hitters than a quest to find a a visionary academic with a knack for fundraising.
SIDE ISSUES
FSU's on-off-on search has some trustees anxious about the university's image. The FSU Board of Trustees, waiting on recommendations for finalists from the search committee, is charged with hiring FSU's next president.
There are three trustees on the search group – Burr, Allan Bense and Kathryn Ballard – but the other 10 members of the board are onlookers for now. Trustee Leslie Pantin, vice chairman of the board, runs a public relations firm in Miami and is acutely aware of image issues related to FSU's search.
"I have a lot of faith in the chairman and the committee and believe that they can get back on track and send us a couple of good candidates," Pantin said. "Right now I'm watching with everyone else."
Two things to watch this Wednesday will be the deadline date established for ending the search, and a possible discussion about Funk, the head hunter.
The website for the search initially indicated a mid-July deadline for applying, a date that faculty members on the committee objected to because so many of their colleagues would not be around to meet with the finalists. Then, without explanation, there was no deadline listed on the website.
Trustees Burr and Bense have said they would like to find a new president as quickly as possible, particularly with University of Florida starting its own presidential search. Meanwhile, FSU's Faculty Senate approved a number of resolutions last Wednesday, including one that calls for an early September deadline for applying.
Funk also could become an issue Wednesday. While not unanimous, the Faculty Senate approved a no-confidence vote on the head hunter – a highly unusual move.
Funk said he was taken aback by the resolution. It's the first time in more than 400 university searches for a faction to publicly castigate his work.
"(The committee's) goals and the goals of the faculty are essentially the same," Funk said in an email. "We want to be able to recruit the very best person for FSU."