BOG considers streamlining university presidential searches amid FSU issues

"I think it’s damaged the national repuation at FSU the way this search has played out,” BOG member Dean Colson said.

This line is worth repeating.  The good ole boys that run FSU are not only powerful, but they are extremely stupid, and this is just one of about a billion examples of that.


BOG considers streamlining university presidential searches amid FSU issues

"The abrupt resignation of Florida State University’s well-regarded search consultant was a harsh blow on a presidential search that already showed weaknesses, members of the state Board of Governors said today.

 

"I think it’s damaged the national repuation at FSU the way this search has played out,” BOG member Dean Colson said.
The issues at FSU -- highlighted by divisions on the search committee and vocal criticism by faculty -- come on the heels of different yet equally as embarrassing missteps at other universities, the BOG said. Another example: a dispute over the contract of new Florida A&M University President Elmira Mangum exposed division on that school’s Board of Trustees.
The BOG has had enough. Chairman Mori Hosseini floated a plan today that would result in streamlined, standard practices that all 12 public Florida universities would follow in future presidential searches.
His ideas:

1. Increase BOG presence by having additional members participate in university search processes.
2. Specify the roles and responsibilities of the BOG, university boards of trustees and presidential search committees.
3. Identify common job descriptions and qualifications to ensure universities are recruiting candidates that meet the school’s mission and BOG priorities.
4. Establish benchmarks or general timelines to ensure search processes are consistent.
5. Create general guidelines for determining the compensation of newly hired presidents.

If the full board agrees, BOG member Tom Kuntz will work with university system Chancellor Marshall Criser and report back to the board in August. (UPDATE: It's official. The presidential search study will be conducted and a report is due at the next BOG meeting.)
One last nugget about the BOG's response to FSU's search: members appear to be particularly miffed about the search committee's actions after it voted 15-9 to suspend its process and make Sen. John Thrasher the sole candidate. The decision was later reversed, but by that time faculty and student groups had already begun criticizing the search process.
The BOG representative on the committee -- Ed Morton -- joined the students, faculty and staff representative on the committee who voted unanimously against the measure. FSU leaders should have stopped to think that if the one BOG representative had concerns then larger board, which ultimately approves each presidential hire, would also take issue, member Alan Levine said today.
“That should have been a very strong signal" that the BOG would frown upon the committee's actions, Levine said."