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Ricky Polston’s candidacy changes FSU presidential search

"John Thrasher is no longer the only candidate to be Florida State University’s next president.
FSU’s quest for a new president changed dramatically Saturday when Ricky Polston, chief justice of the Florida Supreme Court and an FSU alum, announced he was a candidate.
That came after the search was placed on hold May 21 by search committee chair and Trustee Ed Burr. He said then the committee could decide one way or the other on powerful state senator Thrasher’s candidacy. But Burr on Tuesday reversed course and reopened the search. He notified the 27-member committee that the June 11 meeting, previously set to be an interview with Thrasher, will instead be a regular meeting of the committee as it works to set a deadline for closing the application process.
“Recent events have made me increasingly optimistic that a traditional search process now appears more feasible than anticipated at our last meeting,” Burr wrote in a short email to the committee. The message never named Polston.
Burr told the Democrat that Polston’s candidacy did change the search.
“Ricky Polston entering and applying was impactful,” Burr said.
Allan Bense, chairman of the FSU Board of Trustees and also a member of the search committee, made it clear Tuesday evening that Polston’s application was a game changer.
“Chief Polston is clearly a qualified candidate,” Bense said. “For us to not consider him just would not have been correct. Clearly a chief justice is qualified, and it changes the whole premise we voted on two weeks ago.”
William Funk, the head hunter FSU hired in April to lead its search to replace Eric Barron, told the committee May 21 that when he talked to top-tier candidates, they did not want to apply because they believed Thrasher would be getting the job.
At that time, Thrasher had yet to apply for the position but he had told Funk he was interested. Thrasher submitted a cover letter and resume last Thursday.
FSU’s image has been bruised in recent weeks as faculty members at FSU and other institutions spoke out against a Thrasher presidency and the means by which he might be chosen.
FSU began its search saying it wanted an individual with strong academic credentials, much like Barron had when he was hired in December 2009.
Trustees at University of Florida, also searching for a new president, made the point recently that they were looking only for someone steeped in academia.
Bense admitted that FSU stakeholders heard what UF’s trustees were saying.
“I clearly wasn’t happy with the University of Florida that at the same time we were receiving criticism they piled on a little bit,” Bense said. “I’m a big boy. That’s the way life is sometimes.”"

FSU Faculty Votes No Confidence

"Tallahassee, FL - FSU faculty wants its voice heard and so they spoke today.
"The Board of Trustees who will ultimately appoint the next president should take heed and pay attention to faculty and students and staff and administrator voices," said FSU Professor Michael Buchler
The school’s faculty senate passed several resolutions today. The headliner is a vote of no confidence for FSU Presidential Search Advisory Committee Consultant Bill Funk.
"There were 11 candidates who had applied for the position and he didn't even share those applications with the committee members before asking them to vote no against them. He simply assured them that they were not premium potential candidates," said Buchler
The faculty also wants to change the way the search committee conducts the entire application procedure.
"The resolutions the faculty senate passed today are consistent with the message the faculty union has had all along which is that there needs to be changes in the process," said United Faculty of Florida FSU Chapter President Jennifer Proffitt.
Other resolutions include extending the application deadline into early September. That will allow for a short list of candidates to visit the campus and meet with faculty, students and staff. The senate also wants the FSU Board of Trustees to consider the vote count of faculty and students on the search committee when appointing the future president. They also want the search committee to only consider candidates with experience in higher learning.
"By saying we want academics to be the strongest credential we're making a very bold statement. Also I will point out that we aim to join the group of top 25 public universities. 24 of those 25 public universities have academics – very, very distinguished academics at the helm," said Buchler."


Our Opinion: A messy search

"When Eric Barron announced in mid-February that he was leaving Florida State University to become president of Penn State, FSU supporters were stunned — worried about where their university was headed.
The search for Dr. Barron's successor as president has done little to inspire confidence or ease those concerns.
Less than a month after Dr. Barron's announcement, rumors pegged state Sen. John Thrasher as the front-runner, and his presence has disrupted the process ever since.
In mid-April, the firm in charge of the search told the university's Presidential Search Committee that it would not seek only candidates with academic backgrounds. In mid-May, the committee threw up its hands and announced that Mr. Thrasher would be the only candidate interviewed — even though he hadn't even applied for the job. But then two unexpected candidates — state Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda and, a week later, Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Ricky Polston — announced their candidacy.
Related article: Ricky Polston's candidacy changes FSU presidential search
Now, the June 11 interview with Mr. Thrasher is off and there will be a new deadline for hopefuls to apply.
Running through this drama is a basic question: What is FSU looking for in its next president?
Trustees at the University of Florida, which also is involved in a presidential search, have 25 attributes they are seeking, foremost among them having a "distinguished academic career." FSU faculty and students unhappy with Mr. Thrasher's candidacy don't see that quality in a career politician whose sole academic experience was as chairman of the FSU Board of Trustees.
The process has been another problem.
In choosing at first to interview only Mr. Thrasher, the search committee said other candidates were staying away until a decision was made on his candidacy. But how can a committee rule anybody in or out without knowing if there will be other candidates?
Ms. Rehwinkel Vasilinda, as a longtime faculty member at Tallahassee Community College, was not going to derail the Thrasher train. But Justice Polston's candidacy gave the search committee an excuse to try a traditional search again.
FSU's search for a new president is not doing a good job of bringing diverse interests together.
Right now, those who want a strong academic leader are feeling left out. One thing is certain in this muddled process: Somebody is going to wind up very unhappy."

John Thrasher's ties to Florida State go deep

"To understand state Sen. John Thrasher's deep bond with Florida State University, start in the 1960s.

The Jacksonville native enrolled in the business school, earning his bachelor's degree. After a stint with the Army in Vietnam, he returned for a law degree in 1972.
His involvement in politics as a leader of the Republican Party provided a platform for him to give back. During an eight-year tenure in the Florida House, including two as speaker, Thrasher earmarked millions in the state budget for updating campus facilities and programs. One of his final acts as the outgoing leader in 2000 was overcoming powerful opposition to create a medical school at FSU; it's building was later named the John Thrasher College of Medicine Building.
"That was one of his babies," said former state Sen. Al Lawson, a Tallahassee Democrat who served with Thrasher. "The medical school was one that they wanted real bad, and John was very significant."
When Thrasher returned to the private sector, he started a lucrative lobbying firm that allowed him time to give back to FSU in a new way: as the first chairman of the university's Board of Trustees. There he suffered one of few defeats as he tried to establish a school of chiropractic medicine.
Thrasher returned to the Legislature in 2009 after winning a special election for a Senate seat representing St. Augustine. Soon after, he was appointed chairman of the Republican Party of Florida. He also developed a strong relationship with Gov. Rick Scott and now serves as his re-election campaign chairman.
Thrasher's education policies will get the most scrutiny as he prepares to interview for the FSU presidency.
He joined a majority of legislators in supporting a $300 million cut to state universities in 2012, the same year he also emerged as a vocal backer of fast-tracking the establishment of Florida Polytechnic University. Then-FSU president Eric Barron never hid his disdain for the slash in funding and said it had a negative long-term impact.
Thrasher said recently that the budget cuts that year were a result of tough financial times, and he had to consider his taxpayer constituents.
"We certainly didn't want to try to raise taxes; we certainly didn't want to try to raise tuition," he said. "It was a matter of us making sure the budget was balanced in a responsible way."
This year, Thrasher supported efforts to restrict universities' ability to increase tuition outside of the legislative process and tried unsuccessfully to allocate money for FSU to establish an engineering school separate from the one it shares with Florida A&M University. House Speaker Will Weatherford refused to go along with that plan.
Perhaps Thrasher's most surprising education initiative came in 2012 when he filed an ethics bill that would have prevented legislators from working for or having contracts with state colleges or universities until they have been out of office for two years.
That proposal died in committee, but if it had been signed into law no one would be discussing a potential Thrasher presidency at FSU."