Colleges’ integrity is under assault
Apparently emboldened by their unquestioned and unchecked political meddling in the governance of the state’s universities, the chancellor of the State University System of Florida has now targeted the presidential search process at Florida Atlantic University.
The process, which culminated in the selection of an outstanding field of qualified candidates, has been suspended by the chancellor on highly suspect grounds. The finalists include the superintendent of the Naval Academy, the dean of the College of Business at FSU and the former chancellor of UNC-Wilmington. Unsurprisingly, but apparently telling in this controversy, was the exclusion of Florida Rep. Randy Fine, a close ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis, as a finalist. The search committee, led by Board members selected by Republican governors, easily determined that Fine’s credentials were clearly inferior to the candidates selected. This omission must have invoked the ire of the governor and prompted the chancellor to intervene based on specious charges that an FAU search committee member called “slanderous.”
Those of us who follow Florida
higher education find these antics particularly appalling. Where was the chancellor in questioning a search process that led to the installation of DeSantis’ ally Richard Corcoran as president at New College of Florida? Where was the challenge when the South Florida State College Board scrapped its published presidential qualifications in order to make state Rep. Fred Hawkins the sole finalist?
These disturbing incidents of blatant outside political influence have captured the attention of the regional accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). As a result, in an effort to thwart oversight and intimidate accreditors, the Florida Legislature passed a law mandating that state universities and colleges must find other, perhaps more politically aligned accreditation bodies or just have the state take over. Such a move places Florida’s universities and students at risk of the loss of qualifying for federal financial aid and transferability of college credits.
A number of institutions must begin this transition process immediately, requiring the diversion of time and resources in order to learn a new process with little or no perceived benefit to the institution and its students. None of the three accreditation bodies on the State approved list have any institutional members in Florida or the South which will likely increase costs and limit participation by Florida institutions in the governance of these bodies. At the same time this forced exodus from one of its largest member states will weaken the SACSCOC, which may have been the underlying rationale for the legislation in the first place.
I realize that for the general public this seems to be just a lot of “inside baseball” that doesn’t really matter, but it does matter. The Florida Legislature’s actions threaten to undermine the integrity and the very purpose of higher education. I feel like I am sitting helplessly watching an impending train wreck that is totally avoidable.
The state must stop playing Big Brother and simply allow the governor-appointed Boards of Trustees, and the presidents they independently select, the freedom to govern their institutions in the best interests of their students without outside political meddling and influence.