Chancellor search: BOG aims to fix credibility problem

Florida’s Board of Governors is the Rodney Dangerfield of Sunshine State politics; it gets no respect.

Created in 2002 by a constitutional amendment, the BOG started out as little more than a rubberstamp for former Gov. Jeb Bush. Though given the power to appoint five members of each public university board of trustees, the BOG simply ratified Bush’s selections and deferred to his orders on higher education policy.

As a result, the Florida Legislature largely ignored the board and gave it only a token level of funding for its operations.

During the waning days of Bush’s governorship, the BOG tried to jump on stage with the state’s big powerbrokers. This began in 2005 when the board hired Chancellor Mark Rosenberg, who used the chief executive position as a bully pulpit to demand more respect for the BOG’s role and larger appropriations for its staffing and office management needs.

It didn’t work. The legislature and governor’s office went about their business as if the BOG still didn’t exist, which prompted the board to take more desperate measures to get attention.

In 2007, the BOG sued the legislature for control over tuition-rates. Also, in response to State University System budget cuts, the board froze freshmen enrollment at a number of public universities.

Legislators, particularly in the Florida Senate, were outraged. Florida Senate President Ken Pruitt introduced a constitutional amendment to place the BOG under the lawmakers’ supervision. When Rosenberg appeared before committees to speak against the measure, senators publicly ridiculed him.

Some lawmakers also raked the chancellor over the coals for “requesting” money from public university foundations to pad his $231,750 salary and provide perks such as a car allowance.

As the battle ensued, the BOG attempted to make itself look relevant by establishing a special task force to investigate the financial turmoil raging through FAMU under former Interim President Castell Bryant. The legislature appropriated approximately $1 million for this effort.

However, when incoming FAMU President James Ammons asked the BOG to make at least some of that money available to him as he worked to clean up Bryant’s mess, the board claimed it couldn’t spare a dime.

Finally, when Ammons repaired most of the damage Bryant caused and earned the university’s first unqualified audit in three years, lawmakers lashed out at the BOG for its do-nothing stance on the issue.

"This whole thing to me is just a bunch of fluff," state Sen. Jeremy Ring (D-Margate) told the task force. "What I really want to know is what did you find and why should we continue to pay for you."

During this period, the Senate also made it clear that it didn’t think much of the BOG’s judgment on FAMU Board of Trustees nominations. Senators rejected the reappointment of FAMU trustees Chairwoman Challis Lowe, a leading Bryant supporter, despite strong support from BOG Chairwoman Carolyn Roberts.

In its search for a new chancellor, the limping BOG has one goal: find someone who can fix its credibility problem. Newspapers such as the Tallahassee Democrat are urging the board to hire a new CEO who has better political connections and muscle.

FAMU supporters need to get involved in the search now and make sure that this university’s issues are heard throughout the process. The new chancellor should value FAMU’s role as a growing center of research, graduate education, and professional education. He or she should also believe FAMU’s Center of Excellence in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology is a priority.

The stakes are too high for Rattlers to remain silent.

SUS Shuffle: Rosenberg out