SUS shuffle: Rosenberg out

After three contentious years at the helm of Florida’s State University System, Chancellor Mark Rosenberg is throwing in the towel. In February 2009, he plans to return to Florida International University, where he previously served as a professor, provost, and acting president.

Hired in 2005 after the Board of Governors failed to find what it considered an ideal candidate for the post, Rosenberg agreed to serve two years. He remained three. Although the BOG called his appointment a “temporary” solution, it did not give him an “interim” title or begin a search for his replacement.

Rosenberg regularly clashed with lawmakers, university boards of trustees, and FAMU supporters.

State legislators reacted angrily when the chancellor and BOG sued them for control of public university tuition. Many senators and representatives believed that Rosenberg, a fierce critic of Florida’s current tuition rates, would attempt to double or triple the price of attending college.

Last session, Florida Senate President Ken Pruitt introduced a constitutional amendment to clarify the legislature’s authority over tuition and place the BOG under the lawmakers’ supervision.

Rosenberg also took heat for “requesting” money from public university foundations to pad his $231,750 salary and provide perks such as a car allowance. Some lawmakers and trustees accused the chancellor and BOG, who appoint five members of each university BOT and approve new programs, of practicing borderline extortion.

The Pappas Plan, which called for universities such as FAMU and UCF to become baccalaureate-only institutions, triggered another public backlash against Rosenberg. Supporters from both universities argued that by taking away their graduate and professional schools, the chancellor and BOG would jeopardize working and middle-class access to such programs.

FAMUans were also offended that Rosenberg, who supported a law school for FIU, would entertain the idea of taking away FAMU’s College of Law.

Furthermore, Rosenberg carried a dismissive attitude towards FAMU’s goal of reducing black underrepresentation in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. He failed to make FAMU’s STEM Ph.D. Center of Excellence a priority in the SUS’ annual budget requests. Additionally, he remained quiet when FSU attempted to push FAMU out of the College of Engineering that the two universities share.

The chancellor and BOG also upset many FAMUans by giving solid support to former Interim President Castell Bryant, who left the university on probation with its accrediting body, while giving a cold reception to President James Ammons, who guided FAMU back to good standing with accreditors.

The search for a new chancellor could begin as early as this month.

Read more at Jacksonville Times-Union, Orlando Sentinel, Tallahassee Democrat, and St. Pete Times.

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