Scott extends another pre-election olive branch to UF with chancellor pick

Back when Frank Brogan was the chancellor for Florida’s public universities, Rick Scott ran over him like a second-hand doormat. Brogan’s bosses on the Board of Governors, who were just as scared of Scott as he was, joined him in sitting down and shutting up as Scott effectively became the real chancellor of the State University System of Florida (SUS).

Even though it took a little time, the BOG has finally accepted its place under the governor’s thumb.

Earlier this year, Brogan decided to hold on to a few pieces of his dignity by getting the hell out of dodge. He took a $29,500 pay cut to leave Florida and escape to Pennsylvania, where he is now the new public university CEO. But the headlines from last week are full of signs that Scott is still calling the shots at the BOG offices and extending another pre-election olive branch to the University of Florida.

The search committee for the new chancellor unanimously voted to offer the name of Marshall Criser, III, president of AT&T Florida, as its one and only recommendation for Brogan’s replacement.  

Criser is the son of Marshall Criser, Jr., a former UF president and the first chairman of the UF Board of Trustees. Criser, III followed his dad’s path by attending UF and rising to the vice-chairmanship of the UF Board of Trustees.

The soon-to-be new chancellor is also a big time GOP contributor. According to the Associated Press, “since July [Criser’s] donated $6,000 to the Republican Party of Florida and campaign committees associated with Attorney General Pam Bondi and Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. Criser’s company this year has given $250,000 to the Republican Party of Florida and $90,000 to the Florida Democratic Party.”

Criser, who received the Governor’s Business Ambassador Award from Scott in April, represents the monied UF alumni base that the governor has bent over backwards to try and keep in his donor camp.

Scott enraged many UF political donors by hinting at an overhaul of the SUS tenure system and attacking UF’s attempts to increase tuition revenue in order to help it compete nationally. There was also speculation that UF Bernie Machen announced his retirement in June 2012 under pressure from the Scott.

The governor jumped to patch up his relationship with potential campaign contributors at UF by pleading for Machen to rescind his resignation and promising to help the university achieve a top ten national magazine ranking.

Criser’s selection at the hands of a BOG that has surrendered to Scott is a reaffirmation of the governor’s commitment to let UF get what it wants throughout his possible second term. But while UF is finally safe from Scott’s attacks against public university funding and no longer has to worry about its tenure system being threatened, the rest of SUS is being left out to dry.