Via the Sarasota Herald Tribune Gov. Rick Scott's influence over Florida's colleges and universities is growing as more of his appointees begin to dominate the boards that run those schools. Some wonder rather Scott's stated effort to revamp higher education bringing a more business-like practices to the system will cause more chaos than good.
Critics fear that his efforts may disrupt the
system more than move it forward. The evidence of that played out this past week at a meeting of the Board of Governors in Orlando.
Tom Auxter, president of the United Faculty
of Florida, the union that represents some 8,000 employees in the university
and college system noted, "what's happening is that Scott is taking people
with experience who understand the consequences of what they're doing and
replacing them with people who just have convictions but don't have all that
much background."
This scenario is not only playing out at FAMU, but also each University Board of Trustees, the State
Board of Education and the Board of Governors.
Auxter said he has concerns about imposing some
type of "business model" for the higher education system that sets
"a narrow range of cost-benefit" measures, without taking into
account an institutions' complexity.
Colleges and Universities cannot be evaluated on
the basis of "how many can you put out at how cheap of a price,"
Auxter said. "You're not really giving students the same thing at a
cheaper price. You're actually taking down the quality of what they are
getting."
This kind of thinking, has the potential to turn Florida's colleges and
universities into "diploma mills," Auxter added.