Florida A&M was the only public university that Gov.
Rick Scott chose to spare from his veto pen this year. Every other public
university took line item vetoes in the 2017-2018 General Appropriations Act
that the governor signed last week.
New College of Florida, which isn’t classified as a university
but is still part of the State University System of Florida, also escaped line
item vetoes from Scott.
FAMU’s line items in this year’s appropriations bill
include: $1.5M for the Crestview Education Center, $1M for “increasing online
course offerings,” and $3.5M for the Center for Access and Student Success.
Florida State University, which is led by Scott’s former
reelection campaign Chair
John Thrasher, took $20,897,730 in line item vetoes.
Scott slashed: $8M for the Interdisciplinary Research Commercialization
Building, $5M for the Stem Teaching Lab, $4M for Land Acquisition, $1M for College
of Law Scholarships/Faculty, $700,000 for the Health Equity Research Institute,
$608,111 for the Florida Campus Compact, $489,619 for Evaluation of Behavioral
Health System of Care in Florida at the FSU Medical School, $300,000 for the Next
Generation Ultra-High Field Magnets, $300,000 for the Charles Hilton Endowed
Professorship, $250,000 for the Pepper Center Long Term Care Proposal, and $250,000
for the Learning System Institute.
Out of all the public universities that took line item
vetoes, Florida Polytechnic had the smallest amount removed. It lost $150,000
for a “Feasibility Study to Relocate the Florida Highway Patrol Academy to” its
campus.
View the full list of line item vetoes
here.
