The University of Florida announced its pick after a second try at finding a university president. And look! He’s not a Republican politician.
The name of Stuart R. Bell, former president of the University of Alabama, was unveiled after the usual secretive proceedings. And what do you know? He’s the sole finalist.
I know: if there’s only one person, how can he be a finalist? He’s the pick. Take him or leave him.
That same week, another Florida institution announced that it, too, selected only one finalist. That would be Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas, a former aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis, who will head Polk State College.
And last year the University of West Florida named Florida Education Commissioner and former Republican legislator Manny Diaz Jr. as its sole finalist.
See a pattern?
Oh, no, Ono! First pick for new UF prez was just too woke, apparently
The UF selection process has been unusually fraught and dragged out over two years. After the short, expensive and controversial presidency of former Republican U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, the university’s Board of Trustees last year tapped Santa Ono, the respected former president of the University of Michigan, as sole finalist only to see his appointment blocked by the Florida Board of Governors, the governing body of the state university system.
Ono was considered too woke for the state where, as the governor is fond of saying, woke goes to die. Woke died a long time ago in Alabama if it was ever around, so it’s hard to see the same peril for Bell, but who knows? Florida’s ideological police are an exacting group and some are already grousing.
After Ono’s unceremonious cancellation, it had been feared that UF wouldn’t be able to attract potential finalists. But several put their names in, including the interim university president, Donald Landry. Landry was not the finalist, but as a consolation prize will be eligible for a $2 million golden parachute. A situation that attracted criticism from U.S. Sen. Rick Scott.
“That is crazy,” he concluded in a scathing letter to Florida University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues.
Single-finalist system prevents hurt feelings. No, we’re not kidding
“I am frankly tired of hearing ‘there is only one sole finalist because no one else was willing to do a public interview.’ That is BS,” Scott said about the state’s single-finalist system.
The one-finalist system was instituted back in 2022, when the Legislature took the university presidential searches out of the sunshine.
The idea was, and I’m not kidding, that Florida’s broad public records law hurts the feelings of publicity-shy applicants. Legislators decided the process should be done in secret and go public in its last stages.
The university community and Floridians generally would only find out who the finalists are. This would spare the sensitivities of those not picked, yet the public could still weigh in during the lightning round as finalists are considered.
But there would not be lightning rounds with multiple finalists. Ever since the law took effect, it’s become customary to announce only one finalist. That way everything but the result is done without the public — and especially those nosey academics and meddling students — knowing what was happening.
A bill reforming that law passed the Florida House last year but died in the Senate after being furiously denounced by DeSantis. The bill also would have prohibited the governor and his staff from interfering with the university boards of trustees’ decisions on presidential selection. Something that’s been happening a lot during DeSantis’ term.
I’m something of a purist on open government, so I believe that forcing aspiring university presidents to experience Florida’s Sunshine Law is a good thing. A way to let candidates know that they must work in the open when running a publicly supported institution. You might call it a learning experience.
The current arrangement has turned the state’s higher educational system into a secretive political spoils system that harms the reputation of the universities and legitimacy of the finalists.
Let the sunshine in. And maybe the do-overs won’t be necessary.
Mark Lane is a News-Journal columnist. His email is mlanewrites@gmail.com.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Finalist announced in UF’s presidential do-over
Reporting by Mark Lane, Special to The News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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