New FSU President
- Thread starter lawmatt78
- Start date
Regardless of how you feel about his political views, the bigger issue is he has essentially zero academic experience or experience in running a large organization. It appears that he was named solely for his political connections. But Florida's public universities are all controlled politically. Each university has a BOT, whose members are appointed either by the state's Governor, or by the Florida university system Board of Governors (whose members are appointed by the state's Governor).
It is a system ripe for political patronage.
It is a system ripe for political patronage.
That's what happens when you elect Tea Party governors.
There's a similar issue in Texas, but Perry got a ton of pushback from the historically liberal UT.
At least in NJ, we don't have loonies, just patronage. Thank god RU seems to have steered clear of this recently.
But it's also a lesson in protecting Universities from political interference and should be cited as a reason not to change our governance.
There's a similar issue in Texas, but Perry got a ton of pushback from the historically liberal UT.
At least in NJ, we don't have loonies, just patronage. Thank god RU seems to have steered clear of this recently.
But it's also a lesson in protecting Universities from political interference and should be cited as a reason not to change our governance.
85inFla --- You linked the bio to the guy who just left FSU, not the bio of the newly named president.
Inside Higher Ed
Florida State's Politician President
Having a non-academic as president is certainly increasing trend. Having a political hack is a distressing one.
Non-academic politicians can be good leaders, seee David Boren at Oklahoma or our own Tom Kean Sr. at Drew.
Luckily in NJ we dodged the bullet of the Trenton trying to foist Joe Doria onto Ramapo College so he could boost his State pension with a well paid gig to finish out his public career. But we are likely to see more of that nonsense.
Florida State's Politician President
Having a non-academic as president is certainly increasing trend. Having a political hack is a distressing one.
Non-academic politicians can be good leaders, seee David Boren at Oklahoma or our own Tom Kean Sr. at Drew.
Luckily in NJ we dodged the bullet of the Trenton trying to foist Joe Doria onto Ramapo College so he could boost his State pension with a well paid gig to finish out his public career. But we are likely to see more of that nonsense.
Nearly all states are like this. We are relatively unique in that our governance at least allows some non-political input.
The real issue is whather you have a long run of guys from the same political clique. Fortunately for us - NJ has elected guys from different parties or regions every time since 1956, so no one party could build a huge, long lasting influence on the board.
I'm not acquainted with many states, but I believe in at least some the governing boards serve long staggered terms so that it is difficult for a single governor to grab control. This restrained Ronald Reagan to a considerable extent when Reagan was trying to dominate the University of California; he never did get working control of the Board of Regents even after 8 years as governor. So Rutgers is not the only place where there are safeguards against patronage and politicization.
Yes - in that way it is not unique for RU and its probably the best protection. Even within state parties - there are often different clicks. In NJ its geographic for the Dems. The guys who run south jersey aren't the same guys who run north jersey, and their political picks wont necessarily want the same things.
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