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13 months after it began, Florida Atlantic College’s seek for a brand new president has not yielded a brand new chief. Now the fallout of the stalled course of has prompted the FAU Board of Trustees chair to step down, following withering criticism from state officers.
Launched in January 2023, the search was suspended six months later by state officers. They cited “anomalies” over the search committee’s use of a straw ballot to anonymously rank candidates and trim the applicant pool from 60 to twenty earlier than figuring out three finalists in early July.
Florida lawyer basic Ashley Moody decided in November that search committee members broke the state’s Sunshine Regulation once they anonymously communicated their preferences to the search agency. However others questioned if the failed search had extra to do with the board’s rejection of candidate Randy Nice, a conservative lawmaker whom Republican governor Ron DeSantis had reportedly inspired to use.
Now FAU’s seek for a brand new president gained’t probably be rebooted till the Board of Trustees meets in April, following the discharge of unspecified steering anticipated from the Florida Board of Governors, which just lately expressed a vote of no confidence in FAU board chair Brad Levine.
At a board assembly Thursday, Levine stepped down from the place. Trustees then voted to increase interim president Stacy Volnick’s contract for an additional yr amid robust assist from college students, college and neighborhood members who spoke up throughout the public feedback portion. Some expressed concern that political infighting has led to the stalled search, with no clear timeline on the horizon.
Procedural Points or Politics?
Earlier than he stepped down yesterday, Levine had come below fireplace from the state’s Board of Governors and Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State College System of Florida. The chair had defended FAU’s presidential search course of, regardless of clashing with fellow trustee Barbara Feingold, who donated cash to Nice and questioned the {qualifications} of the finalists.
When Levine requested the Board of Governors final month to approve a one-year contract extension for Volnick, members chastised him for failing to offer an employment contract. Levine argued that as a result of Volnick was employed as interim by way of an appointment letter, no contract existed; FAU as a substitute supplied the Board of Governors with a time period sheet. However members mentioned the FAU board probably violated state open conferences legal guidelines by approving Volnick’s extension in November with out posting the contract on-line as a part of its assembly supplies.
“We by no means acquired the contract, and it seems that the [FAU] Board of Trustees by no means acquired the contract, both,” Rodrigues mentioned ultimately month’s contentious Board of Governors assembly.
Some board members recommended that it wasn’t attainable to increase a contract that didn’t exist within the first place, although the FAU board had accredited an extension for Volnick in November. Levine argued that FAU had supplied every thing the Board of Governors requested for; the board disagreed, and members voted no confidence in Levine as chair. Along with requesting a proper contract for Volnick, the Board of Governors tasked FAU’s board with curing attainable violations of state open conferences legal guidelines, which required one other FAU board vote to approve Volnick’s prolonged appointment. The vote handed once more Thursday, this time with a contract included within the board agenda in an effort to remedy any potential open conferences violation.
Amid the drama, Levine mentioned his choice to step down as chair was greatest for FAU.
“The college is poised to pick out a everlasting president, a search that has been arduous and now should start anew,” he mentioned. ”Sadly, I’ve personally turn into part of this narrative. The collection of an skilled and visionary chief deserves no such distractions.”
Although the Board of Governors doesn’t believe in Levine’s management, it seems many within the FAU neighborhood do based mostly on the general public feedback portion of Thursday’s assembly. Numerous constituents—together with donors, college, neighborhood members and different trustees—thanked and praised Levine when he introduced that he would step down.
Levine, who was appointed by former Republican governor Rick Scott in 2018 and reappointed by DeSantis final yr, will stay on the board regardless of surrendering his management place.
Questions Linger
Whereas it seems Volnick will stay in place till a everlasting president is employed, the timeline for a search is unclear. If the Florida Board of Governors offers steering on the search, as anticipated, FAU trustees will probably restart the method at April’s board assembly.
However the timing additionally is determined by when the Board of Governors implements new guidelines on presidential search processes, as deliberate. The following assembly when the board may achieve this is Feb. 21, that means FAU would both must name a particular assembly after that or wait till April to restart the search.
Ought to the search resume in April, FAU might want to repeat sure steps, corresponding to growing a presidential profile for candidates and internet hosting campus visits. If the search is rebooted on the April 16 board assembly and follows the same timeline as the primary go-round, then it may very well be October—or later—earlier than the board is able to rent a brand new president.
Nice’s shadow continues to hold over the troubled proceedings. The previous applicant advised native media that DeSantis had assured him he would “waltz proper in” to the FAU presidency, a job he mentioned he solely utilized for as a result of the governor’s workplace requested him to. However he shortly came upon that was not the case.
“The neighborhood didn’t need me,” Nice advised The South Florida Solar-Sentinel in October.
If he had been employed, Nice would have adopted within the footsteps of different Republican lawmakers— usually DeSantis allies—who’ve been tapped as school presidents in Florida just lately. That record consists of former U.S. senator from Nebraska Ben Sasse on the College of Florida, in addition to former state lawmakers Richard Corcoran at New Faculty of Florida and Fred Hawkins at South Florida State Faculty. Rodrigues, the system chancellor, can be a former GOP lawmaker.
Different DeSantis allies have narrowly missed out on comparable jobs, together with the Florida Gulf Coast College presidency, the place Henry Mack fell one vote in need of being employed.
Regardless of considerations raised by neighborhood members, state officers have dismissed criticism that the FAU search has been marred by political interference related to DeSantis, who has launched into a marketing campaign to reshape increased schooling. Critics say his administration has undermined tutorial freedom; focused tenure and range, fairness and inclusion packages; and engineered a conservative overhaul of New Faculty of Florida.
“There may be inadequate proof to assist that the college was directed or pressured to advance or choose any particular candidate,” Florida’s inspector basic concluded in a December report to the Board of Governors that decided FAU’s search had violated sunshine legal guidelines.
However some members of the FAU neighborhood aren’t satisfied.
Talking at Thursday’s assembly, FAU communications professor William Trapani expressed assist for Levine whereas additionally suggesting that different board members have “helped allow public assaults” on senior officers as a consequence of “petty private grudges” and private assist for Nice. Whereas he didn’t specify which board members, he seemed to be alluding to Feingold.
“In latest conferences, we’ve had board members flagrantly violate presidential search committee [nondisclosure agreements], stepping into depth on vote counts, disparaging finalists, asserting that that they had moral or authorized issues … Not solely is {that a} violation of these NDAs, however it plainly creates legal responsibility publicity for the college, and it makes us look amateurish,” Trapani mentioned.
He additionally questioned why officers haven’t investigated claims that Nice was promised the job, suggesting that the assurances DeSantis allegedly made may violate state legislation.
“We’re left questioning, why aren’t we wanting into this?” Trapani mentioned.
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