Three of Florida’s public universities will likely select new presidents next year. There’s a good chance that at least one will be a former lawmaker.
Nationally, less than half of college and university presidents come from outside academia, according to a recent study from the American Council on Education. Just one in 20 formerly served as elected or appointed government officials.
But in Florida, former lawmakers make up five of the seven college and university presidents selected in the past two years. And with the University of Florida, Florida A&M, and Florida Atlantic University all hiring for the top job, this trend could continue.
Former legislators can bring political savviness, fundraising experience and valuable statehouse connections to a campus. Those are key skills at a time when politics is increasingly influencing what’s taught in Florida classrooms.
They also lack research academic experience that can endear them to faculty members looking for a champion, and they may be unfamiliar with the often bureaucratic inner workings of a large university. And some worry that their political leanings will seep into a university’s culture.
In an era of eroding public trust and red-hot campus culture wars, the public higher education is now more political than ever, said Holden Thorp, editor in chief of the journal Science and former chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
That often forces schools to choose between someone from inside the academic fold to brave the political winds, or an experienced political hand who will have to learn the byzantine structure of college bureaucracy, he said.
“We’re in the middle of a massive struggle between which of those two are better,” Thorp said.
Leaders need to acknowledge that political conflict is there no matter who is in the president’s chair, Thorp said.
“Pretending it isn’t there is the worst thing you can do,” he said. “That ship has sailed.”
Former lawmakers finding a home on public college campuses isn’t new, nor is it unique to Florida. Mitch Daniels, the former Governor of Indiana, served as the president of Purdue University from 2013 to 2022. Janet Napolitano, who was the Secretary of Homeland Security and Governor of Arizona, led the University of California system as its president from 2013 to 2020.
In Florida, the road from Tallahassee to college towns is well worn. University of South Florida president Betty Castor, former FSU president T.K. Wetherell, and state university system chancellor Ray Rodrigues all served in Tallahassee before taking leadership roles in Florida’s public higher education.
The more recent appointees who made the transition from politics to higher ed have had mixed experiences.
Ben Sasse, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, was picked to lead UF in November 2022, only to step down 18 months later amid allegations of misspending and rumored conflict with school administrators.
Richard Corcoran, a former state house speaker and education commissioner under Gov. Ron DeSantis, was tapped to lead New College of Florida in what critics have called a “hostile takeover” of the struggling liberal arts school.
Former state Rep. Fred Hawkins was selected to lead South Florida State College after the school’s board failed to select a candidate amid rumors or interference from Tallahassee.
Before state senator Randy Fine’s bid to become president of Florida Atlantic University publicly imploded last year, the Brevard County lawmaker was Gov. Ron DeSantis’s handpicked candidate for the job.
But after Fine failed to make the list of finalists — triggering allegations of personal bias, “extremely troubling” questions over gender and sexuality, and a state investigation — the school scrapped their efforts and agreed to start from scratch.
Just in the last few months, Mel Ponder, a former house representative and mayor of Destin, was picked for president of Northwest Florida State College, and former Rep. Tommy Gregory was chosen to lead the State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota.
It makes sense that public universities that rely on state funding might tap a former lawmaker as school president, said Hironao Okahana, vice president of the American Council on Education, a nonprofit that represents and advocates for higher education institutions.
Former legislators often have connections and know-how that can help public institutions gain funding and support from state lawmakers, Okahana said.
As universities grow more complex, the role of president is changing, he said. And people with political knowhow might be well suited for the demands of the modern campus.
Most people are only familiar with the academic side of a university, but they also serve as research enterprises, public libraries, medical centers and sporting organizations, Okahana said.
“It’s like being a small-town mayor,” Okahana said.
When former state Rep. John Thrasher took the helm at Florida State University in 2014, faculty were up in arms over his lack of academic experience and conservative political record.
“Here’s what my resume was for a lot of people: John Thrasher, Republican,” he said. “They see that and they say, ‘This guy’s going to abolish tenure, he’s going to come in and change the whole system.’”
But the former state house speaker quickly won over skeptics, mostly by showing up on campus and making good on promises to raise money and boost the school’s academic reputation.
“I think leaving politics at the front door made the difference,” Thrasher said. “You’re not a Republican; you’re not a Democrat. You’re somebody who is there to provide leadership in the best interest of the university.”
During his six-year tenure, Thrasher oversaw record fundraising and FSU’s steady climb up national rankings. He helped introduce diversity and inclusion initiatives and the school achieved the best graduation rate in the state.
Since then colleges and universities have been “pulled into the political crosshairs,” said Kevin McClure, an associate professor of higher education policy at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
Well-intentioned policy makers may be able to understand those frustrations — and thus shield the institutions they lead — better than someone from inside academia, he said.
“But sometimes they just accelerate culture war attacks,” he said.
What has changed in the past two decades is who is selecting the president, said Judith Wilde, a research professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. Florida lawmakers made the presidential selection process more opaque in 2023, shielding schools from disclosing candidates until a finalist had been chosen.
“Florida, Texas, and a couple other states have moved into this patronage model, where it’s the governor pushing for a candidate from the top-down,” said Wilde.
Hand-picked candidates like Sasse and Corcoran might fulfill a political mission, she said, but they tend to butt heads with school administrators.
Sasse’s relationship with UF board of trustees chairman Morteza Hosseini had soured prior to his sudden departure in July, The Independent Florida Alligator reported. Sasse had received criticism over his spending and hiring decisions and had clashed with faculty, UF students reported.
“The fact that (Ben) Sasse didn’t work out at the University of Florida is probably telling you that he had a harder time understanding how academia functioned,” Thorp said.
Corcoran’s quick overhaul of the once progressive-leaning New College has received backlash from students and alumni, and led to a deluge of faculty leaving the school last year.
Fine told the Chronicle of Higher Education that he was dropped from consideration at Florida Atlantic after a falling out with a trustee Bradley Levine during the interview process.
“They don’t understand shared governance. They’re thinking like a lawmaker where what they say goes,” Wilde said. “When that happens, they usually don’t last long.”
Ian Hodgson is an education data reporter for the Tampa Bay Times, working in partnership with Open Campus.
Ian Hodgson is a data reporter covering education. He can be reached at ihodgson@tampabay.com.
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