University posts attract politicians

UPDATE: Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater did not make the final cut for candidates vying for the presidency of Florida Atlantic University.  Atwater said late Friday that he will seek re-election to his Cabinet seat. 

TALLAHASSEE

Jeff Atwater may be leaving his state Cabinet post to become the next president of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. 

For critics, the fact that Atwater, Florida’s chief financial officer, may get the job just reinforces the long-held reputation that Florida’s higher education system is very political. 

Florida’s university leadership is replete with political connections.  Former Jacksonville Mayor John Delaney heads the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, former House Speaker T.K. Wetherell is a former Florida State University president and former Lt.  Gov. Frank Brogan is a former FAU president and state university system chancellor. 

Atwater’s appointment would fall neatly in line with those precedents. 

But there is a flipside to the argument that FAU and other Florida schools would be better off with leaders with stronger academic backgrounds.  Experience with fund-raising and navigating the legislative budget process, which impacts each university every year, are assets that Atwater or other major state politicians can bring to the process. 

Atwater is a former Senate president who has raised $1.2 million so far for his CFO re-election bid this year.  He raised more than $4 million for his 2010 election. 

Politico, the online publication that covers Washington, D.C., made a similar point in assessing the academic appointments in 2013 of former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who now leads Purdue University, and Janet Napolitano, the former secretary of Homeland Security and Arizona governor who now heads the University of California system. 

College presidents “aren’t just expected to deal with budgets and faculty members,” Politico wrote. “ They advocate to Congress and state lawmakers and execute billion-dollar fund-raising goals — and politicians used to the era of soft money are a natural fit for coaxing donations from alumni and wealthy supporters.” 

Not every Florida academic post goes to someone with a major political resume, a point that was also underscored this week. 

Marshall Criser III, former president of AT&T Florida, began his job as the new chancellor of the State University System of Florida.  Criser is a former trustee at the University of Florida and his father is a former UF president. 

Meanwhile, Florida A&M University opted for an Ivy League academic to lead the school.  The trustees selected Elmira Mangum, a vice president for budget and planning at Cornell University, as the new president. 

WINNER OF THE WEEK: Gwen Margolis.  The veteran Democratic state senator from Miami-Dade County marked the 40th year of her arrival in Tallahassee this week.  Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, honored the occasion by giving her 40 roses at a Senate committee hearing.  Margolis has spent most of that time as a state lawmaker, although she also served six years on the Miami-Dade Commission.  She was the first woman to serve as Senate president. 

LOSER OF THE WEEK: Manatees.  State wildlife officials reported this week a record 829 manatee deaths in Florida waters during 2013.  Nearly 300 of the deaths of the marine mammals were attributed to a red tide outbreak in Southwest Florida early last year.  The 2013 manatee deaths more than doubled 392 deaths recorded in 2012. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “It changed the rest of my life.  Reach, pull, release — just like that,” former Gov. Charlie Crist wrote in a new book, describing the impact of his hug of President Barack Obama at a 2009 event that drew animosity from Republicans and eventually led Crist to join the Democratic Party. 

Lloyd Dunkelberger

Lloyd Dunkelberger is the Htpolitics.com Capital Bureau Chief. 
He can be reached by email or call 850 556-3542. 
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Last modified: January 10, 2014
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