Before I saw the email from Search Advisory Committee Chair
Ed Burr yesterday evening, I had received an email from a reporter with the
news that the interview with Senator Thrasher had been postponed. I have to
admit that I did a little happy dance because slowing down the process was absolutely
essential. Thanks to all of you, and to all who wrote to the Search Advisory Committee
and the BOT and who signed the petition and who wrote letters to the editor and
who demanded a fair and open search process for the next president of this
university. Your hard work has helped slow down the train.
However, our work is definitely not done. Though the
interview with Thrasher may not happen next week, all of the other components of the flawed search remain in place. They
haven’t reset the search—they’ve only postponed the interview with promises of
an open search (and some Committee members apparently disagree with slowing
down the process[1]).
We must continue to be vigilant, and I urge all faculty members, students,
alumni, and community members who planned to attend the June 11 meeting to
stick with your plans and attend the June 11 meeting to show that we are
watching and that our voices will be heard. We still need to work our networks
to encourage the best and most qualified candidates to apply as well
because—let’s be honest—this postponement benefits the frontrunner as well as
he now has more time to lobby even harder to become president and to attempt to
deflect criticism of his record (and if what the rumor mill is saying is true,
and so far it’s been pretty accurate, the Senator is continuing to meet with
individual decision-makers--and, if true, this seems to be awfully inappropriate, especially if other candidates are not afforded the same opportunities).
And if the decision to hold up the interview was really
because Ricky Polston applied and is now being considered a qualified applicant
by the Committee leadership, as the Tallahassee
Democrat is reporting, then we definitely need to encourage our academic
colleagues to apply for loyalty to FSU will obviously continue to be the
rallying cry for Florida's political folks applying for the position.[2][3]
I have to say that even with this victory I still have
very little confidence in the search process if all else remains the same—a
ridiculous job ad, a search firm that stated publicly that it wasn't able to find qualified candidates due to Thrasher, who remains a candidate,[4] a search committee in which only 7 of 27 members are faculty
members and students, the lack of distinguished academic credentials as the
primary criterion, and a fuzzy deadline (that presumably will be determined at
the June 11 meeting—and perhaps we should encourage the Committee to extend the
deadline until September when more faculty and students can be involved in the
interview process). We have a motivated and qualified interim president who
will continue to lead us toward the path of the top 25 in the meantime, so
there’s absolutely no need to rush the process. Again, take a look at UF’s
timeline to see that rushing is not necessary or desirable.[5]
