I’ve had several people ask me why I am “surprised” that the
BOT chose Senator Thrasher to be our next president, and obviously, I am not
surprised. I’ve been predicting this since February. But I am extremely
disheartened by the absolute lack of consideration of the key constituents of
the university, namely faculty and students. The Trustees completely, utterly,
shamelessly ignored the will of campus and selected their political buddy over
three extremely qualified higher education leaders.
I keep thinking, how are we going to recruit and retain
faculty at a university that doesn’t care what the faculty think? How are we
going to retain and recruit faculty at a university whose president knows
nothing about the academy (but everything about the Capitol), denies science
and whose own voting record demonstrates anti-union, anti-faculty, anti-tenure attitudes
and policies?
I saw an article in the Democrat
this morning with a headline that one of the faculty leaders on campus is eager to work
with Thrasher (though I've been told he didn't actually say that), and yes, obviously we will need to do so (though, folks, he
still has to go through the BOG, which was grumbling earlier because the search
was a national embarrassment—and still is). As another faculty leader on campus, I say that doesn't mean
let’s roll over. I’m happy to work with anyone who has the best interests of
the institution at heart and who respects faculty so we can move this
university forward--absolutely. But we will not give up shared governance; we will
not give up academic freedom; we will not give up tenure; we will not give up integrity;
we will not give up on our faculty one tiny bit because someone made a campaign
promise to increase salaries. We will, however, hold anyone who makes such
promises to them. But I guess Senator Thrasher is gonna have to manufacture
money in his basement because as Trustee Rolando said, unless the legislature
finds religion and allocates more money to higher education, then the argument
that Thrasher knows the legislature and can steer more funds to us is garbage.
The fact that this search was a sham from the beginning only
adds to my, let’s call it frustration, that a non-academic
politician with personal, political, and financial ties to the BOT members and
most of the PSAC members was rammed through despite loud opposition by all
facets of the community (and calling him a non-academic is
not name-calling—having a law degree does not make one an academic if he/she hasn’t
worked in academia). Let’s not forget that alumni—who are also donors—are also outraged.
I’d love to know how many people pulled their donations. I have anecdotal evidence
of this, but I would like data.
Perhaps others aren’t hearing the same things I’m hearing:
faculty already being recruited or applying for jobs, students and parents
upset that politics trumped experience and merit, alumni outraged, community
members flabbergasted that this could happen at our university.
So, no, I’m not surprised by the outcome. I’m surprised by
the blatant in your face we don't care what anyone thinks politics after the search
firm recruited excellent and qualified candidates. Wasted everyone’s time and
taxpayer money just to give FSU a permanent black eye.
