As a follow up to my earlier post today, The Tallahassee Democrat has announced
that former FSU President Sandy D'Alemberte has nominated Senator John Thrasher
to be the next FSU President.[1] From the
beginning of the search, faculty members have expressed the importance of an
academic to lead the university into the top 25. The UFF-FSU faculty poll also made it abundantly clear that faculty want an academic as the leader of our institution. I again highly encourage
faculty members to attend tomorrow’s meeting. We may not have an opportunity to speak, but I
think our presence will speak for us.
I have been reminded that the BOT is the ultimate decision-maker in terms of who becomes president, and I've been told that faculty are not the only stakeholders in the process. But as far as I can tell, the university does not work without faculty. It is as simple as that. And our voices deserve to be heard in this process. As I stated before, the faculty on the committee are doing all they can, and as my loyalty obviously lies with the faculty, I think we need to support their efforts to find the best, most qualified president out there. I don't know if the search committee plans to vet candidates tomorrow (I've heard from the press that there are 11 candidates), but if they do, we can be there to serve as witnesses to the process.
As I've stated previously, I am writing from the perspective of a faculty member who also happens to be the president of the faculty union. I became president because I care about faculty needs and achievements, I care about fairness and justice and equality, I care about our students receiving the best education possible, and I care about making Florida State University the best university it can be. I am not claiming to represent all viewpoints here and I'm not claiming universal truth--my views are my very own, and I am calling it as I see it. That's what blogs do.
Hope to see you tomorrow at this important meeting.
