I think those of us in the arts and humanities were concerned about Marchase’s seemingly myopic view of STEM as the driver of the university. Three different questions about the arts and humanities resulted in discussions of how we need to go full steam ahead with STEM initiatives, funding, research, and majors and that we may need to “rightsize” colleges like Music since there's only so much funding. Of course, the focus on STEM is in line with what Governor Scott has been pushing, but I think it is absolutely crucial to recognize, encourage, and fund our strengths in the arts and humanities. This is not to say he didn’t acknowledge the importance of the arts and humanities, but the narrow focus of his answers was disconcerting (one person said terrifying) for some of us. He did mention that his wife, who is the director of the Birmingham Museum of Art, reminds him that art and humanities encourage creative thinking and the involvement of the community. But they--and the social sciences--certainly do much much more than that.
One of humorous parts of the interview was when our colleague asked him if he had ever been told that he looks like Regis Philbin; he had.
He was the only one of the candidates who has no experience with unions (Alabama is not a union state), and thus he'd need "wise advisors." I assured him that he could count on me to advise him (of course!). I suppose I’d rather deal with someone who has no experience with unions than someone who is clearly anti-union, for the role of the faculty union is to protect and advance faculty rights, including tenure, academic freedom, and shared governance, not to be adversarial for the sake of being adversarial.
Marchase stated that his priorities would be addressing sexual violence (this would be his top priority—he was also the only candidate to mention sexual assault in his PSAC interview); recruiting faculty; reaching out to Senator Thrasher to give the Senator confidence that his leadership would be good for FSU, and with the Senator’s help, we can move forward in a productive manner; getting everyone back on the same team (he said we need to get back to work and be productive—I am not sure how to take that comment); discussing our relationship with the city of Tallahassee; allowing donors to hear from the president early on; and increasing philanthropy and state funding.
I found Marchase to be a straight-talker, which can be an effective leadership style. He has a clear vision and clear priorities for the university; I just worry about how he would balance STEM priorities with all of the other priorities on campus.
