FAU trustees move to prevent vice chair’s instant elevation if DeSantis removes board chair

With no letup in the controversy surrounding the leadership of Florida Atlantic University, the school’s trustees voted to short circuit the automatic ascension of their vice chair if the board chair’s position were to become vacant.

The move would prevent Vice Chair Barbara Feingold from automatically becoming the board’s leader if Board Chair Brad Levine leaves — or is removed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

No one mentioned the specific players during a brief discussion of the plan, which passed with 10 trustees voting in favor, two opposed, and one — Feingold — absent.

But the subtext was clear to anyone who’s been watching the tumultuous, months-long attempt to hire a new FAU president.

Levine also is chair of the Presidential Search Committee, which recommended three finalists for the job, and he’s defended the process and the selection of the final three.

Feingold has been a political supporter of state Rep. Randy Fine, a far-right Brevard County Republican. It’s been widely reported that Fine failed to advance to the list of three finalists, including an article on the conservative website Florida Jolt.

Tracy Caruso, spouse of state Rep. Mike Caruso, a Palm Beach County Republican, wrote that the search committee rejected DeSantis’ recommendation of Fine to become FAU president. Under a new state law signed by DeSantis, the names of applicants who don’t make the finalist list are kept secret.

Feingold has criticized the Levine-led search process — which was halted in July by state university system Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, who was picked for the job by DeSantis, pending a review of the way the search committee conducted its business. Feingold has previously said she was holding off on signing a gift agreement on a $30 million pledge she made for a new FAU dental school until the presidential issues are resolved.

Under the FAU trustees’ new policy, if the board chair’s position becomes vacant, the board would meet within seven days to elect a new chair. Under the old policy, Feingold would automatically have become chair if something happened to Levine.

Among the board chair’s duties: appointing members of the Presidential Search Committee.

The move to make the change came from Kimberly Dunn, who as president of the Faculty Senate is a member of the university’s board of trustees. She first had to get her colleagues to agree to suspend notice requirements and immediately take up the matter, which hadn’t been previously advertised as a subject for Wednesday’s meeting.

The publicly stated reason for her move: “to align our operating procedure with this best practice.” She said eight of the 11 other state universities all require trustee votes to elect a new chair if the position becomes vacant.

Dunn didn’t explain why she decided now, in the midst of the controversy over the presidential search, she decided it was the time to propose the policy change.

Levine and Dunn declined to comment afterward.

Trustees Pablo Paez and Linda Stoch voted against the change.

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“I don’t necessarily oppose what’s being proposed. I do find the process that we’re undertaking here … not to be consistent with what I would expect to be best practice,” Paez said. “If these changes to our operating procedures are to be undertaken by the board, they should be noticed on the agenda at the next meeting and we should have a thorough discussion of the changes. So I’m not comfortable with voting to approve this.”

Stoch didn’t explain her vote at the meeting, which was held by video conference, and didn’t immediately respond to voicemail or text messages.

Make permanent

Dunn, a member of the Presidential Search Committee, also relayed sentiment from the Faculty Senate that a way to resolve the stalled presidential search process would be to make the interim president, Stacy Volnick, FAU’s permanent leader.

She asked the board to “explore extending a multiyear contract” with Volnick to serve as president.

Dunn said it wasn’t a negative reflection on the three finalists picked by the search committee, retired Vice Adm. Sean Buck, former superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy; Michael Hartline, dean of the College of Business at Florida State University; and Jose Sartarelli, former chancellor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Volnick, who was named interim president in late 2022 after President John Kelly stepped down, was not allowed to apply for the permanent job as a condition for her accepting the interim role. She has been with FAU for more than 20 years, serving in a variety of administrator roles.

“The sentiment is that the uncertainty and negative press associated with the prolonged search is detrimental to our university. It is hurting our image and our ability to advance our mission,” she said, citing an inability to fill vacancies in many senior leadership positions without a permanent president.

Dunn said that sentiment came from a broad swath of faculty, including colleges which often have “very, very different perspectives” and from faculty members who “frequently disagree” with Volnick who nonetheless “expressed support for her serving as our next president.”

Levine was noncommittal.

“I hear what you’re asking and I think exploring is a reasonable thing,” he said.

Maurice Plough, a member of an advisory board to the dean of liberal arts at FAU and a former member of the FAU Foundation board, supported the idea.

“The students, the faculty and donors feel they can support her directions,” he said. “She has proven that she can work with the board, the state and all concerned for our future at Florida Atlantic University.”

Howard Weiner, a supporter of and donor to the university, told trustees that the continuing delay in selecting a new president was hurting FAU, and he too endorsed making Volnick the permanent leader.

“The ongoing delay in choosing the next FAU president has placed it in peril from without and within. We all know of persons in leadership positions who have left and many more who are planning or considering to leave the university. This scenario will lead to a devastating implosion, one that may take many years from which to recover. …

“FAU is poised to become a beacon for academic excellence and cultural leadership in the state of Florida despite governmental distractions. Yet FAU at present is a rudderless ship, donors withholding funds,” Weiner said.

Weiner said he supports making Volnick permanent. Whatever it does, he said, “FAU does not have the luxury of time. The Board of Trustees must act before it’s too late.”

This report includes information from Sun Sentinel archives.

Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Facebook, Threads.net and Post.news.