A Florida university halts its presidential search. In DeSantisland, what could go wrong? | Opinion

There was bit of a jaw drop when the search for the next president of Florida Atlantic University yielded three finalists with impressive credentials from prestigious institutions.

No anti-woke warriors, no political allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis, no firebrands who have built a reputation rallying against “liberal” college professors. The top candidates were a superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, a dean at Florida State University and a former chancellor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

More important, one name was missing from the final list: State Rep. Randy Fine, who has no higher education administration experience, but plenty targeting drag-queen shows and threatening state funding for local governments in his Central Florida district in retaliation for offending him. Fine said in March that DeSantis’ office encouraged him to apply for the FAU position.

An ordinary outcome for a college presidential search felt outside the norm in a state that has transformed higher education into a laboratory for ideological control. DeSantis has pushed lawmakers to restrict what professors can say about race and how colleges promote diversity in their student bodies and faculty.

What a relief — and short lived.

A sudden stop

Days after FAU announced the finalists, the state asked the Boca Raton-based school to halt the presidential search, citing “anomalies that have been alleged” in the process.

State University System of Florida Chancellor Ray Rodrigues, a former Republican state senator, sent a letter to the head of FAU’s search committee Friday, the Sun Sentinel reported. The letter was later posted on social media. It alleged the committee conducted a straw poll to rank the top six candidates out of 60 and submitted it confidentially to a search firm. The straw poll, the letter alleges, was not disclosed on the record, a potential violation of state law.

FAU pushed back against the accusations in a in a four-page response from Board of Trustees Chair Brad Levine. He wrote straw polls are an industry standard and, in the case of FAU, it took place after the selection committee discussed the applicants for about 30 minutes. The poll was meant to gauge if “there was consensus around a top tier of the candidates.”

The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state’s university system, had a representative on FAU’s committee. He “enthusiastically agreed” with the straw poll, even calling it a “best practice,” Levine wrote. In fact, Florida State University used a similar procedure in its recent presidential search, which the Board of Governor’s own general counsel said complied with state law, according to Levine.

Why is the state suddenly so alarmed then?

Any violation of the law would be a serious issue that warrants investigation. However, there was always fear that DeSantis’ political whims would infiltrate FAU’s presidential search. Rodrigues’ letter to the school offers more insight into the governor’s priorities.

Rodrigues wrote that “at least one candidate” said he was asked to answer a questionnaire asking if he was “queer,” a “male” or “transgender male,” as well as his “preferred pronouns.” Rodrigues said those questions might be illegal.

FAU was not aware of the questionnaire, a routine diversity survey used in all executive searches by the firm hired by the school, AGB Search. More important, the survey was entirely voluntary, CEO Rod McDavis told the Sun Sentinel.

Is the state contending that a months-long process be thrown out, at least in part, over a voluntary questionnaire? Or, as anyone with eyes and ears is wondering, is this a ploy to get a DeSantis crony the coveted spot?

A hidden agenda?

Unfortunately, it’s unclear whether Fine even applied for the position. Thanks to a new law the governor signed, the identity of candidates for university president is shielded from public disclosure until finalists are picked. Such laws, as supporters posit, might encourage more people to seek the top job without their current employers finding out, but it definitely protects those who want to manipulate presidential selections to install ideologues instead of true leaders.

Earlier this year, DeSantis’ six conservative appointees took over the board of New College of Florida, a 700-student liberal-arts institution in Sarasota. They quickly pushed out its president and voted to abolish the school’s diversity office. The interim replacement is Richard Corcoran, a former House speaker and education commissioner — and DeSantis’ fellow culture warrior. Corcoran is earning a base salary that rivals what presidents make at large universities.

In June, another DeSantis ally, former GOP state Rep. Fred Hawkins, became president of South Florida State College in Avon Park. Hawkins has no advanced college degrees and only became eligible for the position after the school’s board of trustees voted to lower its education requirements. Three other candidates with doctoral degrees and community-college leadership experience suddenly dropped out. One of the school’s trustees was blunt in his assessment of the other contenders, telling the Tampa Bay Times in May: they were “all Democrats.”

The goal of Florida leaders for years was to compete with the South’s most prominent public universities. Today, universities in the Sunshine State get more attention because of its heavy-handed governor.

Best-case scenario, FAU’s presidential search was stopped over genuine concerns that a university isn’t following proper procedures. Worst-case scenario, it’s another jab against academic freedom, a scenario that Florida already knows too well.