University boards belie voters’ will
St. Petersburg Times (Florida)
January 8, 2003
ANITA KUMAR
Voters passed a proposal in November intended to bring sweeping changes to higher education in Florida. But on Tuesday, the first day the state’s new higher education board got to work, the system looked the same as it had the last 18 months under Gov. Jeb Bush.
The Board of Governors filled university boards of trustees with the same people Bush had chosen before. The group declined to take up such controversial issues as presidential compensation, leaving that to the trustees.
And Jim Horne, Bush’s education commissioner, encouraged the 17-member board to continue to work toward the governor’s goal of a seamless education plan that streamlines all education from kindergarten to postgraduate studies.
“I urge this board to implement the vision of our governor and build a K-20 system,” he said. “This is the right model. It is the right approach. We need to stay the course.”
The board, which oversees 260,000 college students at the state’s 11 public universities, passed resolutions giving powers to itself and the boards of trustees.
“The Board of Governors has gotten off to a strong start,” Bush said in a statement. “It is the will of the people that we maintain Florida’s coordinated K-20 system of education, and I’m confident that this board will support education policy that is student-focused.”
Voters in November created the state’s third higher education governance structure in two years when they overwhelmingly passed a proposal backed by U.S. Sen. Bob Graham.
The Board of Governors is supposed to establish statewide policy and spend money while trustees oversee individual universities. But it will be several months before the Board of Governors defines what that means.
Bush, who opposed the change, and the Republican-led Legislature abolished the Board of Regents and gave its authority to the Florida Board of Education, responsible for all state education.
Robin Gibson, Graham’s longtime friend who wrote the language for the ballot initiative, said that he remained optimistic that the new system would operate as voters intended.
“If the members of the Board of Governors allow themselves to remain subservient to yesterday’s system . . . then these folks would not be complying with the mandate that came from the people,” Gibson said.
The board elected Thomas F. Petway III of Jacksonville, chairman of Bush’s transition team, as its leader. Carolyn Roberts of Ocala, a former member of the Board of Education who campaigned against the amendment that created the new system, was elected vice chairwoman.
The group also appointed 55 people to local boards of trustees. Every one already was a sitting member. Petway said the governors did not have time to make their own selections so they contacted the governor’s office for recommendations.
“They are his people,” Petway said.
Some faculty members said the boards were too business-oriented, the same criticism Bush received 18 months ago when he first appointed trustees.
“We don’t have nearly enough people with higher education experience on these boards,” said Richard Briggs, a University of Florida professor and faculty representative on the Board of Governors. “It’s going to hurt these boards.”
Phil Handy, chairman of the Florida Board of Education, described the trustees as the kind found at great universities, and the kind who understand fundraising and fiscal responsibility.
The University of South Florida board has four new faces. New appointments include the daughter-in-law of a St. Petersburg developer who is now the ambassador to Italy, a wealthy Tampa cardiologist and a retired library director. A faculty member also is on the board as required by law.
“I still have the best board of all,” USF president Judy Genshaft said.
Only one former educator – Sonja Garcia – is on the board. Ten trustees are Republicans, many of whom gave money to Bush or the Republican Party.
“I expected it to be status quo,” said Greg Paveza, USF faculty senate president. “Anyone who expected it to be different, the only way that was going to happen is if we had a different governor.”
– Times researcher Deirdre Morrow contributed to this report.
USF board of trustees
LEE E. ARNOLD JR.
Age: 51
Background: A real estate developer, Arnold is the CEO and chairman of the board of the Arnold Companies, which includes Colliers Arnold. He was a member of the USF Foundation and chaired of Tampa Bay Partnership, a seven-county economic development organization.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in finance, USF
Home: Clearwater
RICHARD A. “DICK” BEARD III
Age: 59
Background: He is a real estate adviser with R.A. Beard Co., a former member of the Florida Board of Regents and a current member of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer and Research Institute board of directors. He is a member of the Florida Council of 100.
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Georgia Institute of Technology
Home: Tampa
STEVEN G. BURTON
Age: 41
Background: Burton is managing partner of the Tampa office of Broad and Cassel Attorneys at Law. He serves as chairman of the firm’s Internet litigation practice group and is a member of the firm’s commercial litigation practice group.
Education: Bachelor’s degree, USF; law degree, Stetson University College of Law
Home: Tampa
DR. MARGARITA R. CANCIO
Age: 43
Background: Cancio is medical director of the Infectious Disease Associates of Tampa Bay. She was chief of the department of internal medicine and chief of staff for Tampa General Hospital. She has served as trustee for the Florida Health Science Board and the TGH Foundation Board.
Education: Bachelor’s degree and medical degree, USF
Home: Tampa
ANN WILKINS DUNCAN
Age: 35
Background: Duncan is the senior vice president of CLW Real Estate Services Group. She served on the 1994 and 2000 USF Presidential Selection Committee as well as the Bayboro Campus Advisory Board. Duncan formerly served on the USF Foundation Board.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in finance, USF
Home: Tarpon Springs
SONJA W. GARCIA
Age: 64
Background: Garcia is a retired library director who worked as the assistant director of human resources at the USF Tampa campus library. She retired from USF in 2000 after 35 years. She also served as chairwoman of the Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library Board’s subcommittee on Internet use.
Home: Tampa
RHEA F. LAW
Age: 51
Background: Law is the managing partner with the firm of Fowler, White, Gillen, Boggs, Villareal & Banker, P.A. She is a member of the board of directors of the University of Tampa College of Business Advisory Board and a former member of the board of USF’s University Research Foundation.
Education: Bachelor’s degree, USF; law degree, Stetson University College of Law.
Home: Tampa.
KIRAN C. PATEL
Age: 53
Background: Patel is a cardiologist and health care entrepreneur who pledged $400,000 to help USF establish a charter school. Patel recently paid $5-million for the naming rights of the new arts school planned at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. It will bear the name of his wife, Dr. Pallavi Patel.
Education: Columbia University; Ahmaeda Science Gujarat College, India; Municipal Medical College, Gujarat College, India; University of London; Cambridge University
Home: Tampa
GREG PAVEZA
Age: 55
Background: Paveza is a social work professor and one of the founding faculty in the aging studies doctoral program at USF.
Education: Doctorate in public health finances, University of Illinois, Chicago; master’s degree in social work, University of Hawaii; bachelor’s degree, Lewis College, Illinois
Home: Tampa
JOHN B. RAMIL
Age: 47
Background: Ramil is the president of Tampa Electric Co. He has served as a director on the USF Foundation Board, the USF Alumni Board, the USF Engineering College Advisory Board and the Gus Stavros Center for Free Enterprise Education Advocacy Board
Education: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering, USF
Home: Tampa
DEBBIE SEMBLER
Age: 46
Background: Sembler is a marketing executive. She is the daughter-in-law of Mel Sembler, the noted developer and Republican fundraiser now serving as the U.S. ambassador to Italy.
Home: Pinellas Park
ROBERT L. SORAN
Age: 57
Background: Soran is president of Uniroyal Technology Corp., which makes tiny light-emitting diodes that are used in everything from traffic signals to scoreboards to auto taillights. The company committed $1.8-million in 2000 for research programs at USF and two other state universities.
Education: Bachelor’s degree, California Polytechnical Institute
Home: Sarasota
MICHAEL GRIFFIN
Age: 20
Background: USF student body president.
Education: Graduate of Sickles High School, Tampa. A senior at USF, seeking a degree in marketing. Plans to attend law school.
Home: Tampa