President Barron Leaving FSU for Penn State

Colleges and Universities A-Z Florida State University
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<p>OK, Liz…I am reading too much into your avatar being an anole, then? ;)</p>

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<p>Lot of talk that state senator John Thrasher might be FSU’s next president. Thrasher is an FSU alumnus, past FSU Board of Trustees Chairman, helped get FSU its medical college, etc. Though Thrasher is a big supporter of FSU, I don’t think putting a politician in Westcott is best for FSU…it’d be a giant backward step after Eric Barron. Thrasher supported the establishment of a chiropractic school at FSU ten years ago…'nuff said!</p>

<p>The FSU trustees are scheduled to meet today and announce an interim president.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/thrasher-says-he-isnt-campaigning-for-seeking-advice-about-fsu-presidency/2168981”>Florida Politics;

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<p>Thrasher will not be Florida State’s next president. FSU is to name an interim president today: <a href=“http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Barron-Says-Provost-Would-Make-Good-Interim-President-248920841.html”>http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Barron-Says-Provost-Would-Make-Good-Interim-President-248920841.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The current FSU Provost ([Garnet</a> Stokes](<a href=“http://provost.fsu.edu/stokes/]Garnet”>http://provost.fsu.edu/stokes/)) will likely be named as interim president.</p>

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<p>Certainly Provost Stokes makes most sense being named interim president today and most likely will be. I still wouldn’t be surprised if Thrasher becomes next FSU president though, stranger things have happened before in Tallahassee. Not saying he would be best for FSU, just saying there’s a strong possibility Thrasher might be named president. Probably nothing will be finalized until after November’s elections.</p>

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<p>A lot of people are unhappy with the choice of Stokes as the interim. Apparently she is a LOT less friendly than Barron was and has garnered a reputation as someone you better hope that you never have to deal with, because it’s probably an unpleasant experience.</p>

<p>I’m thinking it’s going to be several months before we really get a good idea of who will be running FSU. The unfortunate part of that, of course, is that transitioning from one President to an interim to another President in rather quick succession causes a number of problems itself, but at least it means that there isn’t too much of an issue with the interim being able to set up shop, so to speak.</p>

<p>I’m not sure who I want as FSU’s next President. I don’t mean a specific person, either: I’m not sure what kind of leader FSU needs right now. It was pretty cool to be from the same department as the President (ignoring that what is now the department he was in way back when has merged with others and changed…)</p>

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<p>Every office needs a ■■■■■…sounds like Stokes is Westcott’s. Provosts do the dirty work at a university and have to deal with the nitty-gritty of running a university…she’s not there to win a popularity contest…she’s there as provost to get things done.</p>

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<p>Agreed - the provost is the executive officer who hires and fires. The president can be nice and political, but at some point the rubber meets the road and that typically is where the provost works.</p>

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<p>John Thrasher being selected FSU’s next president is starting to look like a done deal.</p>

<p><a href=“Update: FSU search panel makes Thrasher sole candidate for president”>http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/fsu-news/2014/05/21/students-faculty-object-to-fsu-presidential-search-process-thrasher/9373097/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>This should be interesting…</p>

<p>For those that may not be “happy” with Thrasher, keep in mind that he’s 70 years old and likely only wants to hold the position for a few years. In that time, what he lacks in academics, he’ll more than make up in fund raising…</p>

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<p>This is an air-clearing exercise to dispense with the Thrasher candidacy. If he passes muster I’ll be surprised.</p>

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<p>I wouldn’t be surprised if Thrasher flunks muster and is still hired as president.</p>

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<p>Interesting article:
<a href=“http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2014/05/fsu-faculty-union-weve-lost-confidence-in-presidential-search-process.html”>http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2014/05/fsu-faculty-union-weve-lost-confidence-in-presidential-search-process.html&lt;/a&gt;

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<p>It certainly smells fishy. Of course, it’s not like this would be the first time that back-door politics were used in a way like this.</p>

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<p><<<<Grabs more popcorn</p>

<p>Now it’s getting fun.</p>

<p>Ricky Polston’s candidacy changes FSU presidential search</p>

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<p><a href=“Ricky Polston’s candidacy changes FSU presidential search”>http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/03/ricky-polstons-candidacy-changes-fsu-presidential-search/9941699/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Polston was appointed to the First District Court of Appeal of Florida on January 2, 2001. Since 2003, Polston has also worked as an adjunct professor at Florida State University College of Law, teaching the Florida Constitutional Law class there for several years.. Which seems to be the extent of his experience in academia.</p>

<p>Oh my, UF smack talk (Presidential search smack talk?!) may have had a role in reversing FSU course…</p>

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<p>Also, the FSU Faculty Senate has expressed no confidence in the current search head.
<a href=“FSU faculty OK no-confidence vote on head hunter”>http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2014/06/05/fsu-faculty-ok-confidence-vote-head-hunter/10024741/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Things are really getting interesting. It’s unfortunate that it is all playing out very publicly, it has significant implications for not just FSU but all of Florida, and that the process seems to have been bungled from the start. I got the feeling that Thrasher wouldn’t get the job as easily as it seemed. Partially because I’ve never seen FSU do anything the easy way when it comes to administration (personal experience from several departments), and partially because it was becoming clear that hiring him could spell disaster for the university if some of the things being said are taken at face value. </p>

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<p>Hey, guess who makes an appearance in a story about Ohio State’s recent (expensive) presidential search…</p>

<p>Ohio State spent $600K on private jets, swank lunches in presidential search</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.campusreform.org/?ID=5657”>Campus Reform the #1 Source for College News;

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<p>It makes you wonder how much due diligence these search committees actually do about the people they hire. I’ve always figured that most of these things are just a case of “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” type deals. </p>

<p>Maybe something good will come out of this. Maybe this kind of waste of money will result in significant changes… Hell, who am I kidding? Next time any major university needs a President we’ll be talking about this exact same stuff.</p>

<p>In other news:

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<p>Funk has apparently stepped down. This whole search for a new President thing is starting to turn into a giant cluster-you-know-what.</p>

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<p>It seems to be kinda a case of ‘the nature of the beast’ selecting a new president at FSU…same as at other Florida state universities. The FSU board of trustees and too the Florida Board of Governors are mostly political appointees…too much meddling by political types getting into the academic integrity of the university is flaring up blow back by students, faculty, and alumni in selecting a president at FSU. Maybe the trustees will just go ahead and just keep Garnett Stokes for a few years as extended temporary president until dust settles? Is board of trustees fractured and divided too much now to select a new president…who is really calling the shots?</p>

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<p>Yep, unfortunately this seems to be what happens when you end up mixing politics with education. Though what’s interesting is that often times our politicians are well-educated (though some would probably dispute that just based off some political decisions made). </p>

<p>When Thrasher’s name cropped up, I was very concerned that the search was a sham. The guy didn’t really seem to care about FSU besides drafting the pretty controversial legislation to split the FSU/FAMU CoE (whether you agree or disagree, it’s a controversial idea). He’s a politician, and politicians really don’t seem like they’d be great university presidents, especially a university the size of FSU.</p>

<p>While FSU is coming out of this with a bit of a black eye due to some poor decisions, I think that this bump in the road is going to help the university. Instead of hiring someone that probably shouldn’t have gotten the job, there’s now going to be an in-depth search that will (hopefully) land a quality leader. </p>

<p>I think Garnett Stokes is going to be the interim for a lot longer than was expected. I wouldn’t be surprised if there still wasn’t a new President by the start of 2015. Any decision is going to follow a process that probably seems to be moving as slow as molasses for a while following this debacle, just so anyone involved isn’t looking like they’re rushing through this.</p>

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<p>I think FSU wants to move very quickly (they’ve hinted they want to avoid “conflicts” with UF’s search), but things do seem to be a bit out of their control. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have someone in place by August, or if it takes until 2015.</p>

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<p>I think August is probably a bit optimistic, but I could see this going about as quickly as possible. FSU has already hired a new search firm to replace Funk. </p>

<p><a href=“http://presidentialsearch.fsu.edu/”>http://presidentialsearch.fsu.edu/&lt;/a&gt;

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