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Amendment 11 helps university system
By BUDDY MACKAY In its 2000 session, the Florida Legislature voted to abolish the Board of Regents because the regents wouldn't approve the creation of three new colleges that were wanted by powerful legislators. Specifically, the speaker of the House, John Thrasher, joined by the president of the Senate, John McKay, proposed the creation of a new college of medicine at Florida State University. The regents studied the proposal carefully and concluded that an additional college of medicine was not needed. They pointed out that if Florida needed more medical doctors, this could best and least expensively be accommodated by funding more student positions at the four medical colleges already operating in the state. In order to garner votes for the medical school proposal, Thrasher worked out an agreement with the Black Caucus and the Hispanic Caucus in the Legislature. If they would support his medical school, he would support their proposals for two additional colleges of law, one for Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University and the other for Florida International University. As was the case with the medical college proposal, the regents studied the matter and concluded that Florida did not need more colleges of law. If the Legislature felt Florida needed more lawyers, this need could best be provided at the eight law colleges already operating in Florida. Joining the fray, Sen. Don Sullivan, a powerful state senator, proposed making two additional universities out of branch campuses at the University of South Florida. While these were not elevated to university status immediately, they were provided with additional funding, along with signals that they were in line to become full-fledged universities later on. The Legislature also made New College, with fewer than 700 students, a university, on par with FIU, University of Central Florida, USF, FSU, University of Florida and other Florida universities having 25,000-45,000 students. When the regents did not go along with these proposals for expansion of unneeded programs, the Legislature simply abolished the regents and then went ahead with the proposed wholesale establishment of totally new colleges and programs. If there had been an Olympic competition for legislative log-rolling in 2000, this would clearly have been a gold medal contender. I was in the Florida Senate in the late 1970s when one of my colleagues aggressively supported an individual for president of one of our universities. The chancellor of the university system did not find the individual qualified and would not recommend him to the regents, which the law required for his appointment. My Senate colleague asked me to intervene with the chancellor, to see if he would change his mind. I called the chancellor, indicating that I was merely the messenger conveying a concern from a fellow senator, and that I was not attempting to pressure the chancellor or the regents. The chancellor replied that he did not consider the individual qualified, but further indicated that if the regents desired to appoint this person, there was one way it could be done -- to find themselves another chancellor because he was not going to recommend him. This episode ended when the regents accepted the chancellor's recommendation of another candidate. Incidentally, my Senate colleague's candidate was later fired from a different institution for misrepresenting his credentials when applying for his position. I tell this story to emphasize that although the regents, at times, made decisions that were unpopular with the Legislature, they were actually doing the job they were created to do. Over the years, the regents and the chancellor insulated the universities from much political intrusion by powerful legislators and, in the process, saved Florida's taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. This abruptly changed in 2000, when the Legislature abolished the regents. Now, the university system can be tampered with every time the Legislature meets. The main competition between Florida's universities will be in the Legislature -- not on the football field. This may not be as exciting for the alumni, but the outcome will be equally unpredictable, and much more expensive. Fortunately, Amendment 11, on the ballot in November, provides a way to solve this problem, once and for all. This amendment calls for boards of trustees for the individual universities to deal with those issues which can best be handled at the local level. Like the highly acclaimed North Carolina university system, the amendment also calls for a board of governors to examine the statewide needs for university programs and determine how these can best and most efficiently be met. After 12 years of service in the Florida Legislature, six years in the Congress, eight years as lieutenant governor and, briefly, as governor of Florida, I know firsthand the value of a systemwide governing body such as is being proposed in this amendment. I urge my fellow Floridians to vote for Amendment 11 on Nov. 5. -- Buddy MacKay lives in Ocala.
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