Opinion: Commissioner Horne's kingdom

Debra Austin enjoys an impressive reputation on the campuses of Florida State University, where she serves as vice president for institutional effectiveness, and Tallahassee Community College, which she left last year after being passed over for the presidency. She has the academic credentials and the administrative experience to achieve success as the next chancellor of colleges and universities in Florida, and she deserves the support of the educators she will lead.

That said, the manner in which Austin was selected mocks the very institution she is supposed to lead. Education Commissioner Jim Horne can take credit for that.

Horne and his boss, Gov. Jeb Bush, refuse to accept that voters decided in November to restore a university structure Bush had precipitously dismantled.

The Constitution now calls for a separate, appointed Board of Governors, much like the old Board of Regents, to "operate, regulate, control, and be fully responsible for the management of the whole university system." No single job of that board is more important than the selection of a chancellor. Yet board members, all appointed by Bush, have obediently ceded their authority in that regard.

Horne, in turn, didn't consult them, didn't seek a vote of confirmation, and made his choice without benefit of any of the academic search and advisory groups that typically are used in other states. He told the Tallahassee Democrat he looked mainly for "chemistry, seeing if there is compatibility with me." Compatibility with Horne? Is she to serve as his secretary?

"The whole purpose of the constitutional amendment was to enable the university system to have an independent governance system for the benefit of the universities," says Robin Gibson, the attorney who drafted the amendment. "That was all debated during the course of the election process leading to a vote. And the voters decided. It could not be more plain."

What also could not be more plain, at this point, is that Horne won't easily give up part of his bureaucratic kingdom. He argues that universities will falter if removed from the well-oiled education machine he is commanding, yet his own record inspires no confidence.

Horne has spent two years trying to replace chancellor Adam Herbert. Herbert quit when lawmakers abolished the regents. His successor, Judy Hample, stayed only six months before leaving to become Pennsylvania's chancellor. And Horne's last pick, Georgia vice chancellor Daniel Papp, turned him down.

Horne has tried to blame the constitutional amendment, but Papp says the amendment played no role in his decision. Says Papp: "In the final analysis, the direction the state of Florida has currently chosen to go in the field of higher education is not a direction with which I feel comfortable."

By choosing the chancellor himself and making sure she is "compatible," Horne may also hope to keep the universities at heel. Never mind what the voters said.

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