State: Mayor's candidacy puts damper on UNF search

It has gotten so bad, some say, presidential searches in Florida aren't taken seriously anymore. Candidates are reluctant to apply in the first place, and applicants are dropping out when they hear jobs are already promised to less qualified politicians.

"It's surprising they go after politicians as much as they do," said Jay Berger, a California headhunter who has worked on several Florida searches. "I've observed it in Florida, but not in other places."

In the past four months, both Florida State University and Florida Atlantic University have hired current or former politicians to lead their campuses.

At UNF, the head of the search committee and the search consultant have been furiously phoning candidates, trying to persuade them to stay in the process after word spread that Delaney was the front-runner to replace president Anne Hopkins, who resigned last summer for health reasons.

Stan Albrecht, provost at Utah State University, got one of those calls. He wasn't asked to come for an interview but said he would have dropped out by now anyway, after hearing Delaney was a finalist.

At least five people pulled out of the search after Delaney got in.

"Certainly, it's no surprise," said Albrecht, who worked at the University of Florida until four years ago. "But to have three searches like this in a such a short period of time, it's a tragedy because Florida is a great place to work."

* * *

Delaney moved to Jacksonville as a teenager in 1972, the year UNF opened its doors.

The affable former prosecutor never thought about becoming a university president. Nor did he ever think he would become a mayor, though he has held that job for eight years in the city where his parents still live.

Delaney, 46, who is being forced out of City Hall this summer by term limits, first spoke about his interest in the UNF job late last year. Delaney is fielding offers from local law firms and businesses but hasn't decided what to do when he leaves office.

A moderate Republican with an approval rating that has stayed above 80 percent, he was a finalist last month to replace Frank Brogan as Florida's lieutenant governor. That job came open after Brogan was named president at FAU.

Delaney knows people think he already has the job, but he insists he has to explain to the search committee and trustees, mostly business leaders he knows, that he's the right person.

"I have to sell myself, convince them," he said. "I know (the trustees) well enough to know, they can say no as well as yes."

Delaney said his strengths include the ability to raise money, work with the community and elevate the school's reputation at a critical time because of the poor economy and several recent changes in who oversees the state's universities.

UNF, one of the state's youngest schools, has 15,000 students and 400 faculty members. It has focused on undergraduate students for years, but now is trying to decide whether to stay the course or concentrate more on research and graduate studies.

If selected, Delaney likely would receive a significant raise over his mayoral salary of $150,000. Hopkins earned $174,100, and UNF's interim president, David Kline, makes $165,000.

A search committee will interview Delaney and five other candidates starting Monday. Delaney was the only candidate to receive a vote of support from all 11 committee members.

"The popularity of this mayor makes people think it's a done deal," said O'Neal Douglas, a trustee who heads the search committee. "It's not a done deal."

Ten former UNF faculty association presidents wrote the committee, urging the hiring of a president with traditional academic credentials.

The letter doesn't mention Delaney's name. It doesn't have to.

"It shouldn't be a political appointment," said UNF professor of computer and information sciences Judith Solano, who signed the letter. "It shouldn't be because you're a good soldier."

Delaney received his bachelor's and law degrees from UF, and taught a limited number of business law classes at UNF. The five other finalists are mostly provosts at universities outside of Florida. Four have Ph.D.s. The fifth has a law degree and is a sitting president who worked his way up though the academic ranks.

The search committee was going to consider only candidates with the highest degrees available in their fields and "credentials appropriate for a tenured appointment," which would have excluded Delaney. But members eased the requirement after the mayor expressed interest in the job, despite a warning from their consultant, Jerry Baker of Atlanta, that the change was unusual.

"Certainly a university president needs to be political, but an academic can learn to be political," said UNF professor Bruce Gutknecht, who also signed the letter. "I'm not sure a politician can become an academic."

* * *

Florida has long had a reputation for hiring politicians instead of academics as university presidents. The past four months certainly haven't changed that.

In December, FSU in Tallahassee hired former state House Speaker T.K. Wetherell. In January, FAU in Boca Raton named then-Lt. Gov. Brogan its campus leader. Both attended the schools they now lead.

The state's largest and most prestigious university, UF, also is searching for a president. Officials there insist they are steering clear of politicians and even having faculty members screen candidates to make sure to get a high quality academic.

About 20 percent of presidents nationwide are considered nontraditional leaders, recent studies show. But headhunters say those numbers are inflated because they take into account only the job the president had immediately prior, and not overall experience.

Search consultants say schools usually hire a nontraditional candidate to accomplish specific goals:

To raise private money or lobby the government.

To elevate the school's reputation.

To take the school in a different direction.

Wetherell proudly describes himself as a nontraditional president but acknowledges that may not be the answer for every school. "It depends on where an institution is and where they're trying to go," he said.

More schools across the nation are being governed by business leaders looking to hire presidents that will act as chief executive officers of big companies, said Ted Marchese, a senior consultant at Academic Search Consultation Searches in Washington.

In Florida, the 11 public universities are overseen by boards of trustees, made up mostly of high-powered business leaders handpicked by Gov. Jeb Bush.

"It may be that the trustees of that university feel their problems are about politics, communication and lobbying," Marchese said.

In other states, nontraditional presidents are usually former chief executives of companies or other nonprofit institutions, such as museums. In Florida, they are usually politicians.

"Florida is more political than other states," Berger said. "It's sad for Florida to be perceived that way, but that's going to happen."

Betty Castor, a three-term state legislator, served as president of the University of South Florida. Sandy D'Alemberte, a former legislator and American Bar president, led FSU until this year. Marshall Criser, an attorney, spent several years as UF president.

Faculty opposed them at first, mocking their lack of academic credentials and experience in higher education. But all three were eventually considered successful for increasing research dollars, overseeing growth and raising academic standards.

No matter, faculty and potential candidates still find politicians an ill fit as university leaders. They opposed Wetherell and Brogan, and now Delaney.

"It looks a little weird," said Bob Caret, president of San Jose State University in California, who was recommended for the FAU vacancy, but asked that his name be withdrawn from the search. "I just sort of said 'I'm going to stay out of Florida for a while."'

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Lucy Morgan

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