TALLAHASSEE - As chairman of Florida State University's governing board, John Thrasher thinks his group has the responsibility to set budgets and search for a president.
And that's exactly what he told the Board of Governors, the new panel that oversees the state's 11 universities, in a letter questioning its authority over the FSU trustees.
The Board of Governors, added to the state Constitution last year, adamantly disagrees.
The conflict may set up a legal showdown between the two boards. It may even lead to an outright refusal by FSU to obey the Board of Governors.
"We'll do whatever is the right thing to do," Thrasher said later in a telephone interview. "We'll look at the law. We want the best university we can have."
On Wednesday, the Board of Governors briefly discussed Thrasher's letter and the group's response to what members described as surprising opposition to a system that's been debated for more than a year.
"Is FSU going to participate?" board member Miguel DeGrandy asked.
"I don't think they have a choice," said chairwoman Carolyn Roberts.
Thrasher, the former state House speaker, helped Gov. Jeb Bush create a new higher education governance system two years ago while the two were having dinner. The system, sketched out on a napkin, abolished the statewide Board of Regents and created trustees at each school. Local boards were supposed to have broad powers to set budgets, create programs and hire and fire school presidents.
But in November 2002, voters passed a constitutional amendment creating the Board of Governors to establish statewide policy and spend money.
Thrasher worries the Board of Governors is becoming too powerful, like its predecessor.
"The president and I are concerned about calling attention to where the board is going and how active they are going," Thrasher said. "We want it on the burner so we can discuss it before we turn this Board of Governors into another Board of Regents."
In his Nov. 14 letter to Roberts, he said FSU trustees worry that the Board of Governors' list of powers and duties does not comply with law or principles prescribed by Bush or the Legislature.
He said he does not think the Board of Governors has authority to review or approve a budget or to approve policies and procedures in presidential searches. He also complained that FSU has to spend too much time and money staffing Board of Governors meetings.
In her Nov. 24 response, Roberts said constitutional authority trumps statutory authority. "The Board of Governors remains ultimately constitutionally responsible for governing the state university system," she said.
On Wednesday, the Board of Governors downplayed the disagreement.
"It's a difficult time for the university system," said Steve Uhlfelder, a member of the Board of Governors and a former FSU trustee. "I don't think it's a big deal."
- Times staff writer Lucy Morgan contributed to this report.
