Columns

Jeb snub by profs: summa cum petty

By HOWARD TROXLER
Published March 27, 2007

This smarty-pants little slap at former Gov. Jeb Bush by the faculty of the University of Florida is irksome.

Last week, UF's faculty Senate voted 38-28 to block an honorary degree for Bush, a rejection that appears to be unprecedented.

I don't care if the professors disapprove of Bush's policies. I didn't like a bunch of his policies either.

But I didn't realize that getting an honorary degree from Gainesville involved faculty screening of one's politics.

Bush was governor of Florida for eight years. He served honorably. He led our state, and led it especially well in crisis. A strong majority of Floridians looked up to him and they still do.

Former governor of Florida? That pretty much qualifies you to get an honorary degree from the university that bear's the state's name.

Here was one of the reasons cited by faculty members: that as governor, Bush had supported giving medical schools to other state universities too.

Good grief! What else, then? That his budgets weren't big enough? That he vetoed Bill A and supported Bill B? That he should have given professors bigger raises?

Come on. The real reason is that Bush was a conservative Republican who bashed the higher ed establishment. In return, lots of folks in that establishment loathed him.

But it doesn't matter. Honorary degrees are not a referendum on individual policies.

In recognizing William Jennings Bryan in 1923, the university was not taking a side on free silver. Nor in 1971 by honoring Katharine Graham was the school agreeing with every editorial stand taken by the Washington Post.

And if a mere governor seems unfit to join the various Nobel winners and poets over the years, consider that others have been recognized for "leadership in the savings and loan industry" (1968) or being a "national leader in information retrieval" (1967) or even being the "foremost authority on Florida phosphate" (1970).

In fact, speaking of politicians, UF has honored former Govs. LeRoy Collins (1973) and Reubin Askew (1983). If you think Collins and Askew outclass Bush, then consider the presence of the somewhat lesser-known C. Farris Bryant (governor 1961-1965, honored in 1988) or Millard Fillmore Caldwell (honored in 1953), not to mention assorted former members of Congress.

This episode shows that UF needs to amend its rules. As matters stand, the school wisely has a policy against honoring sitting politicians.

But the university probably needs to have a "Hall of Fame" standard: Politicians should be out of office for X number of years, so that passions may cool.

In this case, however, the rules allowed the nomination. And to make its point, UF faculty senators did something that had not been done before.

Like them, I disagreed with a lot of Bush's policies. But you know, when he came in the room, I still stood up and shook his hand and addressed him as "Governor." I didn't stick out my tongue and stomp and have a little poopy-pants tantrum. Give the man his due.

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Well, that should set the stage for today's live chat on TroxBlog. I'll be answering comments and questions from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Get to TroxBlog by going to www.tampabay.com, clicking on the "Blogs" link and looking for me. Or you can type in the address: blogs.tampabay.com/troxler.

[Last modified March 27, 2007, 00:48:40]