State Sen. Alexis Calatayud and Rep. Michelle Salzman have filed legislation to pull back the curtain on presidential university and state college searches.
- The bills (SB 1726/HB 1321) would repeal a 2022 law making presidential applicants confidential until they reach finalist status. The proposed legislation would make the entire applicant pool public once again.
BACKGROUND: The original 2022 law’s supporters argued confidentiality would attract more qualified candidates who feared their current employers discovering they were job-hunting. Opponents countered that it eroded Florida’s established open records laws and potentially favored politically connected applicants.
DIG DEEPER: But the bills don’t stop there. They would also remove the Florida Board of Governors from the university presidential search and selection process, meaning the state board would no longer confirm new hires or reappointments.
- The heels of former Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse being chosen as the University of Florida’s president after being the school’s only candidate. After his resignation last year, the UF student newspaper exposed Sasse’s extravagant spending on parties, out-of-state hires, and consulting contracts awarded to Republican allies.
OPENING FOR MORE REFORMS?
The bill might open an opening for senators and representatives to amend the bill and include a section requiring college and university trustees to be Florida residents or alumni of the institution.
- WHY AN AMENDMENT MATTERS: The new University of West Florida Board of Trustees Chairman, Scott Yenor, lives in Idaho. The UWF BOT Academics Committee Chairman, Adam Kissel, lives in West Virginia. A Save UWF Town Hall has been set for 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18, to discuss whether Yenor is fit to serve on the BOT because of “his misogynist and antisemitic rhetoric, including his claim that working women are “more medicated, meddlesome, and quarrelsome than women need to be.”
MORE COMING: We will have more on bills proposed by our local lawmakers, Salzman, Rep. Alex Andrade and State Sen. Don Gaetz, in our March 6th issue, which goes live online at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, March 5.
