When the Florida Board of Governors meets today, state university presidents and boards of trustees will pay close attention.
One of the hot topics on the agenda will be a new regulation that would give the Board of Governors, the State University System's highest governing body, a say in the selection and evaluation of school presidents. Those duties currently belong to each university's board of trustees.
Some presidents, including UF President Bernie Machen, want more time to calculate the next move in the board game.
"Our position is that this topic needs much discussion, and we encourage slowing down the process," Machen wrote in an e-mail.
Bill Edmonds, Board of Governors spokesman, said the regulation is a "modest" proposal that should have been in place from the start.
"The constitution of Florida holds the Board of Governors responsible for the university system, yet we are not selecting the key players," Edmonds said.
The new rules would place two board members on presidential selection committees and would ask trustees to seek comments from the board's chancellor during annual presidential evaluations.
Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell also expressed his concern about the regulation's effect on recruiting top trustees in a three-page letter to the Board of Governor's chancellor, Mark Rosenberg.
"This regulation has far-reaching impacts and requires more than two weeks to fully understand the ramifications of the proposed changes," Wetherell wrote.
Machen and Wetherell may get their wish. Edmonds said because of concerns from presidents and trustees, the board will most likely discuss the proposal and delay its approval of notification to its August meeting.
There will then be a period of at least 30 days during which the board will hear what trustees and presidents have to say about the proposed rules without taking any action. If the regulation stays on course, the board will vote on it in October.
The board will also discuss a new model for funding enrollment. As it is now, the more additional students a university has, the more funding it receives, Edmonds said. This works well for small, growing universities but not for large universities, such as UF, which lose money if they do not gain additional students.
Edmonds said the board also plans to elect a replacement for Chairwoman Carolyn Roberts, who has held the position since 2003.
