Giving any attention to the under-handed mischief and general plots that go on in state-level politics becomes exasperating really quickly. It’s difficult not to think of state legislatures as places where objectionable ideas go to get put in legally binding ink.
This has happened in Indiana and in Arkansas, where “religious freedom” laws were recently passed, plausibly seen as thinly veiled legalized discrimination against gay couples. Opposition eventually convinced each state government to revise the bills, creating redundant affirmations of the First Amendment.
We have another freakish bill waiting for us in Florida’s House and Senate, which would affect students attending every public university in the state.
The proposal is House Bill 223, which would exempt presidential searches from the Sunshine Law. What that means: whenever a university needs a new president, every one of the search committee’s efforts could be made in secret. The public — students, parents, faculty — would have no access or voice in the decision. It’s an idea that’s obviously bad for anybody and everybody except for the interests of the very skeeviest of government officials.
HB 223 is not unprecedented; there have been previous examples of sketchiness among presidential search committees. University of Michigan regents wore disguises to meetings with candidates, Louisiana State University Board members discussed selection business using private email accounts and a Nebraska representative proposed legislation similar to HB 223.
It seems some people have a compelling interest in keeping students in the dark during the selection of university leaders.
The bill’s introduction comes at an interesting time, following the controversial selection of Florida State University’s president, John Thrasher, last Fall. The selection was controversial because, well, Thrasher is an objectively odd choice for a university president. He has no experience in academia, nor in college administration. He’s also enormously unpopular among FSU’s Student Body and its faculty; just look up his name on the Eggplant’s website.
His most compelling experience was political — that is to say, he was chosen for political reasons, and many believe his selection was fixed from the beginning. You see, Thrasher was once Senate president and chairman of Gov. Rick Scott’s reelection campaign. Thrasher was chosen by FSU’s Board of Trustees who were, coincidentally, appointed by Scott in the first place.
Florida’s Sunshine Law exposed the general sliminess of the search. Public disapproval and protest weren’t enough to change the board’s decision, but at least the public was aware of what was happening. We were lucky to get a president as experienced and qualified as Kent Fuchs. But what if our situation were similar to FSU’s? If this bill were to pass, future generations won’t have the opportunity to protest or even be aware of the goings-on. They would be left completely in the dark while important seats are filled on the basis of political connections and patronage rather than experience and merit.
The process should remain transparent.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 4/6/2015 under the headline “Students shouldn’t be kept in dark for presidential searches”]
