More than 1,400 Members from FSU Community Demand a Reset of the Presidential Search
Petition and comments to be presented at June 11th meeting
On Wednesday, June 11, The United Faculty of Florida, Florida State University Chapter, will present to the Presidential Search Advisory Committee and to the Chair of the FSU Board of Trustees more than 1,400 signatures on a petition calling for a reset of the presidential search to ensure that it is fair, open, inclusive, and transparent. UFF-FSU has been involved in the presidential search process from the beginning and has pointed out several concerns regarding how the search process has been and continues to be conducted in an inappropriate and highly unusual manner. This irregular process includes a missing deadline for applications, a job advertisement inconsistent with the criteria adopted by the Presidential Search Advisory Committee, a recommendation to interview just one candidate who at that point had not submitted application materials, a large search committee with too few faculty and student representatives, and a process that appears to be tainted by political maneuvering.
We launched this petition on May 28 to see whether the broader FSU community shared our concerns. The number of signatures and the comments shared by FSU stakeholders demonstrate that the larger FSU community, including faculty, students, alumni, community members, and supporters, agree that an open, fair, and transparent search identifying multiple candidates with strong academic credentials who have experience working within a university setting is necessary.
The recent re-opening of the search to additional candidates and the resignation of the search firm offer hope that the search will now be open, fair, and transparent. As Dr. Ned Stuckey-French, a professor of English at FSU, stated, “This can be a step toward a better, more open, and less hurried search that can help FSU find a respected academic with experience in higher education, the kind of president a great institution deserves, someone like Eric Barron.”
Much more needs to be done, including following the FSU Faculty Senate’s resolution recommending a September application deadline so that more faculty members and students can participate in the interview process. We also advocate reinstating the search credentials originally approved by the Committee, including “Distinguished intellectual stature with strong academic credentials, proven leadership abilities, and a successful record in senior management.” We believe that these qualities are essential to reach our goals of moving into the ranks of the Top-25 public universities and maintaining the momentum established over the last four years.
Further, as Kerr Ballenger, a doctoral candidate in Mathematics and the UFF-FSU-GAU President, stated, “Though FSU has taken steps to ‘reset the search’ for our next President, one major issue has yet to be addressed: there are not enough students and faculty on the search committee. Out of the 27 search committee members, there are only 2 undergraduate students, 1 graduate assistant, and 4 faculty members charged with representing more than 40,000 students and more than 1,700 faculty members at FSU. To truly ‘reset the search,’ additional seats for faculty and students are needed to adequately represent the FSU academic community.” We are asking the Board of Trustees to reconstitute the Presidential Search Committee, adding additional faculty and student representatives in recognition of the importance of the input from these vital stakeholders.
As one alumnus who signed the petition stated, “I have been absolutely horrified to witness the farce of a ‘search’ that is currently being conducted at FSU. The students, faculty, and alumni have all spoken out in unison against the way this sham-‘search’ has been conducted. If FSU is to remain a respectable academic institution, it must be allowed to hire a president in a manner befitting a respected academic institution. The current ‘process’ is the veritable antithesis of how such hiring processes should be conducted, and if it continues, the repercussions for FSU (and academia!) will be vast, dire, and persistent with time. Do the right thing and start over.”
We are asking for a search process that demonstrates integrity and transparency and offers no room for suspicions that the outcome has been “fixed.” We call upon the Presidential Search Advisory Committee and the FSU Board of Trustees to ensure that the search process is fair, open, and invites the very best, most qualified candidates to apply to serve as the leader of our great university.
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The petition with signatures and comments can be found at www.bit.ly/fsufairsearch.