Michael Buchler: Don’t tilt search in Thrasher’s favor

Re: “Deal with Thrasher” (Our Opinion, July 20).

In Sunday’s editorial, the Democrat’s Editorial Board suggested following former search consultant Bill Funk’s advice and giving state Sen. John Thrasher an up-or-down vote before proceeding with the search. This is a terrible idea for a variety of reasons.

• That isn’t how academic searches are run. We don’t give preferential treatment to one candidate, regardless of political standing or donation size. Ethics matter at a university.

• The members of the Editorial Board claim that there is still only one strong candidate. Oh, really? First, how on earth can they describe Thrasher as a “strong candidate” while simultaneously acknowledging that he has no experience either in academia or in running anything remotely close to a major university?

Second, they seem to have forgotten that we live in an open-records state and that the best candidates predictably apply at the last minute. With a Sept. 2 deadline, how can anyone bemoan the lack of good candidates on July 20? That’s absurd. The absence of a deadline in version 1.0 of this search and the surprising call to interview Thrasher only weeks after the search commenced were two convincing signs that the fix was in. Proposing that the Presidential Search Advisory Committee should ignore the deadline they (finally!) set is asking to return to a rigged process. I find it extraordinary that any journalist would publicly ask the PSAC to ignore its own guidelines and run a slanted search.

• If there are no suitable candidates (perhaps because of Thrasher’s alleged influence) when the PSAC meets after Sept. 2, committee members who are doing their jobs should re-open the search with a new application deadline. As our new search consultant pointed out, this has happened before (including at the University of Florida), and it doesn’t pose a problem. However, such actions are completely inappropriate before the application deadline.

• Although this is less important to me than the principle of conducting a fair and open search, I’m quite skeptical of assurances that Thrasher will secure better funding for FSU.

When T.K. Wetherell became FSU’s president, many in Tallahassee similarly predicted that a former legislator would help direct more money to Florida State. It didn’t happen under Wetherell’s tenure, and I’m not sure why we should believe that Thrasher would fare better.

Yes, Thrasher has generously given his own money to FSU and has steered state funds toward creating FSU’s College of Medicine.

However, he also repeatedly voted or lobbied (in at least 2008, 2011 and 2012) against bills that would have directed millions of dollars of new revenue toward higher education. Apparently Thrasher doesn’t believe in public funding of higher education in Florida. Why would he change his tune as FSU’s president? And why would anyone expect the legislators to join him in singing this new refrain?

Sen. Thrasher should not receive preferential treatment, and I’m truly shocked that the Democrat would make such an irresponsible suggestion — especially because this ill-considered idea led to the faculty’s vote of no confidence in our previous search consultant.

There are indeed lingering problems with this search, but the origin of these problems goes far beyond Thrasher to a governor who has used Board of Trustees seats as rewards for his political supporters, regardless of whether they have experience in academia. In turn, the Board of Trustees has (surprise!) appointed a ridiculously large search advisory committee that includes far more political toadies than faculty or students.

We on the faculty have raised our collective voices repeatedly, exposing cronyism and insisting on a president with academic qualifications. The Democrat, on the other hand, is encouraging the PSAC to ignore the only rules that might actually lead to hiring a qualified president.

If this is your best idea, please stop trying to help.

Michael Buchler is an associate professor at the Florida State University College of Music and a member of the Faculty Senate. In May, he co-authored both the Faculty Senate no-confidence resolution on Bill Funk and the resolution that called for a president with academic credentials. Contact him at mbuchler@fsu.edu.