Ad Hoc Meeting Called by Senator Graham Related to SUS Governance
January 29, 2001
Bank of America Building
Tampa, Florida
0900 Hours

This meeting was called by Bob Graham to discuss the options for preventing the dissolution of the Board of Regents and the deterioration of the State University System.

1. Senator Graham opened the meeting stating that Floridians overall understood the importance of the State University System. The data to support this statement included the number of prepaid tuition plans that have been bought. Additionally, polls within the last five years showed that the State University System was in the top 2-3 state activities that were admired by Floridians. Finally, fundraising for the universities within the State University System have been significant. This further shows that there is significant support for the System.

2. Senator Graham further commented that the challenge in attempting to save the governance system would be to convert governance theory into realities that people would want to take interest in. He went on to comment that there were three major reasons why support to stop the reorganization of the State University System had not reached full force at this time. These were:

a) the fact that governance theory is difficult to get people to take interest in
b) that university presidents have been intimidated with threats of job loss and budgets
c) there's a sense of inevitability, that the Governor and legislators can do exactly what they wish.

The challenge we have is to overcome all these.

3. Senator Graham went on to point out that this was the first of five meetings that would occur with selected people throughout the state. Additionally, Senator Graham commented, almost parenthetically, that this work to protect the State University System had everything to do with the people of Florida and our children and grandchildren, and little to do with Graham himself. He commented that he had purchased a prepaid state tuition plan for his grandchildren and that he wanted a system to be in place for them that would provide a high quality education when they were eligible to use them.

4. The next speaker pointed out that there had been significant intimidation of presidents by the Governor and the Handy Commission and that the Board of Regents couldn't protect these individuals. He said John Thrasher wanted to be President of FSU and that if the selection of presidents was move out the sunshine, this would be a disaster. He further pointed out that support in the Legislature, even amongst Republicans, was relatively shallow for this change. He noted that if there were a significant groundswell of opposition to the Handy Commission, the legislature would desert the Governor on this. He pointed out that the appointments the reorganization would generate are wanted by Republicans. He further noted that the Democratic house leadership under Rep. McGriff and Sen. Smith were tracking the issues of the State University System governance reorganization. He finally noted that there were some difficulty for the Governor inasmuch as it was recognized that One Florida was a major error and that Mr. Handy was having little success with the editorial boards in convincing them that reorganization was required.

5. Senator Graham then questioned, "What is the problem to which Mr. Handy's commission is the purported solution?" He comments that the difficulties are meddling and political interference in the running of the State University System. He further pointed out that the Board of Regents, although imperfect, has been the buffer between overt politics and overt academics.

6. A constitutional lawyer, presented a draft of a constitutional amendment to make the Board of Regents a constitutional entity. He pointed out that there was no established pattern as to how state's granted constitutionality to their state university systems. He did point out that the state of California was the only one he found that put both the faculty and students on their Board of Regents. He then read through his proposed amendment, which did include a student on the Board for a one-year period of time.

I then raised the question as to why we didn't have a faculty member involved. There was some discussion of this and it was felt that this would not be inconsistent with the concept of improving the Board of Regents in the context of making them constitutional.

7. There was then some discussion of strategy as to movement to obtain support for constitutionality of the Board of Regents would come about.

8. The organizational systems for every university system in the United States were passed out. Most of what are considered the best systems in the United States have multi-institution governing boards. This includes the California, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Texas systems. The Michigan system, to which this new system has been compared on several occasions, is significantly different than the system being proposed for the University of Florida system.

Specifically, Michigan has no statewide agency, board or commission that's responsible for coordination for higher education. The Board of Education does have the responsibility for statewide planning and higher education but in practice, this function doesn't exist. All of the four-year institutions in the Michigan system have constitutional autonomy providing to the institutions governing board exclusive management and control. The language of the constitutional autonomy is designed to keep the Legislature from getting involved in areas considered to be the domain of the faculty and university administration. This constitutional autonomy has been tested over the years in the courts. The State Supreme Court of Michigan has told the State Board of Education that it has no authority over public institutions of higher education. Most importantly, perhaps, the University of Michigan has its own governing board made up of nine members. Each of these members serve eight year terms and, of great significance, board members at the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne University are elected by the public in statewide elections. The Governor has no role in the appointment of these people. Members of the other university boards in the state of Michigan are appointed by the Governor, however, the University of Michigan system is the institution to which we are frequently being compared and it is perfectly clear that the potential for political interference is minimal in this system.

9. The Board of Regents strategic plan for 1998-2003 points out that:
a) Florida significantly trails the nation with only two universities per ten million people compared to the national average of more than nine universities per ten million people in the rest of the country.
b) Furthermore, it's been pointed out that Florida forces low income and minority students to go to community colleges. The importance here is that only 12-20% of students who start out in community colleges end up getting their bachelor's degree while fully 60% or greater who go to a four year college from the start end up getting their bachelor's degree. Thus, it's clear that one of the deficiencies in the system that we presently have is that we are putting at further disadvantage the students that start out disadvantaged. The reorganization that Mr. Handy's commission is attempting does not address this in any form as the central issue is a funding problem. It is not the Board of Regents that has impaired funding rather it is the Legislature and the Governor that has provided inadequate funds.
c) Florida is number one in the awarding of Associate of Arts degrees, while it is number 46 in the awarding of BA degrees. In the context of the previous sentence, I believe, speaks volumes about the seriousness of the Legislature and the Governor about having and inadequate system in place.
d) There has been much to do about the high SAT and ACT scores in the Florida University system. It appears clear that the Bright Scholars Program- which has been likened to welfare for upper middle class- is a system that works. Aid is provided to middle class and upper middle class students and it is these students with the relatively high ACT and SAT scores. However, the system leaves at great disadvantage those people who are poor both economically and culturally disadvantaged.

10. Several other data points of importance need to be pointed out. This comes from the Secondary Education Planning Commission, January 1998 master plan (page 112):
a) In 1993-94, Florida had a 12% high school dropout rate compared to 9% nationally.
b) Florida ranked 43rd in the nation in high school diplomas.
c) In 1994, 13% of Florida's children were living in extreme poverty compared to 9% nationally.
d) In 1990, 15% of Florida's children were living in neighborhoods where more than one quarter of 16-19 year olds were high school dropouts compared to 10% nationally.
e) In 1993-94, Florida ranked 44th on a per capita basis for the number of science and engineering doctoral degrees awarded.

To summarize, there are many reasons why the Board of Regents needs to be salvaged. This is not to say that the Board of Regents has performed perfectly, it is clear it has not, however, we should be about strengthening the system that:
a) improves the State University System
b) We should support a system that provides adequate funding and attention PK-12. This is what the Constitutional Review Committee in 1998 suggested for revision of the constitution as it relates to the Board of Education.
c) We should ensure that the politics stay out of higher education as much as possible.
d) All of the above are important for at least two reasons:
i. Reasons of social justice to which we are all bound or should be bound, and
ii. the economy of Florida, particularly it's high tech sector, requires well trained individuals. The politicization and mediocratization of the educational system will not enhance this.

AJL/2/8/01 2:09 PM
V2: These are "best recollections, not official notes

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