They put the satellite campuses in the new commercial

[Who'sYourData?]

On 9/4/2016 at 9:08 AM, JimUSFSig said:

Only Florida Poly was... the Fort Myers campus was dropped back when FGCU was founded - unrelated to JD.

JD Alexander is part of the same family as Ben Hill Griffin.  The family runs the company Alico.  BHG "magnanimously" donated a bunch of land for Florida Gulf Coast University and the family has made millions off of the surrounding land which they own/owned and developed.  

Florida Poly was essentially the same concept.  Alico owned a bunch of land north of Lakeland and wanted it to grow so they could make millions.  JD Alexander became part of the Florida legislature and used extortion to get USF to agree to give up USF Poly in favor of the new university.  As head of the state Finance Committee he actually got the committee to vote a 25% cut in USF's dollar allocation.  When USF complained, he offered Judy the money restored if she agreed to let USF Poly go.  Rather unbelievable, but true.

All that said, my son goes to Florida Poly and it is working out well for him.

[Who'sYourData?]

1 hour ago, George Jenkins said:

Florida Polytech isn't even accredited yet.

Of course it isn't.  The Florida Legislature, in it's infinite wisdom, set a two year deadline for accreditation.  However, no school in the history of the accreditation process has ever been accredited in less than three years.  So that was essentially impossible.

Florida Poly has now been approved for the final process and expects to be accredited in the spring after three full years.  Which is the timeline the most aggressive universities are able to accomplish.  Florida Poly is on or ahead of schedule. 

[Guest]

37 minutes ago, Who'sYourData? said:

JD Alexander is part of the same family as Ben Hill Griffin.  The family runs the company Alico.  BHG "magnanimously" donated a bunch of land for Florida Gulf Coast University and the family has made millions off of the surrounding land which they own/owned and developed.  

Florida Poly was essentially the same concept.  Alico owned a bunch of land north of Lakeland and wanted it to grow so they could make millions.  JD Alexander became part of the Florida legislature and used extortion to get USF to agree to give up USF Poly in favor of the new university.  As head of the state Finance Committee he actually got the committee to vote a 25% cut in USF's dollar allocation.  When USF complained, he offered Judy the money restored if she agreed to let USF Poly go.  Rather unbelievable, but true.

All that said, my son goes to Florida Poly and it is working out well for him.

I recall the Florida Poly saga... and you're absolutely right.  However, USF was already building the Lakeland campus in the same place. He would have made his money there just as he did in Estero.  My point on FGCU was that it wasn't political or personal to close the USF campus there -- it was established long before JD was elected to the Florida House.

 

[Who'sYourData?]

3 hours ago, JimUSFSig said:

I recall the Florida Poly saga... and you're absolutely right.  However, USF was already building the Lakeland campus in the same place. He would have made his money there just as he did in Estero.  My point on FGCU was that it wasn't political or personal to close the USF campus there -- it was established long before JD was elected to the Florida House.

 

But FGCU isn't a satellite campus.  It is now a university with some 10,000 students.  That is what Ben Hill Griffin and Alico wanted, they didn't want a smaller USF satellite campus.  It wasn't personal for JD Alexander, but it was for his uncle and others in the family.  My daughter went to FGCU and this is what I was told by the old timers, though I don't know from personal knowledge.

[Who'sYourData?]

And here is the rest of the story...

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/florida-gulf-coast-ben-hill-griffin-panther-habitat

 

[bullsbucsfan426]

6 hours ago, Who'sYourData? said:

JD Alexander is part of the same family as Ben Hill Griffin.  The family runs the company Alico.  BHG "magnanimously" donated a bunch of land for Florida Gulf Coast University and the family has made millions off of the surrounding land which they own/owned and developed.  

Florida Poly was essentially the same concept.  Alico owned a bunch of land north of Lakeland and wanted it to grow so they could make millions.  JD Alexander became part of the Florida legislature and used extortion to get USF to agree to give up USF Poly in favor of the new university.  As head of the state Finance Committee he actually got the committee to vote a 25% cut in USF's dollar allocation.  When USF complained, he offered Judy the money restored if she agreed to let USF Poly go.  Rather unbelievable, but true.

All that said, my son goes to Florida Poly and it is working out well for him.

the 25 percent cut was after Judy agreed to let Poly go. His extortion demand was for a 58 percent cut, which would have crippled the University and forced us to draw us into the endowment. It was nothing short of blackmail and on par with the worst any mafia could do. 

[Carolina_Bull]

In the old commercial, when they said "USF is just plain cool", I thought hey should have showed this:

 

[Ionbull]

I want to see the new one.