USF Polytechnic's Accreditation Application Suspended

[Southshore26]

And it looks like the puppet master has won.

[ZeroBullChip]

what is the news? Don't see anything reported?

[dh5158]

Here's the news...

http://www2.tbo.com/news/breaking-news/2011/nov/09/usf-poly-placed-on-long-path-to-independence-ar-302031/

[bullsbucsfan426]

As I posted earlier, I was at the meeting earlier today with a bunch of students (we must have been in the 60-70 range at least).

I am extremely upset with the way this board handled itself. One of the Governors, John Temple, put forward very valid and detailed concerns regarding the cost of the project and what he found (as a developer of some big time projects) to be extremely wasteful expenses. He went out and exposed the entire split-off as a sham and a major boondoogle for tax payers. Care to know what his reward was? He was acknowledged that he was right and the board went on to vote for this sham of a project anyway. They could have waited six months. Wait six months and you'll have five new Governors to enforce your will anyway. But it's clear that J.D. Alexander from the very start only cares about filling his own pockets with taxpayer money. This is as close to a case of outright corruption I've seen here in the United States (and trust me, I've seen corruption, my family is from overseas). Moreover, they didn't set any deadlines. So basically, the new contract who won the bidding process will be able to spend all sorts of money and will be able to get away with all sorts of cost overruns. This guy, according to Governor Temple, has NEVER come in on or under budget.

Moreover, they've managed to stick it badly to Dr. Genshaft. Read between the lines people. Note that Polytechnic is staying a part of USF during the independence process. Basically, what that means is that USF will be forced to pay for it and then hand over a brand new campus free of charge to Alexander and his band of merry morons.

You should have seen her today. Even knowing that most of the things had been decided behind closed doors, she fought like a lion to do what she could to lessen the impact. She came over and talked to almost every student seriously during what breaks we had in the action. Good God!-this woman loves USF and bleeds green and gold.

Senator Alexander showed up, and to bring some muscle to back himself up, he brought Senator Gates, who will be Senate president next year (or the year after that, not sure). While Senator Gates made a lot of very valid points about our need for a full on Polytechnic, that is still offset with how the legislature is cramming this down USF's throat. If there was ever any hope that we could stall this till Alexander left office, it went out the window when Gates walked into the room. He will push this through.

I'm glad we went as a group of students and would have happily done it again every single time. My only disappointment is that our presence didn't even soften the hearts of most of the Board of Governors.

[charsibb]

USF should wash their hands of the campus and just walk away. Not another cent.

You want independence? You got it. Starting right NOW.

Oh, and any students that want to transfer to the Tampa campus are welcome to.

[Cow Pie]

My 2 cents on this issue...

USF needs to stop trying to copy the University of California model of opening up branch campuses... how many **** times is it going to take for USF to understand that this is not going to work. FGCU and New College were once branch campuses and they seceded and are now competition. Had USF not ventured down to Ft. Meyers or up to the panhandle to dabble in the branch businesses there would 2 less state universities that we would have to compete against for $$.

A branch campus in St. Pete is a good idea since its really within the same city so to speak... a branch campus in Lakeland, Sarasota, Ft. Meyers and where ever the hell FGCU is located is stupid.

How about instead of wasting money trying to reinvent the wheel every two to three years with a new branch campus, hows about keeping the $$ at home by fixing up and expanding the size of both the St. Pete and Tampa campuses. Both St. Pete and Tampa are plum out of room to build new stuff and need to start thinking about buying up the ghetto properties that surround 1 to 2 sides of both campuses.

The $$ that we have wasted on USF Poly, USF Ft. Meyers, and USF Gulf Coast could had been spent on buying all of the property west of USF's Tampa Campus from BB Downs to Nebraska, bulldozing it, building a new football stadium, building safe and low cost housing for USF students, staff, and faculty... a USF Conference Center... and a strip of shops and bars for the students so that they are not forced to drive all over town to find a place to get boozed up at.

We need to sue USF Poly and all USF Alumni in Polk County needs to vote J.D. Alexander out of office.

[Southshore26]

Ok... you realize that it's only 6 miles further from USF to the new Poly campus than it is from USF to USF St. Pete right?

FGCU is in Ft. Myers.

USF Lakeland has been around for more than 3 years.... they're just now starting to build a campus... they've been working with Polk State College for many years.

There isn't enough money in the world for USF to buy the property you're talking about... Also, there's no way in hell that they're going to let them build a strip mall for bars...

Lastly.... JD Alexander is at the end of his term limit.... you can't vote out a person who can't run in the first place.

This isn't USF Poly's fault... it's 2 guys.... Alexander and the campus president over there. The students aren't behind it... the faculty isn't behind it.... Let it play out... it probably won't end up happening anyway...