USF Under Attack from Politician

[Ricky the Bull]

[Oldsmobull]

Was Tampa's senator Norman just blowing smoke saying he was going to help USF? Apparently 2 substitute amendments have already been done that water down amendments for USF he filed just 2 days ago. We'll see who really supports USF when the senate votes today.

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/02/under-substitute-amendments-signed-by-alexander-usf-would-get-some-money-back.html

[Dogma]

Good read:

http://www.usforacle.com/news/budget-battle-continues-with-few-usf-legislators-1.2705293?pagereq=1#.T0ZsXMxcdJl

UF alumni hold three out of four positions on the Florida Cabinet. The fourth is Gov. Rick Scott, who did not earn degrees from a Florida university.

Yet Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, a USF graduate who spent most of her college career at New College, said the power that universities hold in the Legislature extends beyond the number of graduate alumni with positions.

"UF and FSU have very traditional and longtime ties," she said. "I think there could be some more work done here with USF to make sure there are strong ties. I'm sure there are efforts, but it's still a very FSU vs. UF sort of rivalry up here. There's the Gator caucus and there's a Seminole caucus, but I've never been invited to a USF caucus. My degree is out there, you don't have to dig for it, so certainly if there was one, I'd hope somebody would invite me."

...

USF graduate Rep. Peter Nehr, R-Tarpon Springs, said he is also opposed to the Senate's proposed cuts to USF and will make sure no "penalizing language" affects the University. However, he said he rarely hears of USF concerns.

"I hear from the University of Florida all the time, but I rarely hear from the University of South Florida," he said.

Nehr, whose son graduated from UF, is a member of the House Gator Caucus. He said USF needs more representation in the legislature.

"Personally, I think the University of South Florida needs to be a lot stronger in getting together with all of their alumni to make sure that when there are issues that are very important to their college, they can immediately get together with all of their alumni and express their concerns right away," he said.

Walsh said that having alumni in the legislature is not the only important factor necessary for USF's interests to be protected.

"We have many great champions for USF in the Legislature today who are not alumni and have no direct personal or family affiliation with USF," he said. "But they recognize the impact that USF has on their communities and want to help. Having said that, I would love to see more USF alumni elected to public office at all levels of government."

[bullsbucsfan426]

What we need to do is change gears and focus on why we are going to add a 12th State University when we can't even fund the 11 we currently have?

Based on the allocation of funds it appears that Florida can barely afford to pay for 7 State Universities, much

less 11.

The budget committee needs to come up with a plan

to cut some fat loose, and by fat I mean FGCU, New College, UNF, and UWF need to be cut loose and made into private colleges. If there is a need for these

schools then they will do just fine without state funding. As I understand from a friend of mine that works for the SUS up in Tallahassee these 4 schools

consume more revenue then they produce.

I'd argue that only new colllege would survive. As an honors school, it's capable of competing nationally. UNF might get there one day though...theyre not dissimilar to USF or UCF in terms of overall environment. West florida can be served by an FSU branch and FAU is just too close to FIU to make sense

[Paisa el Toro]

+1

[Paisa el Toro]

What worries me about Senator Norman's amendments is that none of them address the bypassing of the BOG decision to place Polytechnic on a methodical and logical course to independence with rigorous benchmarks. The provision that turns Poly into the state's 12th independent state institution is still in the bill. If we can't fully fund the 11 state institutions, the establishment of Polytechnic as an independent state school makes no fiscal sense.

[bullsbucsfan426]

as for fgcu, it's a tough question. It's so similar to west florida, yet it was one of our branches. What do you do with them?