Florida Board of Governors delays UF presidency vote 

The Florida Board of Governors (BOG) will not consider the nomination of Dr. Stuart Bell as the University of Florida’s 14th president at their meeting next week, according to Chairman Alan Levine. 

Multiple media outlets report that Levine sent a letter to Ray Rodrigues, Chancellor of the State University System of Florida, on Wednesday, saying that he would not approve placing any item on the BOG agenda for a university while that institution’s board is out of compliance with state regulations. 

While reviewing Bell’s nomination by the UF Presidential Search Advisory Committee, in accordance with BOG regulation 1.002, Levine said he noticed “a departure from BOG regulation 1.001” relating to “powers and duties of trustees.” 

“Specifically, the contract for interim UF president Dr. Don [Donald] Landry included provisions granting the trustee chairman [Mori Hosseini] sweeping authority to approve the hiring and compensation of university personnel, from the provost down to mid and lower-level unit academic and administrative unit leaders,” Levine wrote. 

UF currently has several active dean searches underway across its colleges and libraries. In May, Kevin Robert Orr was named the new dean of UF’s College of Arts. 

“The powers of chairs and trustees are limited in scope and there is no provision for a chair making personnel decisions that are within the purview of a president,” Levine wrote. “This is an unusual delegation of authority to a board member, and appears to be non-compliant with 1.001 of our regulations.” 

Levine said Hosseini agreed to remove this language from future contracts, “which was an important consideration” in allowing Bell to move forward as a candidate for consideration by the Board of Trustees. 

Levine said he asked BOG staff to conduct a preliminary review of governance at all 12 of the state’s universities, where he found most institutions to be following state regulations. 

“With respect to UF, while chair Hossieni agreed to remove the offending language from the president’s contract, I learned through this review that elements of this language, and significant other delegations of authority, have been granted to the UF board chair which involve financial, contractual and other delegations that I feel are problematic, inconsistent with best practices in governance and which again seem to run afoul of our regulation,” Levine wrote. “The fact the offending language will likely be removed from the president’s contract is rendered meaningless if the university’s governance standards, which are a policy of the board of trustees, remain out of compliance.” 

Levine said that because of these concerns, he would not approve of placing any item on the BOG agenda for a university while that college is not meeting state regulations. Levine added that this impacts the vote on Bell and the reappointment of Florida Gulf Coast University’s (FGCU) president, Dr. Aysegul Timur. 

“To be clear, this action should not be construed by anyone to be a statement about Dr. Bell or his candidacy,” Levine wrote. 

Levine said he is prepared to call a special BOG meeting to address Bell’s presidential candidacy and Timur’s reappointment “at such time these governance issues are resolved.” 

Levine also asked the BOG inspector general to investigate any “credible allegation” related to financial transactions and real estate at UF that could help the BOG monitor governance. 

Rahul Patel, chair of UF’s presidential search committee and vice chair of the Board of Trustees, released the following statement on Thursday afternoon. 

“Let’s be clear. By Chairman Levine’s own admission, this delay has nothing to do with Dr. Bell. A unanimously selected presidential candidate and the State of Florida’s flagship university are being drawn into a dispute unrelated to his candidacy. That is unfair to Dr. Bell and harmful to the University of Florida and the students, faculty, alumni, and supporters we are entrusted to serve. Equally concerning is that a decision of this magnitude has been made unilaterally rather than by the full Board of Governors. Delaying consideration of the unanimously approved president designate of Florida’s flagship university is a consequential action that should be decided by the Board of Governors as a body, not by a single individual acting alone. The University of Florida cannot afford to remain in limbo while these matters are addressed. Accordingly, within the coming week, the Board of Trustees will meet to consider naming Dr. Bell Interim President so that the university can continue moving forward while this issue is addressed.” 

The Board of Trustees is scheduled to hold a virtual meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday. The lone item on the agenda is “Leadership Transition.” 

The presidential search committee unanimously recommended Bell, former president of the University of Alabama, as the sole finalist to become UF’s next president on May 18. He also received unanimous approval from the Board of Trustees on June 10. 

Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.