Pictured Above: State Sen. Jeff Brandes (left) pressed USF to come up with a five-year plan that Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock says “gives us an interdisciplinary set of themes that we can sink our teeth into.”
Courtesy of The Florida Senate and Martha Rhine | The Crow’s Nest
By Nancy McCann
During a decade in politics, Jeff Brandes has earned a reputation as an assertive, unpredictable legislator with all the subtlety of a poke in the eye.
He’s also earned a nickname: “Senator Disruptor.”
In a campus forum on Friday, Regional Chancellor Martin Tadlock acknowledged that Brandes was the driving force behind the USF administration’s new five-year plan to create five “academic clusters” designed to boost the St. Petersburg campus’ sagging enrollment and give it “nationally distinctive” academic offerings.
Brandes has been the Legislature’s most outspoken critic of the way USF administrators are implementing consolidation of the three campuses – and especially the way they are treating St. Petersburg.
When he met with university administrators three weeks ago, Tadlock said, the St. Petersburg senator again raised longstanding concerns about what USF is doing to build the campus’ vision and help it meet the community’s needs.
“We were given two weeks” to address “the identity of this campus,” Tadlock said, and come up with “three to five” initiatives that would help improve enrollment and provide “an interdisciplinary, dramatic direction” for St. Petersburg.
The result was what Tadlock called “a draft document for discussion purposes” that lays out proposals to expand offerings in environmental and oceanographic sciences, STEM education, the arts, business and health sciences.
And it was Brandes – not administrators – who provided the document to The Crow’s Nest on Nov. 11. Tadlock released it to faculty and staff the next day.
The plan “gives us an interdisciplinary set of themes that we can sink our teeth into,” Tadlock told the forum. It “provides something that will be attractive to students and make them want to come here and be a part of this.”
Tadlock said “it’s also a commitment from President (Steve) Currall to say that St. Petersburg is absolutely critical to USF, … that there’s a world of opportunity here in St. Petersburg that needs to be realized.”
Doubling down
In an interview with The Crow’s Nest on Nov. 11, Brandes welcomed the administration’s five-year plan, which he said would play to the “strengths of both the (Pinellas) community and USF St. Petersburg.”
But he went a step further, saying he “would like to see” USF abandon its plan to dismantle the Tampa-based College of Education in favor of a reimagined graduate school of education and instead “move the entire College of Education” to St. Petersburg.
He also doubled down on legislators’ plans to implement more legislation on consolidation during the session that begins March 2. And he said again that legislators intend to closely examine the Board of Trustees, the 13-member body that oversees the university.
Legislators and the governor “express our influence (over USF) via the nominations and removal of individuals from the board (of trustees) level,” Brandes said. Dissatisfaction with the university’s leadership “calls for a deep dive into the board.”
The five-year plan that administrators shared with Brandes lays out proposed academic initiatives for the St. Petersburg campus, some of which have been under discussion for at least three years:
** Environmental and Oceanographic Sciences, Technology and Sustainability (which would come in years one and two)
Some of the proposed programs for development or expansion are environmental chemistry, coastal and/or ocean engineering and science journalism.
** STEM Education (years one and two)
The proposal includes teacher preparation in science, technology, education and mathematics that is related to environmental and oceanographic topics.
** Visual and performing arts (years three and four)
“Potential programs include Architecture, Dance, and Theatre in support of independent, small businesses in the arts.”
** Business – Blue/Green Economy (years three and four)
It’s proposed that finance be developed as a “nationally ranked program” with a “blue (marine)/green (sustainability) business” theme in the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance.
** Health Sciences (years four and five)
The proposal includes advanced and accelerated nursing programs and partnerships with Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, Bayfront Health St. Petersburg and BayCare Health System.
A fraught juncture
The proposals for St. Petersburg come at a fraught juncture for Currall and Provost Ralph Wilcox, who are under fire from political leaders, faculty and even some trustees for some of their decisions on consolidation and pandemic-related budget cuts.
In a blistering memo dated Oct. 30, 20 faculty leaders in the College of Arts and Sciences criticized the administration for moving too hastily and unilaterally to address a $36.7 million shortfall in the university’s 2020-2021 budget.
They denounced administrators for skirting the guidelines of transparency in the university’s Principles of Community and questioned the university’s emphasis on national rankings and state preeminence.
The USF St. Petersburg Campus Advisory Board, seven Pinellas residents who help oversee the campus, and the USF Board of Trustees have, at least in recent years, tended to rubber stamp the policies of the administration.
But things have grown chilly in recent weeks.
At the Campus Advisory Board meeting on Oct. 22, two members expressed frustration that the administration had few specifics on how it plans to address sagging enrollment numbers in St. Petersburg.
One of them, attorney Susan Churuti, also complained about the administration’s pattern of communication with the board.
During committee meetings of the Board of Trustees on Nov. 10, three members complained that they had been left in the dark about plans for the College of Education.
“How we went about this is absolutely inconsistent with the history of my board involvement and I’m not pleased about it,” trustee Byron Shinn said, according to the Catalyst’s website. “And to be blindsided as a trustee in our community is inappropriate and unsatisfactory.”
On Saturday, the Tampa Bay Times editorial board joined the chorus of critics, chiding the administration for its “secretive handling” of the College of Education.
“Whatever you think of the decision, USF leaders get an F in public relations and community outreach,” the editorial said.
“USF administrators should remember that their decisions – whether it be closing an undergraduate school or consolidating campuses – do not happen in a vacuum. They affect the region that helps support the public university. Community partners like the local school districts deserve better than to be blindsided by controversial decisions.”
Perhaps none of the criticism of Currall and Wilcox is as consequential as the flak coming from Brandes and the Legislature.
Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, the principal architect of consolidation, is the incoming speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. That makes him one of the most powerful figures in state government, with a huge role in state budget appropriations for higher education and USF.
It was Sprowls who on Oct. 8 tweeted the news that Currall and trustees Chair Jordan Zimmerman had embraced the goal of 650 first-time-in-college students in St. Petersburg in the summer and fall of 2021.
Since St. Petersburg began rapidly raising admission requirements in 2018, combined summer and fall freshman enrollment has plunged from 549 to 386 – an alarming development that impacts campus revenue and programs.
Brandes said that funding for Florida’s universities is “under pressure” this year, but legislators still have options to exert their influence in specific circumstances.
“I think our opportunity is to put our fingers on the scale in certain areas to help accomplish the vision of universities even during these trying times,” he said.
Brandes said he plans to have more questions for Currall shortly.
Those questions will come “in the form of: Thank you for these (proposals). I need dollar amounts and students tied to them,” he said. “And then … you’ll see myself and other legislators finalize our conversations for this round of discussions.”
Information from The Oracle at USF Tampa was used in this report.
