Thrasher, Stokes advance in FSU president search
By JIM TURNER
NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA

Despite vocal opposition from students and faculty, influential Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, is among a shortened list of 11 candidates who will interview this week to be the next president of Florida State University.

On Friday, the university’s 27-member Presidential Advisory Search Committee also placed interim president Garnett Stokes into the first interview round, during a meeting interrupted by a group students desiring a larger say in the process.

Two students were removed from the meeting, without force, as others chanted that the search process slated to be completed by Sept. 23 is a “sham” designed to make Thrasher the successor to former President Eric Barron. Barron, an academic with a track record in fundraising, was named president of Penn State University in February.

Supreme Court Justice Ricky Polston and Tallahassee Democrat Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, whose names were among the 38 candidates put before the committee, did not make the short list.

The committee voted 18-8 against a motion to exclude Thrasher from the interview phase. The interviews, in person or by phone, are to take place Monday and Tuesday on campus.

Committee member Eric Walker, chairman of the FSU English Department, questioned the inclusion of Thrasher and Stokes because he believes their perceived inside-track for the job could cause other finalists to withdraw.

Thrasher, who holds bachelor’s and law degrees from the university, is a former House speaker who is chairman of Gov. Rick Scott’s re-election campaign. His desire for the job had caused the search process to be paused in the spring.

The committee overwhelmingly rejected a motion to ask the Board of Trustees to restart the search process with more student and faculty representation.

In voting against the motion, FSU music professor Cliff Madsen said restarting the process could cause some of the applicants with more academic backgrounds to withdraw. “This train has already left the station; this is not the time for this motion,” Madsen said.

Those invited to interview are: Michael D. Amiridis, University of South Carolina provost; Arthur B. Ellis, City University of Hong Kong provost; Daniel M. Fogel, former president at the University of Vermont; J. Murray Gibson, Northeastern University’s College of Science founding dean; John P. Jones, University of Arizona professor of geography and development; Richard B. Marchase, University of Alabama vice president for research and economic development; Michael V. Martin, Colorado State University System chancellor; Kate C. Miller, Texas A&M University’s College of Geosciences dean; and Michele G. Wheatly, who until June had been provost at West Virginia University.

All but Gibson, Miller and Jones were recommended by search consultant Alberto Pimentel.

After this week’s interviews, a minimum of three candidates will be asked back the week of Sept. 15, during which time the finalists would face a second round of interviews and meet with groups on campus.

The committee is scheduled to make a recommendation to the board of trustees on Sept. 22.

The trustees, which would still have to forward the final choice to the university system’s Board of Governors, are scheduled to meet Sept. 23.

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