New College-USF: Hey, someone make the case

Ah, yes, the never-ending debate: What to do about New College of Florida and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. And now we have two more components in the mix — the Ringling Museum of Art and its steward, Florida State University.

But don’t ask anyone inside these institutions what’s going on. They won’t tell you a thing (We’ve asked.). Don’t ask anyone here in Sarasota and Manatee outside of the institutions — like, say, former USF trustees, business people or people who would be affected. They don’t know anything. And if you talk to our local legislators, they don’t know much either.

According to restaurateur John Horne, who was in Tallahassee last week on restaurant lobbying business, he ran into Sen. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton and next-in-line to be Senate president. Boyd told Horne:

“John, let me tell you where we are. There are a lot of conversations going on. Nothing is decided right now.”

That’s what they all say — “a lot of conversations.” You know, back-room deal making. 

One lawmaker told us everything is at a higher level — meaning at the governor, speaker and Senate president level. The peon local lawmakers don’t have a say.

As one local lawmakers told us: “It’s a matter of whether it’s really a priority for the governor.”

This stuff always gets us. Florida’s Sunshine laws prevent city and county commissioners from meeting behind doors, but the same laws don’t apply to state legislators. Rules for thee, but not for me.

Here’s the thing, perhaps the most annoying thing: No one at the top of the pyramids of the four institutions is being honest or open about anything related to this. No one is leveling with taxpayers — the people who pay them. Not one iota of explanation  or answering questions.

Why? What triggered and prompted Gov. Ron DeSantis to drop his grenade right before the legislative session to transfer stewardship of the Ringling Museum to New College? Who prompted that? Richard Corcoran, president of New College? (Duh.)

The Tampa Bay Times quoted a spokeswoman for USF-Tampa saying the chair of the State University System of Florida Board of Trustees asked New College and USF in September “to look at how our two institutions can identify additional synergies in our partnership.” 

Spare us the jargon. What did that mean? How extensive was this “looking at” to go? Who ordered that? 

The questions go on and on and on.

It’s also quite remarkable that when DeSantis filed his appropriations budget, which included the transfer of the Ringling Museum to New College, none of our local legislators had a clue that was coming.

Indeed, the fact everyone in this community is in the dark about every detail — the whys, the objectives, the pluses, the minuses, the obstacles, the options — is engendering distrust for Gov. DeSantis and the chairs of the boards of trustees and presidents of the universities and college. 

It gets worse. On March 25, thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, WUSF reporter Kerry Sheridan reported that New College had prepared a press release in January whose first sentence was the following: 

“In a forward-thinking move that reflects the spirit of innovation and collaboration in Florida’s higher education system, Gov. Ron Desantis has announced that New College of Florida will begin integrating the University of South Florida’s Sarasota-Manatee campus.”

The release described in detail New College absorbing USF-Manatee and included a Q&A explaining the transaction. 

Sheridan’s story further reported: “Asked for comment, a spokesman for USF said the documents were a ‘draft’ prepared by New College, and that USF ‘did not approve the proposal or communications, and there were no plans made to make any such announcement.’”

All of the people involved should know better. When you hide and obfuscate, you make things worse. 

For starters, it would not have been difficult for the governor or for Brian Lamb, chair of the State University System Trustees, the overseer of all universities, to come to Sarasota and Manatee and make a case for combining the two schools. Show courtesy.

From a business perspective, it’s a no-brainer, to be sure. This region has always wanted a major university, and consolidating USF and New College into one campus, including the Ringling Museum of Art, makes sense. On paper.

At the same time, many people here remember the two schools merged once before. It didn’t work; in fact, it worked badly. 

But if there is a compelling case to do it again, certainly there is a far better way to execute than what is being done now.

PR-Community Building 101: Step one — Build trust, respect, support and coalitions. Gauge community support quietly with key stakeholders, making a persuasive and compelling case before going public. 

Even before that, the institutions should have compiled data showing the tangible benefits of consolidating and the tangible risks and troubles of not doing it. 

DeSantis and the top trustees and presidents of each institution should have been making personal visits to present and, especially, to past lawmakers and USF’s local chancellors. The latter spent years of their terms persuading the Legislature to provide the funding necessary to build USF into what it is today ($40 million budget; 2,000 students; 40 accredited graduate and undergraduate programs).

Clearly, those former lawmakers and leaders could be a troubling source of resistance and undermining. Indeed, to that end, 14 former USF-Sarasota-Manatee chancellors, board members and community leaders released a letter Tuesday opposing the takeover of USF by New College.

DeSantis and the university leaders also should be engaging local business leaders. Let them know what’s in it for them. Laurey Stryker, former chancellor of the USF-Sarasota-Manatee campus and one of its key builders, told us the accounting and financial advisory firm of Kerkering-Barberio has hired 30% of the firm’s professionals from the USF-Sarasota-Manatee campus. You can bet it’s interested in the outcome of this.

Instead, the approach has been typical of the DeSantis and Corcoran modus operandi — do it and who cares what anyone thinks or how anyone is affected.

Don’t expect that to change. Instead, the expectation is the outcome of this saga — which, duh, is highly important for this community — is most likely to be decided in the closing days of the Legislature. That’s when DeSantis, House Speaker Danny Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton will meet to make trades. “You give me this, and I’ll give you that. If not, I veto that.”

If they make a deal in the dark of Tallahassee, our prediction is President Corcoran will rue the day. A local, public university should be an integrated, trusted, respected partner in the community, not a closed, separate, personal fiefdom.