Top leaders at the University of South Florida said Tuesday they don’t want to lose the Sarasota-Manatee campus and expressed relief that it did not happen during this year’s legislative session, but stopped short of ruling out such a scenario in the future.
USF president Rhea Law and Board of Trustees Chair Will Weatherford made their first public comments on the issue since internal documents revealed in late May that USF had drafted the legislation to deliver 32 acres of land and buildings in Sarasota to neighboring New College of Florida in exchange for canceling $53 million of debt on USF's new dormitories.
Allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis were given control on New College two years ago and have been putting a conservative mark on the institution. In February, they prepared a press release downplaying USF Sarasota-Manatee’s course offerings and hailing a campus acquisition as a key step in efforts to expand.
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In comments at a USF trustees meeting in Tampa on Tuesday, Law’s words echoed a prepared statement sent to reporters last month by USF's communications department.
“We proactively considered and prepared for a scenario where the state leaders might actually determine that transferring the facilities and physical assets of the Sarasota-Manatee campus would be in the best interests of the state of Florida,” Law said.
"In such a scenario, USF's top priority would be our people, our students, our faculty, our staff,” Law said as part of her presidential report to the trustees.
“What has not changed is that we are so very proud to have USF as part of the Sarasota-Manatee community and we look forward to continuing to serve the area as the only preeminent state university and member of the AAU (Association of American Universities) located in the region.”
Meanwhile, Weatherford called for a “reset” of the vision for the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus and said he was glad the takeover effort did not materialize.
"I think we're all happy to see that. Our hope is that it continues to stay that way, but we have to be prepared for when something like that could happen," Weatherford said.
“As a university, as trustees and as an administration, we have to respond to and sometimes deal with potential policy changes that could happen that we don't control at the state level,” added Weatherford, a former Florida House speaker.
“And having been on that side of the table, I can assure you, things can happen quickly, and sometimes you can navigate them and stop them, and sometimes you can't.”
No bill on the New College-USF situation was filed during this year’s legislative session, which began in March and has been extended until later in June.
During the public comment period of the trustees meeting, USF alumnus and major donor Bill Mariotti said the Sarasota-Manatee campus is precious to many nontraditional students like him.
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“When I went back to school, there were so many people that had families, jobs, two jobs, kids. They couldn't come back to Tampa or St. Pete to finish their degree. They needed a campus that would work around their schedules and their lifestyle. So it's very important to the community,” Mariotti said. “We need to keep it and it needs to continue strong.”
Advisory board member for the USF College of Hospitality and Tourism Leadership, John Horne, also addressed the trustees about the community’s response to the potential takeover.
“When we started hearing that there was a potential that we would lose USF, we all got together and just wanted to make sure that our community was aware, because our community was not. I mean, no one knew what was going on,” Horne said.
“A lot of us have been involved with USF for almost the entire 50 years,” he added, referring to the origin of the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus in 1975.
“We love the students that come out of our university,” said Horne. “We want to continue to be involved. We want to continue to work with you guys, with Tampa to continue One USF. It's so important for our community.”
Later at the trustees meeting, Weatherford was voted to another year as chair and Mike Griffin as vice chair.
Also, a search committee is working to find a replacement for Law, who announced in February she would be stepping down once a successor is named.
Near the end of the meeting, trustee Rick Piccolo, who heads the Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority, also expressed support for the Sarasota-Manatee campus.
“I want to reiterate the desire of the Sarasota-Manatee region to be — to remain part of the USF family, and I congratulate you both and know that you will fight for us hard again next year should this be raised again,” Piccolo said.
