Here’s some unsolicited advice for USF President Judy Genshaft: Call in some chits if you want to hang on to USF Polytechnic. Even contact Gov. Rick Scott, who claims to prey on economic inefficiencies. When it comes to USFP, common sense — from shared USF system resources and a recognized brand name to awful budgetary timing — might not carry the day.
USF has been invited to make a presentation next month in Miami to Florida’s Board of Governors about the future of the USF Polytechnic campus. USF has to bring it.
On one side will be those — including business and political lemmings — influenced by powerful Senate budget chairman J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales. The same arrogant, Alexander the Grate who cajoled $35 million out of the legislature — and Gov. Scott — for USFP’s new Lakeland campus and now wants Porktechnic to be independent of USF. That’s obviously been the power-play plan all along. Inconvenient-truth factors be damned.
This is boosterism and ego and political leverage on steroids. And, for the record, Alexander even wanted USF’s new college of pharmacy in Lakeland — even though Tampa affords the obvious complements of USF colleges of medicine, nursing and public health as well as Moffitt Cancer Center and nearby hospitals and research operations. Didn’t matter to a man on an audacious mission
This is Alexander’s last year in the legislature before being term-limited into land-development scenarios. He’s determined to leave with a de facto Alexander Tech as his legacy. As if Florida can afford a new (12th) state university right now. As if an already unwieldy state university system needs yet another competitor vying for programs and students. As if you would choose Lakeland, about 30 miles from USF Tampa and UCF in Orlando.
To date, Polytechnic has been neutral in the escalating controversy, and Genshaft has been understanding about local pride and parochial issues. She’s also been non-confrontational with the ham-handed Alexander.
Fortunately for USF, Genshaft is no ivory tower academic. But she can’t go to Miami for the Board of Governors presentation unarmed. It would be prudent to bring some savvy business-community associates as well as key colleagues within the USF system. Call in some markers.
Genshaft is not just a strong advocate for USF. She also has earned a reputation as a leader in economic development — especially as it relates to high-tech and bio-science. She has chaired both the Tampa Bay Partnership and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. She knows synergies; she knows partnerships; she knows economies of scale. She also knows a lot of the right people. She is a player. She has allies. And a doctorate in psychology hardly hurts.