Genshaft defender chastises fellow board members

Posted Jan 5, 2012 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Jan 5, 2012 at 06:22 PM

A member of the state Board of Governors is “horrified” by the way other board members treated USF President Judy Genshaft last month after she dismissed USF Polytechnic Chancellor Marshall Goodman.

John Temple, no fan of Goodman’s, wrote a letter to State University System Chancellor Frank Brogan earlier this week to - “with all due respect” - condemn the chastising conference call involving Genshaft.

The board, which oversees the 11 state universities, has no business interfering with a president’s choice of branch chancellors, Temple wrote.

“I get the strong feeling and have since our last Board of Governors meeting that undue pressure is being put on Board of Governors Members by at least one member of the legislature.”
Who might that be?

Goodman was an ally of state Sen. JD Alexander in the senator’s push to turn Poly into a separate university. Alexander only partly got his wish in November when the Board of Governors voted to give Poly its independence only after it met several benchmarks under USF’s supervision.

Temple castigated Goodman at the November meeting, charging that spending was out of control at the Poly campus and suggesting he be fired. 

Genshaft announced she’d lost trust in Goodman last month, replacing him with a local certified public account, David Touchton, who had publicly opposed Alexander’s independence push.

Soon the Board of Governor’s committee overseeing the independence process had Genshaft on the phone, angry in particular that she replaced Goodman with an Alexander opponent.

It’s over now, but not for Temple, who wasn’t on the call.

“After reading the comments and criticisms that appeared in the press…I am even more horrified as to what some of my fellow Governors said in the way of criticism regarding President Genshaft’s actions,” he wrote.

“With all due respect, calling a telephone conference call…regarding this issue makes us look foolish and disorganized.”

The board of governors and USF trustees committees overseeing Poly’s transition are meeting next week in Orlando. They’ll be sitting at a round table, Genshaft explained on a conference call yesterday.

She didn’t say this, but they’re also expected to check their fireworks at the door.