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JD Alexander hits universities with inquiry

Posted Dec 9, 2011 by Lindsay Peterson

Updated Dec 9, 2011 at 06:13 PM

First it was the governor with his 17 questions for the universities on degree productivity and professor pay.

Now JD Alexander, the Senate Budget Chief, is hitting the universities with his own audit-type inquiry – a month after the state university Board of Governors essentially rejected his proposal to make
USF Polytechnic an independent university.

On Tuesday, Alexander sent 11 detailed questions to State University System Chancellor Frank Brogan.

Alexander wants a “full and separate accounting” of all university revenues, expenditures and fund balances.

He wants detailed degree cost comparisons and job placement data.

He wants details on all university related entertainment and executive travel.

And he wants details on all university donations of $50,000 or more from vendors doing business with the universities.

These last two are interesting because they echo a scathing letter Alexander sent to the Board of Governors last month, after it put USF in charge of USF Polytechnic earning its independence.

USF Polytechnic Chancellor Marshall Goodman, allied with Alexander in the independence push, was harshly criticized by some board members for high spending on the Poly campus

In his scathing letter to the board, Alexander shot back with comments about USF President Judy Genshaft’s travel spending. He highlighted USF having received a $1 million donation from Skanska, the contractor for new construction on the Polytechnic campus.

USF has responded that Skanska gave USF the $1 million after it won the Poly bid and that Skanska has lost on bids since then.

The information Alexander seeks is in preparation for a Jan. 13 Budget Committee meeting, but he gave Brogan and the universities until Dec. 20 to provide part of it and Jan. 2 to provide the rest.

Merry Christmas.