As former chairs of the Florida Board of Governors, we believe the recent decision to remove Dr. Stuart Bell’s confirmation from the upcoming agenda next week is a mistake and an abuse of the authority entrusted to the chair.
The chair’s role is to lead the board, not to unilaterally deprive it of its fiduciary duty to consider and vote on a presidential nominee. We are deeply troubled by that decision.
What makes this particularly difficult to understand is that Board of Governors Chair Alan Levine’s concerns are not about the nominee’s qualifications or candidacy. The chair approved Dr. Bell to move forward as a finalist after he was unanimously recommended by the search committee. There is no excuse for not allowing the Board of Governors to decide whether Dr. Bell should be confirmed.
The precedent being set — allowing one person to decide an issue of this importance — could have a devastating impact on the entire State University System of Florida.
Decisions made by the Board of Governors have always been driven by the interests of the institutions. We are concerned about the negative impact of Chair Levine’s decision on the 60,000 students and 33,000 employees of UF who rely on the board for leadership.
We are also troubled by the suggestion that UF’s governance standards somehow justify delaying consideration of Dr. Bell’s nomination. Those standards were not created in a vacuum; they were developed in response to concerns raised by the Board of Governors itself regarding trustee oversight and accountability. Boards of trustees were encouraged to exercise more oversight and ensure stronger accountability throughout their institutions.
UF responded to that guidance with governance standards that preserve the authority that must remain with the full Board of Trustees while providing additional reporting, consultation, notice and transparency requirements regarding significant university decisions.
Importantly, these governance standards were reviewed with the Board of Governors leadership and staff. To our knowledge, the standards were not only accepted but frequently cited as an example of thoughtful governance.
It is difficult to understand why governance practices that were encouraged, reviewed and praised for years are being used at the eleventh hour to prevent the Board of Governors from considering a presidential nominee whose qualifications are not in dispute.
We also want to say a word about Mori Hosseini.
Collectively, we have worked with Hosseini, the current UF board chairperson, for decades, and it is impossible to tell the story of how Florida became a national leader in higher education without his contributions. We unequivocally agree with Attorney General James Uthmeier that the actions of Hosseini have never been self-serving.
Frankly, we were shocked to see Levine unilaterally call for an investigation into Hosseini. To do this without the type of open discussion, deliberation and consensus that Levine preaches is disheartening and dangerous. This is especially true where, as is the case here, the sole basis for the investigation is anonymous social media drivel.
Returning to the main purpose of this letter — whether the Board of Governors should be allowed to consider the nomination of Dr. Bell. We believe the answer must be yes.
This matter goes to the heart of whether the Board of Governors will continue to function through the collective judgment of its members or whether its chair may unilaterally prevent the board from considering matters that properly belong before it.
Dr. Bell deserves consideration on his merits. UF deserves clarity about its future leadership. And the Board of Governors deserves the opportunity to exercise its own judgment.
We respectfully urge that Dr. Bell’s nomination be restored to the Board of Governors agenda and considered by the full board.
Dean Colson, Tom Kuntz, Ned Lautenbach and Sydney Kitson are former chairs of the Florida Board of Governors.
