Standards for selecting new FIU president will be crucial

A 15-member committee will spotlight candidates for a president to guide Florida International University to greatness, but how to sort out candidates is pivotal.

As students, faculty and staff at a listening session this week talk of aims and candidates, let’s reflect on what FIU will need from its sixth president.

Note that the more limitations on who is a candidate, the fewer who will be looked at. Likewise, the more candidates special interests push, the less likely the hired search firm is to look broadly enough. 

But what person is best for FIU, which has one of the nation’s largest enrollments? This job should be a magnet for qualified persons, but who is qualified?

A university president should be oriented to academics, learning and ideas and vow that FIU is not about limiting thought or speech but in fact should broaden students’ outlooks. While any university prepares graduates for careers, it must not dictate how they think. 

When walking into a university, check your political correctness at the door. A university president who says the state’s interests come ahead of academic freedom, as just occurred at the University of Florida to national shame, is in the wrong job. 

But academics are a fraction of the president’s job – the provost is chief academic officer. The largest share of presidents’ time goes to budget and financial management, a 2017 American Council of Education survey of college presidents shows. FIU’s president will lean on a chief financial officer but must still deal with both finances and management of vast organizations.

A university is unique. Presidents believe the largest internal groups, students and faculty, are those who least understand the institutional challenges (followed immediately by those involved in university athletics), the survey found. Candidates for president that students and faculty rate highest in the search, therefore, might not check all the proper boxes.

One box on no visible list is that a president advance aims of the governor and legislature. I said “visible list” because Florida university presidencies have become favored posts for unqualified term-limited legislators as well as departing state officials. 

Although politicians are sometimes shoved into the mix after selections narrow, past political office alone should not be a free pass to the front of the line. 

Nor, however, should political roles exclude otherwise qualified candidates. The two most recent University of Miami presidents held cabinet posts (one in Mexico, one in the US) and their predecessor married the daughter of a powerful congressman. All three, however, also had had high-level academic careers. 

Moreover, Mark Rosenberg, whose forced resignation led to the FIU search, had a state post but also had taught his entire early career at FIU and later was provost. He was a legitimate candidate, even setting aside his state role.

The best candidates, however, probably won’t be inside FIU. Recent FIU presidents didn’t groom successors. In a true national search, the final choice should be a standout, not an also-ran.

On the other hand, a good president should have run a big operation. A successful president of a high-quality smaller university could be great. While size is not greatness, as one of the nation’s largest universities FIU should attract a leader who has already made a mark – the average university president lasts fewer than seven years.

An alternative is a number two at a top-rated university whose path is blocked. That’s a way to raise academic standards, although a president who has already been in charge and doesn’t have to learn that while also absorbing a unique institution and community may be better.

“Community” should be a top presidential focus, especially in Miami, which is unlike most US cities, and at FIU, which serves a vast “home town.” Harvard isn’t a home town school but a global beacon. Florida International University has a very global name but a far more local role.

For that reason, FIU’s president must be highly visible. Mark Rosenberg and predecessor Mitch Maidique were, properly, community figures. FIU should be not an ivory tower but integral to Miami, educating grads who work and lead here.

Trustees surely have aims for FIU. The best candidate should share those aims but also articulate personal goals that can carry the university to a higher level. One aim should be “best,” not “biggest” – aspirants should be ready to elaborate on how best and biggest apply here.

A key presidential job is to raise money without sacrificing personal or university principles. Where money comes from and what strings are attached are vital. The president must have the backbone to walk a line between monetary needs and pitfalls that could jeopardize FIU.

This search differs from the past: new state law hides the names of presidential aspirants until trustees view the final few. The ostensible reason is to let top educators from elsewhere apply without their employers ever knowing unless they reach the final cut. Thus, we will never know all the names on the list, though we can see the finalists days before a selection.

Unfortunately, by the time we learn any names it will be far too late to suggest what kind of president FIU deserves. Standards count from the outset.