Is UF a meritocracy? You tell me. From Tampa Bay Times:
UF’s presidential search will be led by same firm that brought in Ben Sasse
The University of Florida has tapped a familiar name to help find its next president: SP&A Executive Search, the private California search firm that led the search that found former president Ben Sasse, as well as the University of South Florida and Florida State University’s presidents.
At a December meeting, search committee chairperson and Board of Trustees member Rahul Patel said the committee had considered four firms before deciding to use the same firm that had “impressed” the last committee unanimously.
Led by Alberto Pimentel, who had publicly spoken against the potential impact of Florida’s public records laws on presidential searches, the firm led the first search under new laws that allow universities to keep applicants secret until they are named finalists.
That search resulted in a sole finalist: Ben Sasse. The search process was heavily criticized by students and faculty who demanded more transparency and even the proponent of the new law who said the spirit of the law was violated, though he supported Sasse.
Sasse remained president for 17 months before announcing he was resigning to tend to his wife’s health. His term was riddled with controversy, from his initial emergence as the sole pick to his increase in administrative spending that resulted in more oversight regulations for the position after his resignation.
SP&A was paid $292,702.13 for that search. The firm was also paid $160,000 plus fees for USF’s search in 2021 that yielded 18 applicants and resulted in interim president Rhea Law, a prominent Tampa attorney with strong community ties, winning the job. FSU paid the firm $90,000 plus fees.
It was not immediately clear what SP&A will be paid for this search. During the search for Sasse, SP&A’s fee was not known until after the search was complete. It could end up being tied to the new president’s total base compensation.
Judith Wilde, a professor at George Mason University who researches presidential searches, said it’s not uncommon for university’s to go with firms they’ve used before. Oftentimes, she said, schools are happy with the previous process. Sometimes, she said, they offered discounts — particularly if a president does not serve the full length of their contract.
While other recent searches and ongoing searches in Florida have tapped other firms, Wilde said the high number of vacancies in Florida’s presidential searches at public universities raises the question of whether something needs to change with the search process.
At UF, she said, tapping the same firm offers some insights into how the search will be conducted.
“It means that the search will be run fairly similarly to what was done previously,” she said. “It will be a pretty secret search in Florida. It may mean DeSantis gets involved ... so there will probably be one, maybe two at most finalists.”
SP&A did not respond to requests for comment.
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