Sen. Alexander wants probe of USF leaders over Poly

State Sen. JD Alexander lashed out at the University of South Florida on Wednesday in a letter accusing USF of waging a "campaign of misinformation" in the debate over making USF Polytechnic an independent university.

Writing to the state Board of Governors chairwoman, Ava Parker, Alexander charged that USF withheld information on the costs of the Polytechnic campus – information that was central to the board's recent decision to delay breaking Polytechnic away from USF.

He asked the board to investigate USF President Judy Genshaft and several members of USF's Board of Trustees, "and any others involved in this effort."

And he made a wide-ranging request for USF records, including "all records of gifts or consideration requests received by the institution, including its foundation."

Alexander copied Gov. Rick Scott on the letter.

The letter amounts to a defense of Polytechnic Chancellor Marshall Goodman, who allied with Alexander in the quest to make the USF campus in Polk County the state's 12th independent university.

Alexander is a Lake Wales Republican who leads the Senate Budget Committee.

Goodman came under harsh criticism at the Board of Governors meeting in Boca Raton last week, largely over the rising costs of the new campus to be built on Interstate 4. The main building was designed by world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava.

Board member John Temple, of Boca Raton, said he thought Goodman was incompetent and asked Genshaft if he could be fired.

The Board of Governors ended up voting to let Polytechnic break away, but only with a set of benchmarks that could take up to five years to meet. It put Genshaft in charge of the transition.

The four-hour meeting was marked by moments of acrimony, including when board member Michael Long, of New College in Sarasota, told the crowd Alexander had told him he would retaliate politically if the board didn't grant Polytechnic its independence.

USF wasn't among those criticizing Goodman, USF spokesman Michael Hoad said in a response concerning Alexander's letter Wednesday. Also, Hoad said, USF's involvement in picking the architect was no secret.

"We think that was an open, public and competitive process run with local input," he said in an email.

But Alexander contended in his letter that USF withheld from the board its role in picking Calatrava, adding that Genshaft and Gene Engle, of Lakeland, traveled to Switzerland and New York for negotiations.

Tucking an unrelated issue into the letter, he said, "it is my understanding" that USF accepted $1 million from its construction contractor Skanska to buy Steinway pianos for its new music building.

USF's leaders were trying to mislead the board, he continued, to discredit Goodman "to defeat the consideration of Polytechnic's independence."

Genshaft responded that USF took "very seriously" its task from the board to work with Polytechnic.

"In the coming months," she said, "we will demonstrate substantive planning for the future."