Two weeks after the state Board of Governors put the USF in charge of helping its Polytechnic campus become independent, the University of Florida's president has offered to take over the job.
"Several members of BOG asked if UF would consider assisting in the transition to independence and I said that, if asked, we will be willing to help," UF President Bernie Machen said in a statement. He didn't identify the board members.
It's just one more twist in the campaign to break the Polk County campus away from the University of South Florida.
The state university Board of Governors said Poly could break away if it met a demanding set of benchmarks first, such as achieving campus accreditation and constructing several buildings.
At the time, the board's move satisfied both USF, which opposed the split, and State Sen. JD Alexander, the Lake Wales Republican and budget committee chairman who is pushing for Poly's independence.
Alexander warned that night that if he sensed USF wasn't working hard enough for an independent Poly, he'd try to put another university in charge.
By the next day, he'd decided he wanted USF out of the picture. And UF looked like the most logical candidate after Machen praised the independence plan that Polytechnic's Chancellor Marshall Goodman presented to the university board.
Machen confirmed it today, adding in his statement, "I am supportive of Polytech becoming an independent university. This is, in part, because I do not endorse the branch-campus model of research universities."
USF spokeswoman Lara Wade-Martinez said Machen hasn't spoken with Genshaft, but USF doesn't believe UF's involvement is "necessary or economical."
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