USF Poly bill could mean loss of accreditation

The anxiety that pervaded the USF Polytechnic campus last fall finally lifted in November when the state Board of Governors settled the question of whether the campus would break away to become an independent university.

The anxiety is back.

A bill introduced in the Senate Higher Education Appropriations Committee on Wednesday would turn USF Polytechnic into the autonomous Florida Polytechnic University.

The split from the University of South Florida could be immediate.

It could also leave the new school without the academic accreditation that makes a university a university.

The Board of Governors, which oversees the state universities, laid out a deliberate path toward independence. It "gave us something definite. It felt like we had something concrete we were working toward," said USF Poly student senator Mike Nacrelli.

But if the new university bill passes, Nacrelli said, "our school ends."

Under the bill, all property, unspent funds and licenses would be turned over to the new institution. A new board and president would hire new faculty and staff, and the University of Florida, not the University of South Florida, would advise them on new science and technology programs.

The bill doesn't address accreditation, but state Sen. JD Alexander, R-Lake Wales, who supports the move, has said the new institution could get quick provisional accreditation.

A top accrediting official said there's no such thing.

"The lawmaker can make the campus independent, but it will not be accredited," said Belle Whellan, president of the Southern Association of Colleges Commission on Colleges.

"Until the (SACS) board approves them as an institution, they don't exist as far as we're concerned."

And that means it can't receive federal grants or student aid. Other universities wouldn't accept its credits.

USF Poly is now accredited through USF.

"The best bet is to leave them where they are so they can continue to enjoy the status of USF's accreditation," Whellan said.

Lawmakers have been coy about several aspects of the new university bill.

State Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Daytona Beach, chairwoman of the higher education budget committee, said she wrote it. But after a meeting with reporters concerning Poly on Thursday, another senator off-handedly referred to the bill as Alexander's.

Alexander, who chairs the Senate Budget Committee, was quick to say it was Lynn's committee bill.

Lynn also said the bill's only purpose is to put the Board of Governors' November action into state law.

But board member John Temple of Boca Raton disputed that. "It's ludicrous," he said.

"This is Alexander intimidating everybody. He threatened to hold up our budget and he intimidated people on this board. This is the wrong thing to do," Temple said.

Alexander started a campaign in July to split Polytechnic from USF, saying USF was holding it back. The board voted to give Poly its independence, but only after it met a set of benchmarks to prove it was ready — enrolling at least 1,244 full-time students, for instance, and achieving campus accreditation. It put USF in charge of moving Poly toward the goals.

Alexander complained about USF leading the effort, saying he didn't trust it to do the job. His criticism intensified after USF President Judy Genshaft replaced then-Chancellor Marshall Goodman, who had allied with Alexander in the independence push.

"I personally believe that USF's stewardship of the BOG decision is unlikely to result in any kind of quality focused institution," Alexander said on Thursday.

But in the past month, members of the Board of Governors have applauded USF officials for their work toward the benchmarks. USF has already submitted an application for SACS campus accreditation, a step toward accreditation as an independent university. The process generally takes two to five years.

USF's only response to the new university bill is that it will press on as usual.

"We're continuing to pursue the BOG benchmarks," USF spokesman Michael Hoad said in an email.

Hoad said that Poly students were protected under the bill. It would allow them to complete their degrees at USF.

But student Nacrelli wonders about the members of USF Poly's first freshmen class who were specially recruited.

One was on campus Friday with his parents, and an administrator brought him over to meet Nacrelli and other students.

"We just stood there with dumb looks on our faces because we don't know what to say," Nacrelli said. "How do you promote something that you don't even know will exist in a few months?"