Remove Alexander from budget panel

Editorial

Voices of reason throughout the Tampa Bay area are rallying in opposition to devastating budget cuts proposed in the state Senate Budget Committee for the University of South Florida.

We expect the fiscal attack on the university will be blunted before a final budget is passed. But this is no way to run a state.

Senate President Mike Haridopolos should remove JD Alexander as chairman of the budget committee. The cuts Alexander engineered are shocking and disruptive. The threat of a 58 percent reduction in state support is itself damaging to USF's reputation.

The Hillsborough County Commission unanimously passed a resolution protesting the cuts, but Commissioner Mark Sharpe makes a convincing case to do more. In a personal letter to Haridopolos, Sharpe said of Alexander, "He serves at the pleasure of the Senate president and has demonstrated an inability to put the interests of the entire state ahead of his personal agenda."

Accusing Alexander of declaring economic war on this area, Sharpe urges Haridopolos to boot Alexander from a position of personal power.

"The university system is going to drive job creation," Sharpe tells us. "Now, scientists and professors are saying maybe USF is not the place to go."

We agree with Sharpe that the threatened cuts could give pause to researchers thinking of coming here. The stakes are high, and the competition is tough enough without manufacturing reasons for researchers to dismiss Florida and opt for schools and labs in places such as North Carolina and California, where such political nonsense would be unthinkable.

"Everyone in Tallahassee is worried about ruffling feathers," Sharpe complains, "but they don't mind injuring the reputation of a great university."

Haridopolos, to this point, has been an ineffective leader. Frank Brogan, chancellor of the state university system, has been a spectator. The Board of Governors has been mute. State Sen. Jim Norman, who represents the district USF is in, is unhappy with the cuts. He has complained that USF should have been included in the budget discussions so the school would not misunderstand what is happening, but as far as we know he has not stood up strongly to Alexander.

USF President Judy Genshaft doesn't appear to misunderstand the numbers. She says USF might have to cut courses, reduce staff and increase class sizes. The school also would have to dip into financial reserves.

Because of the impact of a diminished USF on the entire Tampa Bay region, the proposed cuts would bring broad economic damage.

The fight between Alexander and USF began over USF Polytechnic. Alexander wants immediate independence for the new school in his home county of Polk. Genshaft has resisted independence as premature, costly and not in the best interests of students.

The Board of Governors, constitutionally empowered to run the university system, compromised by setting up a number of prudent benchmarks for the school to meet before allowing it to stand on its own.

Alexander wants to ignore the board. He also wants a new pharmacy school to be in Polk, not near the main USF campus, where it belongs.

Such disagreements are politics. But attempted revenge against USF is something more. If Haridopolos tolerates this level of bullying, he will be remembered as a weak and ineffective leader.