Peter Schorsch
Currently in the Florida Legislature, there is a provision in a bill that “no later than Jan. 15, 2019” USF must submit a plan to “phase out the separate accreditation of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus and the University of South Florida Sarasota/Manatee Campus … no later than June 30, 2020.”
Make no mistake, this is an existential threat to the independence of the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus.
Without judging the merits of this proposal, which is the initiative of House Speaker-to-be Chris Sprowls, this is THE most important issue to the City of St. Petersburg.
Unfortunately for the boosters of USFSP, the proposal looks to be a fait accompli, especially with the ascending Sprowls behind it. Still, given the right level of public uproar, the drive to reintegrate Bayboro Campus with the mothership in Tampa could be slowed down, if not stopped.
That’s why it was surprising to see this Tweet from Sprowls:
Good to spend time with the @StPeteChamber today along w @JeffreyBrandes to speak about higher education and issues that impact the prosperity of our community. TY for coming! #Sayfie pic.twitter.com/wlcd6FJohz
— Chris Sprowls (@ChrisSprowls) January 30, 2018
The “St. Petersburg” part of the marquee is about to be erased from the entrance sign to USF and the best the St. Pete Chamber can do is send a handful of members to Tallahassee as part of its annual trip to the capital city.
I asked the Chamber’s Matt Lettellier if the members pictured represented the entire delegation to Tallahassee. Lettellier said yes.
Missing from the photo — and, more importantly, the Chamber’s lobbying efforts are:
Jim Donatelli, the current chair of the Greater St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce;
Chris Steinocher, the president of the Chamber;
and Barclay Harless, the chair of the Chamber’s legislative affairs committee (Harless came down with the flu.)
Apparently, there were scheduling issues preventing Donatelli and Steinocher from traveling to the capital, but is it too much to expect the two most important players at the Chamber to make their schedules work for such a critical mission?
Better yet, if keeping USF St. Petersburg independent is such a top priority for the St. Pete Chamber, shouldn’t it have flooded the Capitol with folks from the ‘burg?
If I am Sprowls, who keeps reading on the editorial page of the Tampa Bay Times how important it is to St. Pete that USFSP remain a stand-alone campus, I have to wonder if the city’s business leaders are truly concerned about this issue?
