Audit calls for presidential search at Florida Atlantic University to start over

Florida Atlantic University notched some big wins in 2019.

An audit ordered by the Board of Governors (BOG) recommends the search for a new President at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) start over.

A report released by the State University System ahead of a Dec. 14 meeting found numerous concerns about transparency in the process, in particular with a ranking of the preferences of the Board of Trustees done by a private search firm in secret.

“We recommend the BOG require FAU to restart their search for their next president,” the report concludes.

The university in July announced finalists for the job of President. But days later, the BOG froze the process to investigate reported irregularities. State University System Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said then he had received troubling reports about the process used to winnow the field. He also raised alarms about a survey sent out by the search firm to applicants that included information about gender and sexual orientation.

Many of these transparency concerns were flagged mid-process by Alan Levine, a member of the BOG who was part of the presidential search. He first flagged a preference survey early in the process that asked committee members to identify their preferred applicants as the search committee winnowed the field.

The audit said that’s not unusual, but the process went out of bounds when the choices of committee members surveyed were kept from public view.

The report noted a 2022 law that exempted personal information of applicants for university President from becoming public.

“However, the confidentiality provisions cease to apply to individuals in the final group of applicants considered for the presidency,” the audit reads.

The report details concerns were raised about the search firm’s handling of the confidentiality of applicants as the field was narrowed to six candidates.

“The Presidential Search Committee’s use of an anonymous preference survey to narrow the presidential applicants to replace or limit discussion at a future meeting violated Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law,” the audit states.

The report lays much of the responsibility for conducting candidate preference surveys on Brad Levine, Chair of the FAU Board of Trustees. Auditors go so far as to say he should not be allowed to participate in the presidential search committee once the process starts anew, and for the BOG to consider whether to ever allow a trustee board Chair to serve on a search committee.

Different from prior surveys done by AGB Search by making the opinions of committee members anonymous.

“Based on the records reviewed and testimony provided, it was clear that AGB Search changed its normal practice and crafted an anonymous survey based on their opinion that Chair Brad Levine wanted to be able to protect committee members and prevent possible retaliation,” the audit report states. “Records support that Chair Brad Levine was aware of and supported the survey being conducted anonymously.”

The report also suggests there was disagreement about one applicant, identified as Candidate A, with some search committee members advocating for the individual despite a “nontraditional curriculum vitae.”

But there was another candidate who did not advance through the process, a potential seventh choice. The audit said Levine incorrectly said that individual was left out of a list of finalists because they received no votes in the preference survey, which auditors found was not true.

That seventh candidate was flagged as an especially consequential problem because some finalists declined to advance in the process, knowing their names would become public. One withdrew when he heard multiple finalists would be under consideration by trustees. The candidate was hopeful the process at the University of Florida, where a search committee publicly identified only U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse as a finalist, had served as a precedent FAU would follow.

The report does not identify these candidates by name. Many in political circles were surprised when state Rep. Randy Fine was not identified as a finalist, despite Gov. Ron DeSantis openly supporting him as a possible President.

The audit looked at the diversity survey as well but determined that it was a voluntary questionnaire not associated with decision-making.

“While there is nothing prohibiting AGB Search from soliciting applicant information for their purposes, representing to applicants that the information was being requested based on reporting responsibilities to the client, which was in this case FAU, was inaccurate,” the report states.