Charlie and Marco celebrate, SUS not so much

Gov. Charlie Crist and House Speaker Marco Rubio were celebrating this morning, announcing a new $80-million genomics institute at the private, $30,000-a-year University of Miami, where Rubio earned his law degree.

Not celebrating are state university system officials who are about to see their budget fall by a collective $150-million or so this year and even more the next.

The state is supplying UM with the $80-million through an incentive fund Jeb Bush created for the likes of Scripps. Officials say the UM project is an economic development tool that will generate 1,274 jobs and "$3.2-billion in gross state product" over 20 years. The cash comes from the same pot being used to lure to Florida, with a $60-million gift, a public university in Oregon.

Oregon Health & Science university will open a vaccine research institute in Port St. Lucie, which perhaps not coincidentally is the district of Senate President Ken Pruitt. They say they will hire all new staff, not bring people from Oregon.

As universities prepare to lay off professors, cut enrollment and possibly turn away future community college graduates, the thought of $140-million being given to outside institutions pretty much ticks off some university presidents and members of the Board of Governors. Many of them had no idea about the Oregon deal until they read about it in the Times.

Just imagine their fury if the genomics institute or the vaccine center starts poaching research faculty from the likes of UF or USF....

Comments

How did they get such a big grant? Who is their in-house lobbyist? Isn't there an opening there?

I believe there is an opening there.

Amazing they got that much money.

Good for them, hope they make the most of it.

"As universities prepare to lay off professors, cut enrollment and possibly turn away future community college graduates..."

Oh yeah, to hell with Florida and its people… good for the lobbyist!

As hard as this is to say, I almost miss Jeb… cause this over-tanned jerkweed is worthless.

The money is for economic development -- clean industry, high tech jobs that can be the basis for even better paying jobs in the state. So we lose some lefty professors in their cushy tenured positions. Thats a trade I will make every day!

"Oregon Health & Science university will open a vaccine research institute in Port St. Lucie... They say they will hire all new staff, not bring people from Oregon.

Because they don't want to put their existing employees at a disadvantage in buying a home, since Amendment 1 makes the dollar of anyone moving into the state worth less than current Florida residents...

The 15,000 freshmen entering Florida's private colleges next fall that won't receive Florida Resident Access Grants for the first time in 29 years if Charlie Crist's budget recommendation flies, probably are pretty ticked off too!

[ForLaw]

The Innovation Incentive Fund is critical to increasing and improving Florida's research and development base. Because of investments in Scripps, the UM Genomics Institute and other world-class research institutes with Nobel Prize-winning scientists, Florida finally will be able to compete with Cambridge, La Jolla, Research Triangle and other centers of science. Congratulations to Governors Bush and Crist for their vision and leadership.

Maybe if the Higher Ed people would learn how to work with the Legislature instead of work against them . . .

[S.T.]

4:58 -- You got it right. Not sure we can expect that from a culture of entitlement.

[S.T.]

4:58 -- You got it right. Not sure we can expect that from a culture of entitlement.

[1337]

This is an example of good politics making bad policy.
This is an issue of priorities and the state's priority is to fund the public institutions first.

How exactly is this being fiscally conservative or responsible? How can you possibly justify giving PUBLIC money to a PRIVATE institution that can raise its tuition without having to go to the legislature? It's one thing if maybe we had a budget surplus, but our public institutions are having to make cuts. Florida universities have some of the lowest tuition costs in the country and are able to do a lot with it. Just imagine what this state could do if the universities were more adequately funded. Moreover, the studies show that investing in our PUBLIC universities yields a positive return on the economy.

The legislature has really put us all in a bad situation, especially when they approved the creation of 3 new medical schools (FSU, UCF, FIU) in a short period of time. No state has ever attempted to start 3 medical schools at one time and the justification that "we need more doctors in Florida" is bologna. Doctors don't tend to practice in the state they went to medical school; they practice where they get their residency experience. If you want more doctors, then invest in residency programs.

So here's the wisdom of our legislature: Let's build three new medical schools, but now that we have to fund them we are going to require them to make cuts...BUT at the same time give public money to private and out of state universities.

Look on the bright side: These term limited legislators will have something to get named after.