A sly try at putting Byrd under USF

UPDATE: Joyner and Sen. Victor Crist withdrew the amendment because the bill sponsor, Evelyn Lynn, feared her legislation would die in the House with the Byrd amendment attached. "Reluctantly, after a whole year of hard work, we agree to withdraw this amendment," Crist told the chamber.

Sen. Arthenia Joyner is trying to revive efforts at putting the Johnnie Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Research Center under USF -- tacking an amendment onto a bill (SB 1768) that would allow UCF and eventually FIU to charge a higher "differential" tuition to Florida undergraduates.

The amendment essentially lays out the governance shift that USF has been fighting for all session, but that had recently been thwarted by Byrd supporters including former Speaker Johnnie Byrd Jr. In exchange for getting no money in 2008-09, leading lawmakers have signaled they'll let the center remain independent, as Byrd wants.

The House adopted the UCF tuition bill last week, but not with the Byrd amendment, which seems unlikey to fly over there.

Comments

[Donald Lance]

What's funny to me is that the Byrd Center was just completed. Right around the corner from this building sits a satellite location of a company called the Roskamp Institute (based in Sarasota) that does the exact same thing. Granted, it's different people and different ideas, but if a private research center already exists in our backyard, why do we need to throw money at a public research facility? Because Byrd's name is on it? This is a perfect example about the govt wasting money on something already in place.