State University System

Board wants one school to lead Florida’s efforts online
Gainesville Sun
Florida’s Board of Governors decided Thursday that one university should lead the state’s push into higher education online. The board, which oversees Florida’s 12 public universities, approved a two-pronged online learning plan that will designate a single school to take the lead for the entire State University System. The university will be chosen based on pre-eminence metrics passed by the Florida Legislature last year, when it appropriated funds for an outside consultant to study online education. The online program will be designed as a separate arm that still maintains the high standards of the university’s traditional programs…

FAMU still negotiating to end hazing lawsuit
AP
Florida A&M University, which had a previous settlement offer rejected, is still trying to resolve a lawsuit filed by the family of a drum major who died following a hazing ritual. The university board held an emergency meeting on Thursday night to discuss the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Robert Champion. Champion died in November 2011 after he was hazed on a band bus parked outside an Orlando hotel.

State audit critical of FAMU
Tallahassee.com
Officials at Florida A&M University said they have already been working on most of the 24 findings detailed in a critical state Auditor General’s operational audit released today. The 51-page report, which looked at FAMU’s operations from July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2012 and includes responses from the university, found issues on many fronts at FAMU, including a severance package with former President James H. Ammons that is in violation of state law and a plan for addressing an ongoing deficit in the athletic department that failed to show how FAMU would operate in the black.

FAMU Competes for ‘Retool Your School’ Grant
WCTV
FAMU is competing to win up to $50,000 in the annual Retool Your School competition sponsored by The Home Depot. Retool Your School is a competition among historically black colleges and universities. Each participating institution submits proposals for a Tier 1 grant, worth $50,000; a Tier 2 grant, worth $10,000; and a Campus Pride grant, worth $25,000.

Florida Atlantic University’s Stadium Named After a Prison Company
Bloomberg Businessweek
The GEO Group (GEO) is a for-profit prison company based in Boca Raton, Fla., that calls itself “the world’s leading provider of correctional and detention management and community reentry services to federal, state and local government agencies.” It can also call itself the world’s leading provider of Florida Atlantic University Owls football, having paid $6 million to put its name on the school’s stadium.

ACLU asks FAU to disassociate itself from stadium sponsor
Palm Beach Post
The American Civil Liberties Union called on Florida Atlantic University to reconsider naming its football stadium for a group that runs prisons Thursday. FAU announced Tuesday that its football facility would be called GEO Group Stadium after the Boca Raton-based firm, which is giving the university $6 million over the 12-year length of the agreement…

Board orders Florida State University digital film school moved
Bradenton Herald
Florida State University must move its digital film program from West Palm Beach to the school’s main campus in Tallahassee, the Board of Governors decided Thursday…

Florida university board pulls plug on FSU film school in West Palm Beach
Palm Beach Post
In a setback for the city’s Hollywood dreams, the Florida university system’s Board of Governors voted Thursday to close Florida State University’s film school in West Palm Beach…

Florida State’s Digital Animation Program To Move Back To Tallahassee After Failed Partnership
WFSU
The Florida Board of Governors has voted to move Florida State University‘s Palm Beach digital animation program back to the school’s Tallahassee main campus. The vote was almost unanimous, with one dissenting. FSU partnered with the Digital Domain Animation studios to bring the program to Palm Beach, and the company received $20 million dollars in state and local funding to build its studios and start business. But the company went bankrupt in September, leaving the state out of $20 million and hundreds of workers in its Port St. Lucie and West Palm Beach facilities without jobs…

Knight News Sues UCF, Hitt Over Secret Hazing Hearings, Records Requests
KnightNews.com
The University of Central Florida and its president, Dr. John C. Hitt, were sued Thursday by student media outlet KnightNews.com, regarding UCF’s handling of its recent hazing scandals and other issues, in a public records and Sunshine lawsuit…

University suspends fraternity activities
UPI.com
The University of Central Florida says it has barred most fraternity and sorority activities until the organizations get hazing and drinking under control. Officials at Florida’s largest public university said Wednesday they were concerned about a recent string of hazings, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel reported. The suspension means fraternities and sororities at the school in Orlando cannot hold social events, including new-member orientations and initiations…

UF faculty Senate OKs African-American studies major
Gainesville Sun
The University of Florida came a step closer toward establishing an African-American studies major — and maybe diversity awareness as well. UF’s Faculty Senate voted unanimously during a Thursday meeting to create the major…

Swamp Party sweeps UF student government election
Gainesville Sun
Mo Shatara had to lean in close just to hear. The patio outside the Orange & Brew was crammed with Swamp Party and Students Party representatives. It was close to midnight during the University of Florida’s Student Government spring election Wednesday, and everyone was anxious. Results would be announced any minute…

UNF students urge lawmakers to Aim Higher
First Coast News
Florida’s university students are making sure their voices are heard at the state Capitol as lawmakers start crafting a budget for next year. Students from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville walked the halls of the Capitol Wednesday and visited lawmakers’ offices…

TED Comes to USF
WUSF
It’s one of the biggest speaking series in the country, drawing such major names as Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, and Bono. Now TED is coming to the University of South Florida with its TEDxUSF event, “On the Edge of the Future,” Friday night at the School …

State College System

Daytona State to conduct open auditions for ‘Summer and Smoke’
Daytona Times
The Mike Curb College of Music, Entertainment and Art at Daytona State College will conduct open auditions for “Summer and Smoke,’’ a provocative love story about a spinster, Alma, who is infatuated with her handsome neighbor, Dr. John Buchanan.

Cruz Says ‘Land of Opportunity’ Facing Crisis
Diverse: Issues in Higher Education
…The conference, presented by Hillsborough Community College, hones in on identity, cultural heritage, community involvement and educational attainment as areas of focus in helping Black and Latino males close the achievement gap…

PSC students win at SkillsUSA Conference
Gulf Breeze News
Pensacola State College students amassed 24 first place, 17 second place and 4 third place wins at the SkillsUSA Region 1 Conference Feb. 6. More than 300 students participated in events held on the Warrington and Pensacola campuses and other local areas…SkillsUSA is a national organization for students enrolled in career and technical education programs. SkillsUSA helps students to excel by teaching problem solving and leadership in conjunction with trade, technical and service occupations skills.

Independent Colleges and Universities

AMU Students Plan All-Night Effort to Raise Hunger Awareness
The Ave Herald
A number of Ave Maria University students will be spending “one homless night” Saturday in an effort to raise awareness of homelessness and help the efforts of the Mary’s Meals group on campus.

Beacon College book fair to benefit mentoring program
Daily Commercial
Beacon College freshman Matthew Biehl was struggling in math before he found help through the school’s new Peer Mentoring Program, where 21 top students recommended by the faculty are available to provide academic coaching and peer support.

Edward Waters opens center for health disparities
Florida Times-Union
There’s a new building on the Edward Waters College campus, a building that college president Nat Glover says is “going to make a difference” in the nearby black community. The college’s Center for the Prevention of Health Disparities opened Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and student-led tour. Inside, there’s empty office spaces, along with an empty lobby and empty multi-purpose room…

Yip Yap: Noted and Quoted FLHE Voices from Around the Web

My Word: UCF deserves its ‘best buy’ ranking
Orlando Sentinel
I routinely hear three things from students — and their families — when they visit campus to talk about attending the University of Central Florida. The first is that our modern, beautiful campus already feels like home. The second is that UCF offers a personal touch to students more commonly found in much smaller institutions — even though we are the second-largest university in the nation…Gordon D. Chavis is UCF‘s associate vice president for Undergraduate Admissions, Student Financial Assistance and Student Outreach programs.

Weiss: NCAA accuses University of Miami of ‘lack of institutional control’ but same could be said of itself
New York Daily News
The NCAA is officially out of control. Executive director Mark Emmert is running a vigilante organization that has opted to pick and choose which schools to punish without any sense of accountability for its own actions. Look no further than the University of Miami…

Letters: Palm Beach State College will be good for Loxahatchee Groves
Palm Beach Post
Finding a suitable fit on Palm Beach State College’s property has been ongoing in Loxahatchee Groves since the early 1990s.

Cardinal delivers speech in Naples before heading to Vatican City …
The News-Press
The archbishop of Washington will be looking for a pope that will continue the legacy of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI when he joins the papal conclave next month. “Among the enduring initiatives of this pontificate will be the Holy Father’s focus and emphasis on the evangelization,” said Cardinal Donald Wuerl, addressing about 350 people Thursday evening as the keynote speaker at Ave Maria University’s second scholarship dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort in Naples. The program awards nearly $10 million to students each year…

FSCJ Interim President is ready for the challenge
The Campus Voice Online
When Steve Wallace stepped down as president of FSCJ in December, the direction in which the college seemed to be heading was a bad one. Financial aid and administration problems plagued the institution, and many wondered where we would go from here. Enter Dr. Willis Holcombe, a man with a warm handshake and a demeanor to match. A Vietnam veteran with a Ph.D. in College Administration who spent four years as chancellor of the Florida college system and 18 years as president of Broward College, Holcombe came to FSCJ as a way to “give back.”

Visionary FSU leader John Carnaghi dies of pancreatic cancer
Tallahassee Democrat
John Carnaghi was described by one of his bosses, former Florida State University President Sandy D’Alemberte, as “the best senior vice president for finance and administration in America.”

Deputies: Stabbing at Full Sail University a hate crime
Central Florida News 13
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said it is investigating a hate crime after a student was stabbed at Full Sail University. The stabbing happened Thursday morning during a statistics class at the university. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Xavier Nuñez was shouting racial slurs from near the back of the classroom, and then walked to the front of the classroom and stabbed a black student in the neck…

Xavier Nunez, Full Sail University Student, Accused Of Stabbing Classmate With Screwdriver
Huffington Post
Authorities say a university student in Florida stabbed a classmate with a screwdriver while uttering racial slurs during a statistics class. Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jeff Williamson says 29-year-old Xavier Nunez uttered slurs and stabbed a black classmate several times in the neck and shoulder during class Thursday at Full Sail University. The victim was treated at the scene and released. His name has not been released.

Hate-crime attack: Full Sail student stabbed classmate in neck, deputies say
Orlando Sentinel
A Full Sail University student is accused of stabbing a fellow student during a statistics class Thursday in what is being classified as a hate crime, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.

Stetson Students and Professors to Launch Online Advocacy Journal
JDJournal.com
Stetson University College of Law, home to the top-ranked advocacy program in the country, will launch the online Stetson Journal of Advocacy and the Law in May. This is believed to be the first law review designed to be read entirely online. Students Jamie Combee and Erik Johanson are the founding editors of the journal, which will include a range of articles related to trial work and practical advocacy skills. Both students are members of Stetson’s award-winning Moot Court Board…

UF’s Purifoy’s marijuana charge dropped
Florida Today
The Gainesville state attorney’s office has decided not to press charges against University of Florida football player Loucheiz Purifoy, who was arrested in early February while in a car that was pulled over and marijuana was found…