Tuesday, August 24, 1999

Lombardi given credit for UF's success

By BOB ARNDORFER
Sun staff writer


  1. The latest travails of John Lombardi weren't high on University of Florida students' list of priorities Monday. It was, after all, the first day of classes, a time devoted more to getting books and the right classes than to keeping tabs on the intrigue playing out in Tigert Hall.

  2. Yet when they learned of speculation that Lombardi's future as UF president may be in doubt, some on campus expressed support for him.

  3. "I think he's raised the level of people's perception of UF," said Jeff Thornton, a senior in mechanical engineering. "He has a lot of detractors. He has his own way of doing things, and there are people who don't like that.

  4. "But I think the Board of Regents is a bunch of pompous, power-hungry people who want to throw their weight around," Thornton said. "From what I know, he hasn't done anything to show me he shouldn't be here."

  5. Bryan Doucette, a senior in computer and electrical engineering, said the educational quality Lombardi has brought to campus was part of why he chose UF over the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Georgia Tech.

  6. "The quality of education here has grown as dramatically as the population," he said.

  7. "I can see where they're coming from," Doucette said of the behind-the-scenes forces working for Lombardi's ouster. "He has his own direction, his own way, and he can be sort of stubborn. He definitely has his downside. But I like his goals and where he's going. I think his accomplishments and his direction for the university outshine" his shortcomings.

  8. Keathan Frink, a third-year UF law student, speculated that Lombardi's latest troubles "are probably over money, or he offended some powerful alumnus. Beyond that, I can't imagine why they'd ask for his resignation."

  9. Resignation might have been an appropriate action in early 1998, Frink said, in the aftermath of a dispute about Lombardi's use of the term "Oreo" in describing incoming Board of Regents Chancellor Adam Herbert. Frink, who like Herbert is black, said he at least would have severely sanctioned Lombardi then, if not fired him.

  10. "I think UF and Florida as a whole allow things like that to go on," Frink said. "It's time when that should stop and responsibility should be taken."

  11. Suggesting that Lombardi's resignation "seems imminent," UF Student Body President Brent Gordon said late Monday afternoon that student government leaders now want to see how fairly the situation plays out.

  12. "From our perspective, we want to be sure he is treated with respect and dignity, and if he is leaving, he is properly acknowledged for all he has done for this campus," said Gordon, a graduate student in educational leadership.

  13. "To put it simply, he has taken this university to the next level . . . He raised the expectation for everyone - students, staff and faculty - and made this university better than anybody dreamed it could be."

  14. Gordon said he had called the president's office Monday but didn't speak with Lombardi. A rally in support of the president hasn't been discussed, he said, adding that most students weren't even aware of the situation.

  15. "I believe a great many members of the student body support the president," Gordon said. "I believe he set this university in motion and set it on a path to greatness. I think he should be given time to tie up loose ends, at least until the end of the semester or better yet, the end of the academic year. That would allow a time for transition."

  16. Monday's news of Lombardi's future also took some UF deans by surprise, and prompted other expressions of support.

  17. "John is a great performer," said Patrick Bird, dean of the College of Health & Human Performance. "If you equate his performance with athletics, he's certainly an Olympic performer."

  18. He said Lombardi has focused his attention, and that of his deans, on the factors that make a university great: the quality of students and faculty, the variety and quality of available programs, research funding and external support through such things as the capital campaign.

  19. "One of the big things he has done is create basic fiscal responsibility through the implementation of the bank process," Bird said, referring to a campuswide system of accountability. "That has changed the way most of the administrators looked at what they were doing - and for the better."

  20. College of Journalism and Communications Dean Terry Hynes said it was ironic that the latest threat to Lombardi's presidency comes on the heels of a U.S. News & World Report article ranking UF 16th among the nation's top public universities. If it became necessary, she said, finding an interim replacement might prove difficult.

  21. "It certainly demonstrates that John Lombardi has performed well for the university," Hynes said. "It would be very hard to find someone to sustain the momentum he has established and carry forward on it."

  22. Pharmacy Dean Bill Riffee said that under Lombardi, "every college here is prospering and growing in stature and standing nationally. He has put motivation where it needed to be, and has created accountability in each college."

  23. Even UF football coach Steve Spurrier let his opinion be known after football practice Monday: "I don't know what the situation is. If he does leave, history will prove that he's probably the best president we've ever had at this school. I don't know much about politics and I don't care to know. It's unfortunate if he is leaving. But if that's what he wants to do we certainly wish him the best."

  24. "I think he should be given time to tie up loose ends, at least until the end of the semester or better yet, the end of the academic year."

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This is a page in the section entitled The Resignation of University of Florida President John Lombardi in the Web site entitled Legal Reform Through Transforming the Discipline of Law into a Science.