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4A Tuesday, August 14, 2007
As deadline nears, FGCU president hopefuls at 55
By JULIO OCHOA
jfochoa@bonitanews.com
On paper, Franklin Mink looks
like the sort of presidential candi-
date Florida Gulf Coast University
is seeking.
He’s president of Great Lakes
University in Auburn Hills, Mich.,
has an extensive environmental
background
and started his
online own success-
For a full list of ful business,
candidates, go to so he knows
how to solicit
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port.
Mink, 49, became the second of
three sitting presidents to apply
for FGCU’s top spot.
He is not interested in the posi-
tion for the money. Mink made
his fortune before entering aca-
demia, starting a consulting firm
and growing it into a $40 million
business before selling it to a
larger company where he became
a partner.
He said he’s interested in doing
good things at a university with
FGCU: Some question university’s commitment to environment
Continued from 1A
campus.
“The land here has been great-
ly improved,” said university
spokeswoman Susan Evans. “It’s
come as a result of a great deal
of work and commitment to the
environmental mission of Flori-
da Gulf Coast University.”
Under President Bill Merwin,
the university developed an En-
vironmental Stewardship Advi-
sory Council to come up with
sustainable policies regarding
environmental management;
energy; facilities design and
construction; wetlands steward-
ship; environmental education
and research; and community
communications.
But Merwin also put the young
university onto the fast track of
growth and development.
The former president admits
his image su�ered because of
his alliance with developers.
People would ask, “Why are
you hanging out with develop-
ers? It might ruin our image as
an environmental university,”
Merwin said.
“The developers had two
things that I wanted: money and
land,” Merwin said. “We were
land-poor, and the state wasn’t
gonna help us so I needed to
have a lot of friends.”
Still, Merwin calls the campus
a “model for how you build on
a highly sensitive area.”
After Merwin left this year
after admitting to an a�air with
a faculty member, interim Presi-
dent Dick Pegnetter signed the
American College and Univer-
sity President’s Climate Com-
Rove
Continued from 1A
Washington’s most powerful and
controversial figures.
The president appeared glum
as he joined Rove for the an-
nouncement. “Karl Rove is mov-
ing on down the road,” Bush
said. “We’ve been friends for a
long time, and we’re still going
to be friends. I would call Karl
Rove a dear friend.”
Rove, his voice shaking with
emotion, told Bush, “I’m grate-
ful to have been a witness to
history. It has been the joy and
the honor of a lifetime.”
He said it had been more than
14 years since he helped Bush
run for governor of Texas and
10 years since they began plot-
ting the first race for the White
House. Rove said it was time to
“start thinking about the next
chapter in our family’s life.”
After a lengthy hug from Bush
and then Laura Bush, Rove
joined them on the president’s
helicopter. Rove, his wife and
their son flew with Bush on
Air Force One to Texas, where
the president began his August
vacation.
Rove has been no stranger
to controversy in Washington.
He came under scrutiny in a
criminal investigation into the
leak of a CIA operative’s name.
He testified five times before a
federal grand jury, occasionally
correcting misstatements he
made in his earlier testimony,
but he was never charged with
any crime.
The trial of former White
House aide I. Lewis “Scooter”
Libby on charges of lying and
obstructing justice established
that Rove was one of the admin-
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an environmental mission.
“That is near and dear to my
heart, and that is important,”
Mink said. “I think it’s a great
future and a great position for
someone.”
Mink got his start in the U.S. En-
vironmental Protection Agency.
He worked for the government
during the 1970s and 1980s, when
much of the environmental policy
that is used today was being writ-
ten.
“I am best known for my back-
ground as an environmental
health expert,” he said.
Mink has received several
national awards, including the
Medal of Freedom, the U.S.
Senate’s highest civil honor. He
left his work in the private sec-
tor to become an associate dean
at Wayne State Medical School,
where his primary goal was to
raise money.
“Fundraising is critical for any
president,” Mink said. “You are
either very good at it or not.”
He left Wayne State to become
president of Great Lakes, a small,
start-up Bible college.
FGCU 10th
anniversary
celebration
Florida Gulf Coast University turns 10 this
year and will celebrate with a yearlong
party starting today at 10:30 a.m.
Interim President Dick Pegnetter will
welcome back faculty and staff in Alico
Arena with his state-of-the-university
address. The annual speech will feature
an historic video and other highlights.
mitment. The goal is to make
the campus climate neutral in
terms of waste and emissions.
“It’s a long-term plan and
commitment,” Pegnetter said.
Pegnetter also points to re-
quired environmental classes
for all students and the uni-
versity’s strong environmental
sciences program as further
evidence of its stewardship.
Overall, he said, he gives the
university a B-plus for its envi-
ronmental commitment.
The accomplishments have
not come without setbacks.
In 2003, the South Florida
Water Management District
fined the university $34,000
for discharging excess water
from a construction site into
wetlands and not applying for
a permit to do so.
And some believe the univer-
sity has never lived up to its end
of the lawsuit settlement.
Ellen Peterson is listed as
a plainti� along with the Re-
sponsible Growth Management
Coalition on the 1995 lawsuit
against the state’s university
system and the South Florida
Water Management District.
istration o�cials who leaked the
name of the CIA o�cer, Valerie
Plame.
In a more recent controversy,
Rove refused to testify before
Congress about the firing of
U.S. attorneys, citing executive
privilege.
Rove said his resignation
would not stop lawmakers from
investigating him.
“I’m Moby Dick, and we’ve
got three or four members of
Congress who are trying to
cast themselves in the part of
Captain Ahab,” Rove said. “So
they’re going to keep coming.”
Brainy and combative, Rove
was the most polarizing aide
in the White House. He urged
an uncompromising, take-no-
prisoners stand in political
battles.
“Karl Rove was an architect of
a political strategy that has left
the country more divided, the
special interests more powerful,
and the American people more
shut out from their government
than any time in memory,” Dem-
ocratic presidential candidate
Sen. Barack Obama said.
In a telephone interview
from the plane, Rove said his
departure should not be taken
as a sign of decline in Bush’s
presidency.
“Look, he’s a very competi-
tive guy,” Rove said of Bush.
“None of us is indispensable
or unreplaceable except (Bush)
and Dick Cheney, and they ain’t
going anywhere. And he will
use every lever at his command
and use every power that he’s
got as president — which is
considerable.
“I think it will be wishful
thinking on the part of the
president’s critics to think this
means anything other than
a staff change at the White
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Mink’s resumé could be enough
to earn him an interview when
FGCU’s search committee re-
views applications to narrow the
list of candidates down to 10 or
12 this week.
The committee will get its first
extensive look at the resumés of
Mink and others today during an
all-day screening process, said
Susan Evans, spokeswoman for
the university.
The university expects to re-
ceive applications up until the
deadline on Thursday, Evans
said.
Because of Florida’s extensive
open records laws, some appli-
cants like to wait until the last
minute before applying, Evans
said.
“A lot depends on whether
they are in a sitting position,”
she said.
Another president, two provosts
from fairly prominent universities
and three others make up the list
of new presidential candidates
released by Florida Gulf Coast
University on Monday.
Four more applicants withdrew,
Founding President Roy McTarnaghan will
be on hand to acknowledge the event,
called A Decade of Excellence in Higher
Education.
The main event of the anniversary is
an open house where the public can
experience the campus from 9 a.m. to
3 p.m. Oct. 27. The event will feature
eco tours, live music, historical exhibits,
mini lectures, art exhibits, book signings,
admissions and scholarship information,
water sporting events and Sesame Street
characters.
Although the suit was set-
tled, Peterson never signed the
agreement.
“I thought it was not doable
and foresaw what the develop-
ment would do to our water
resources,” Peterson said. “It’s
right smack in the middle of
wetlands.”
The original environmental
impact statement for the uni-
versity said only 10 percent of
the roughly 760-acre property
should be impervious cover
such as parking lots and build-
ings, Peterson said.
“Was that for fun or what?”
she said. “They just ignored
it.”
Only about half of the uni-
versity property is suitable for
development.
The remaining area was sup-
posed to be put into a perma-
nent conservation easement.
However, those easements have
been held up, with only about
50 acres preserved, said Nora
Demers, an associate professor
at FGCU and a member of the
Responsible Growth Manage-
ment Coalition.
“At this rate, it will be years
House,” Rove said.
White House o�cials read-
ily acknowledged that Rove’s
departure was a blow. Known
as a ruthless political warrior,
Rove possessed a love of history,
an encyclopedic command of
political minutiae and a wonkish
love of policy.
“Karl is going to be missed,”
said White House counselor
Ed Gillespie, who got his job in
June when another longtime
Bush loyalist, Dan Bartlett, re-
signed. “Obviously, those of us
who are staying in place need
to pick up our game and step
up. It’s going to be hard. Karl
is a major, major factor. But we
can do it.”
“The last 18 months, having
a fresh set of eyes and advis-
ers, is not necessarily a bad
thing,” Bartlett said. “Karl
will be missed. He cuts a large
swath.”
In addition to engineering two
presidential campaigns, Rove
helped Republicans strengthen
their majorities in Congress in
2002 and 2004.
“He created an overarching
political strategy that enabled
the Republican Party to achieve
tremendous national success
for five years, beyond what it
would have done, through his
intellect, his knowledge and his
discipline,” said GOP strategist
Frank Luntz. “He built a govern-
ing coalition that held until No-
vember 2006” when Democrats
took control of Congress.
Skillful in campaigns, he was
less successful in helping Bush
govern, particularly in the sec-
ond term. After boasting he had
political capital to spend, Bush
failed to win his major policy
goals: reforming the immigra-
tion system, overhauling the
tax system and remaking Social
CMYK
Special needs own. “That’s why our teachers
undergo CPI training, which is
a national program.”
Continued from 1A Crisis Prevention Institution
raising the current list of candi- training, according to Donzelli,
dates by two to 55. 4-inch three-ring binder filled is used when students act out
David Black, president of East- with hundreds of pages of “mal- and become a danger to them-
ern University in Pennsylvania, adaptive behavior reports” filled selves or others.
became the third sitting president out whenever her daughter was “I’ve been injured by stu-
to apply for FGCU’s top position. sent to the jail-cell-like rooms. dents trying to break up fights,”
He could not be reached for com- School Board Member Bob said Chilmonik, who previ-
ment Monday. Chilmonik wants an indepen- ously trained teachers on the
The applicant list is loaded with dent review of the district’s techniques. “I had a couple of
provosts. Four of Monday’s six exceptional student education teachers that have been given
new candidates hold that position programs. He supports the use disability ratings because of in-
at other colleges: of time-out rooms, but he’s teractions with students. We
■ Bill Berry, provost and vice seen pictures of bruised and don’t want anyone getting hurt
president for academic a�airs, battered autistic children, who — teachers or students.”
Butler University in Indianapo- are known to bang their heads Donzelli said the use of time-
lis against walls. out rooms, which are intended
■ Joseph Sheley, provost and “You can’t place a severely to be a place for children to calm
vice president for academic af- handicapped child in a room down, a process Ivill described
fairs, California State University- without padding,” he said. “I’d as “getting the sensory stimula-
Sacramento like to call for an independent tion pattern going in the right
■ Tim Hynes, provost and vice review of all of our programs direction,” is rare.
president for academic a�airs, across the county where we “Eight or nine times out of 10,
University of West Georgia are placing our severely handi- you’re going to have a teacher
■ Greg Weisenstein, provost capped children.” taking the kids out in the hallway
and vice president for academic In the incident at Pelican El- or to the back of the classroom,”
a�airs, University of North Da- ementary, the teacher’s report said Donzelli, who added the
kota said Caitlin was sent to the room students are under constant su-
The sixth applicant was Reg for acting like she was going to pervision.
Avery, executive vice chancellor poke her eye out with a pencil Tammy Miller, behavioral spe-
for academic a�airs, University of and then stabbing her teacher’s cialist at Pelican Elementary,
South Carolina — upstate. arm when she tried to take it said some kids familiar with the
away. school’s new time-out room with
The time-out rooms may be music, putty and other activities,
used for any child in the school,
not just ESE students, according
to Principal Richard Ivill. The
request to go in the room when
they need to calm down. “They
will ask to go to a separate area
rooms are also known as learn- or go to a quiet area,” Miller
and years and years before they ing labs or quiet rooms. said. “It could’ve been it was a
are filed,” Demers said. “I have There are 14 schools with time- bad night at home or something
a real problem with that.” out rooms in the district. Rayma bad happened on the way to
Demers also has concerns C. Page Elementary is the only school.”
about the university’s new school in south Lee County with “We don’t just put kids in
master plan, which changes the one of the rooms. According to there and walk away,” Donzelli
campus’s density from 300,000 Joe Landon, spokesman for the said. “It’s not a jail cell. It’s just
square feet to 1 million square Collier County School District, an area for kids to calm down.
feet and appears to put a road “Collier does not use time-out Parents do this all the time at
through a conservation ease- rooms at the present time.” home.”
ment. The state’s resolution, sent Pictures of Caitlin Elders pro-
This year, the Responsible June 27 by the Bureau of Ex- vided by her mother showed se-
Growth Management Coalition ceptional Education and Stu- vere bruising on her forehead af-
sent letters to Lee County com- dent Services, was addressed ter visits to the time-out room.
missioners and the university’s to Elders and Browder. It found “She banged her forehead on
president urging the completion the district had not followed the floor two times, and I held
of commitments made 10 years procedures in educating Caitlin, her head down and called for
ago in the settlement. and its time-out rooms do “not assistance,” said Chris Chandler,
Three studies, two by the appear to meet the state require- a female teacher who filled out
county and one by the South ment ... specifically regarding the the incident report.
Florida Water Management brick-wall surface.” Ivill admitted the students
District, have lagged behind, When it comes to the use of might bang their head before
said David Urich, president of physical force, the resolution teachers can properly restrain
the growth management coali- found three state codes — IDEA them. “They may just get up
tion. 2004, Florida Statutes and State and bang their head on a wall,”
Merwin responded that Board of Education Rules — “do he said.
the unfulfilled commitments not specifically reference the use Elders said the concrete walls
were largely the responsibili- of physical force and restraint and floor contributed to the
ties of the South Florida Water for the students.” problem.
Management District and the Donzelli said the manual “It’s 18th century draconian
county. Browder will present today is conditions,” Elder said. There’s
A representative for the South not the first time district o�cials nothing safe about putting any
Florida Water Management Dis- have been trained in the use of child in there.”
trict could not be reached for force, which is necessary to pre-
comment. vent injuries to all individuals in
Though there is room for im-
provement, Pegnetter said, the
university has held up its end
of the bargain.
“We still have some things to
a school building.
“The state does not even have
guidelines for school district
sta� and teachers for the use or
establishment of time out,” said
Destination
INFORMATION
do, but we’ve built a foundation Donzelli, who added the state is
that has allowed us to become looking to use Lee’s guidelines as Every Sunday ...
environmentally sensitive,” Peg- a possible starting point for their
netter said. “We’d have trouble
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looking in the mirror if we made
these commitments and then
paved over everything.”
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— I’m an opinionated person.”
On the Democratic side, he said
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton “is
a prohibitive favorite to win the
nomination.”
He also said he would write
a book, with Bush’s encourage-
taste the
beautiful life!
ment. Some publishing houses
expressed interest but cautioned
against expectations of big mon-
ey, in part because the book was
sanctioned by Bush.
Rove, currently the deputy
White House chief of sta�, met
Bush in the early 1970s when
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