My wife and I, like many others who care about FSU, have contributed financially to FSU because we want to support the creativity and genius of the faculty and students. We enjoy the wide range of the university’s events: theater, film, art, science, music, opera, circus and, of course, sports. We became active volunteering on boards and councils and established an endowed scholarship.

Now we are considering not donating because that creativity and genius we enjoy is being threatened by a new approach to education, which cripples freedom and creativity in the classroom and replaces it with corporate influence that controls the instruction and forces a drive for money.

We are outraged by the influence of large corporate money, most notably the Koch brothers’ money, and how that money appears to be affecting professor hires, recommended student reading material, and now the selection of FSU’s next president. We find it intolerable that our state legislature has passed laws that keep agreements between these large corporations and the university out of the sunshine and hidden from public access. Keeping donor agreements between FSU and big corporations from the sunshine is wrong. Transparency and the free flow of information are critical, especially in a university setting.

When FSU accepts money that influences professor hiring, it creates a chilling effect on the academic freedom that is necessary for a healthy and creative learning environment. FSU needs to work in the sunshine.

Mr. Thrasher is the chairman of Governor Scott’s re-election campaign. Governor Scott has not been a friend of education.
Even if we assume Mr. Thrasher’s connections will payoff with a return of favors, that should not be the only thing that matters when choosing the next FSU president. If FSU continues on its present course to hire a money-generator who answers to corporate dictators, not only is FSU generating a death knell for a once respected university, but it is influencing a generation of students whose impact on the future could turn our country into nothing more that a bunch of money-grabbing people.

We have planned future gifts for FSU. Now are re-thinking whether we will be giving. How many other donors will re-think their gift-giving if the voices of the students and faculty continue to be ignored? It is important that FSU donors step up and let their voices be heard. FSU needs to be the center of freedom and creativity. Our faculty and students voices need to be heard. The present process is broken. Consider signing the petition stating the FSU donors will withhold their gifts until the selection process is fixed.

Howard Kessler, M.D.
Retired orthopedic surgeon
Crawfordville
howard@howardkessler.com