With the clock ticking on the search for a new university president, some USF professors fear a former politician could fill the shoes of Rhea Law. Others said they are not worried this trend will hit USF.

While Law is planning to stay in her role until a successor is selected, a 15-person search committee is looking for the university’s ninth president. 

Her resignation comes in the midst of a trend of politicians taking the helm at Florida universities. 

Related: Rhea Law’s resignation announcement comes at a tumultuous time at USF

In February, Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez became Florida International University’s interim president, and the Board of Governors confirmed former Florida House Representative Adam Hasner as Florida Atlantic University’s president.

Steve Lang, the president of USF’s chapter of United Faculty of Florida, said there’s “no question” the government wants to appoint as many politicians as it can into universities. 

Lang said this is in an effort to “mold” education so it isn’t “woke.”

Barring Florida universities from using state funds for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs is an example of that effort, Lang said.

Lang, a professor in the College of Education in St. Pete, said having a politician as president could involve changes similar to the prohibition of DEI that could limit students’ “academic freedom.”

“What we don’t want is someone to come in and say, ‘I’ve been put here for the purpose of taking apart something…or changing it to conform to some statewide set of rules, standards or checklist, ’” he said.

Related: USF community reflects on Law’s tenure amid future resignation

However, not all USF professors think a politician is on the way.

Rob Mellen, a political science professor at USF, said the trend doesn’t make the appointment of a politician as the new USF president more probable.

“I think that the administration would want to be very careful about doing anything that might hinder the status of the university,” he said. “USF is rising and becoming one of the preeminent universities in the country. They want to continue that trend.”

Kirsten England, an assistant professor of instruction of political science at USF, said whether a politician is qualified to be a university president depends on their background and how much experience they have in education.

England said having a former politician as USF president can be beneficial due to their “outside perspective.” 

However, she said it’s essential that a potential president has had enough exposure to teaching environments.

“I would hope that they would go into some classrooms, that they would talk with the instructors and really get a feel for what the students are like, and not just the research side of it,” she said.

England said having a former politician as president would only disrupt the political climate on campus if they came in with an “agenda” to push through their leadership.

“Our job is not to sway you as students, to believe what we believe and to do what we do,” she said. “If you do that, then you shouldn’t have any influence at all.”

Related: USF SG presidential debate tackles immigration, free speech and more

Mellen said the changes DeSantis is making are not to create an extreme but to neutralize current extremes.

“There’s a feeling that if they gain control of the presidency of the universities and the Board of Governors and so on, then they can influence and moderate that culture,” he said. 

He said this happens because politicians operate in a “different world” from the people teaching at universities.

“They operate in a world that’s based on their opinions or their beliefs,” he said. “If they believe something, regardless of whether it can be supported by fact or data, they’re going to grasp onto that because they have ideologies of left or right.”  

However, Mellen said he doesn’t think the university will pick someone based on influence or ideology — but on their capacity to continue the university’s progress.

He said there is no reason to worry about the possible implications of a former politician becoming USF president so early in the search. 

“Until we get to a point where we’ve got a list of candidates and we’ve got interviews going on, I don’t think it’s something that we should be fretting about yet,” he said.