Matt Gaetz really loves Florida Poly's new million dollar man
I vastly, vastly underestimated the going rate for stepping out of Henry Mack's way at Northwest Florida State College to come manage two buildings and a dorm in Lakeland.
I have two brief addenda to my coverage of the Florida Poly presidential “search” that I want to share.
As you recall, DeSantis’ anti-woke grifter bloc of trustees picked 71-year-old Devin Stephenson, who has no STEM background, to lead 80 percent male, 31-percent 4-year graduation rate Poly boldly into the future. I detailed why this likely happened in this piece.
Addendum 1: But I made a big mistake when I wrote this:
To recap: Stephenson gets a raise to come to Poly (expect him to make $500K to manage two buildings and a dorm); and Mack gets a clear path to the NWFSC presidency. It’s a win-win — for those two guys at least.
Key excerpt from WMNF article about Stephenson:
Devin Stephenson, who is in line to become president of Florida Polytechnic University, could make up to $1.224 million a year in the new role.
The Florida Poly Board of Trustees on Monday selected Stephenson to succeed outgoing President Randy Avent.
Stephenson is president of Northwest Florida State College, where he earned a salary of $280,000 as of last school year.
The Florida Poly trustees in February approved a total compensation range for the new president of $782,000 to $1.224 million.
That range will be used in contract negotiations with Stephenson, and a proposed employment agreement is slated to come before the trustees for consideration on April 25.
It’s true that the actual “base contract” Stephenson signed is $490,000. So I nailed that. But one wonders what Corcoran-adjacent “performance” bonuses are built in to get to the $1M midpoint of the compensation range. I don’t have the energy to go find out myself.
I did have the energy to update my pay-per-student chart for Florida college presidents. Still not Corcoran level grift; but pretty impressive nonetheless.
Perhaps Gaetz has ideas for Stephenson about recruiting more young women to Poly
Addendum #2: Stephenson has a very big fan in Congressman Matt Gaetz, who represents Niceville, where Stephenson’s former Northwest Florida State College is located. I don’t know if Stephenson would go so far as to call Gaetz his “wingman,” like Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Lakeland, does.
But one gets pretty strong bromance vibes from this:
One could argue that the greatest hurdle to growth and development for Florida Poly is the fact that young women seem to avoid the place. It’s 80 percent male.
Matt Gaetz is known for his very deep interest in young adult women. One wonders if he gave Stephenson some pointers on social life, parties, etc. that might affect female enrollment.
In all seriousness, Gaetz’s little speech here is pretty uncontroversial. It describes a good “community college” leader. And I’m sure Stephenson will bring that same support for the nursing and aviation and charter school programs at Florida Poly.
Why would anti-woke be a priority at a Poly Tech? Over Tech. Don't get me wrong. I like classical education. But this isn't a liberal arts school. Nor should anti-woke take precedence of competency at the academic level. Yes. I think "woke" has gone off the rails to a great degree. So I am one of those guys I guess. But a little moderation is ALWAYS helpful. Grifterism and anti-woke don'tmake a productive mix either.
Ever since community colleges became "state colleges" the mission has become confused in the minds of the general public. Wish I could find a chart like this for state college system. Down the Manatee-Sarasota way big changes afoot. Would also like to find ratio of admins to students going back but now sure how to.