Photo: CBS 12
The Chancellor of the State University System is getting pushback for this week's suspension in the search for the next president of FAU.
Ray Rodrigues notified Florida Atlantic University's Board of Trustees about "anomalies" in the search process, including claims by one of nearly 60 job candidates that he received a questionnaire asking for his sexual orientation, gender identity and pronouns.
The suspension came just days after FAU announced it had three finalists for president and Board of Trustees chair Brad Levine sent a letter to Rodrigues Monday, requesting for the process to continue as soon as possible.
He states that the university did not authorize the questionnaire that came from a third-party search firm and that the search process has complied with all legal requirements.
The letter also addresses claims about a straw poll taken by the search committee, with Levine stating that it also complied with Florida statutes.
A college faculty union has also gotten involved. The United Faculty of Florida is calling on Rodrigues to step back and allow the search process to continue or resign. Union President Andrew Gothard says the search suspension is about politics.
Campus forums for the finalists had been scheduled for this week and Levine is requesting that even though Mondays' events were canceled, others originally set for later this week be held as planned.
The three finalists previously chosen by the FAU Search Committee are Michael Hartline, Dean of the College of Business at Florida State University, Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, Vice Adm. Sean Buck and former Chancellor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Jose Sartarelli.