Doug Blackburn

Democrat correspondent

Two days after he was re-elected to the Florida Senate, John Thrasher was confirmed on Thursday to be Florida State University's next president by the Board of Governors.

While the BOG's vote was unanimous, the university and Board of Trustees chair Allan Bense were criticized by former BOG chair Dean Colson for the way the search was handled.

Thrasher, a well-connected politician and a controversial selection because of his lack of academic experience, was seen as the front-runner to succeed Eric Barron almost before FSU was able to form a search committee following Barron's decision Feb. 17 to become president at Penn State.

Colson said that perception hurt FSU, hurt the state system and may have kept premier candidates from applying to be FSU president.

"I don't think it had to happen that way. How you handle the search process may be just as important as which person you pick from a pool of candidates," Colson said. "The goal must be to find the most qualified person. We have to be careful that we never let a president's job be the expected reward of a lifetime of good service."

Colson, an attorney in Miami, began his remarks by praising Thrasher, who he has known for many years.

"I also don't believe you have to be a great academic to lead our universities, but on the whole I think it helps. I recognize that some students and faculty who I respect don't agree with that," Colson said.

Bense, like Thrasher, is a former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives. He introduced Thrasher at Thursday's BOG meeting at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Bense acknowledged that the search did not begin well, and he said he takes responsibility for that.

Thrasher, 70, will start at FSU this Monday with a five-year contract that pays him a base salary of $430,000 per year. He told BOG members his top priorities are to address low salaries for long-serving professors at FSU, to keep the university community focused on FSU's $1-billion capital campaign and to prepare for next year's legislative session.

"Perhaps the university system has not been adequately funded for a number of years," Thrasher said. "We're at a point where the economy is coming back, and I believe our universities are a big part of why our economy is coming back."