House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, said the Legislature should consider linking Florida Polytechnic University to another school — possibly one from outside of Florida — after the process of establishing the 12th state university has become “a disaster.”
In an interview with the Tampa Tribune editorial board, Weatherford made it clear that he didn’t believe the status quo was sustainable. He noted that the Lakeland-based university, which gained independence from the University of South Florida last year, will need several years to become accredited.
“Just to let it linger in the desert for seven years doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Weatherford said. “We should figure out a way to give a sense of direction and have a game plan here relatively quickly.”
Florida Poly gained its independence under a bill pushed through the Legislature last year by Sen. JD Alexander, who chaired the Senate Budget Committee and butted heads with USF over the future of the Lakeland campus.
Weatherford said the school could become a sort of satellite campus for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or Stanford. “We’ve got a $100 million building being built. We’ve got to make the best lemonade we can.”
