One Booster's view of the University President

By Charlie Barnes, Executive Director - Seminole Boosters

Let's talk about President Sandy D'Alemberte. Sandy came to Westcott six years ago unburdened by any illusions about the political landscape. As an institution, Florida State was far from united behind its new president.

The Peter Warrick episode brought all those discussions back into full blossom again. Unfortunately, much of that discussion took place in public. After six years of paying attention, and after having begun as a skeptic, my observation is that Sandy D'Alemberte is a brilliant man who at the end of his tenure will be confirmed as one of the greatest presidents in the history of our university. Is Sandy a Seminole? Being a Gator or a Seminole is a state of mind.

There are Gators in Tallahassee who have degrees from Florida State. There are Seminoles ­ none finer or more loyal than Gene Deckerhoff ­ whose degrees are from Florida. Sandy's mother graduated from FSCW, his grandfather from the West Florida Seminary. Sandy went to Leon, then to college in Tennessee. His law degree is from Florida, taken before FSU had a law school.

He initiated unprecedented architectural enhancement and academic advancements as dean of FSU's College of Law.

When Sandy was a young lawyer and in the Legislature in the 1960s, most of the state's movers & shakers had gone to Florida, and those were his pals. With more recent generations of leaders, the balance has tilted more sharply in FSU's favor.

More than any other thing, Sandy is an advocate, an inclination he has vigorously pursued at FSU. After he was named president he could have bunkered in, surrounded himself with cronies and protected his retirement. Instead, he has taken chances, caused trouble, bulldozed much-needed changes into place, and breathed life into a vision for our university that is stunning in its scope and imagination.

Does Sandy support athletics? We can all read the scoreboard. He understands the value to our university of a winning, first class, nationally prominent athletic program, well funded, and well led with enthusiasm. And Sandy is acutely aware that a great deal of money first enters the university through the locker-room doors.

Despite what appeared to be public differences between Dave Hart and Sandy on the Warrick issue, my guess is that Sandy had much to do with keeping Dave at Florida State. Time may prove Sandy's success in keeping the 49-year-old Hart away from Alabama to be in the same range of importance as Bernie Sliger's move to keep the 49-year-old Bobby Bowden from going to LSU twenty years ago.

We rightly marvel at the accomplishments of Bobby Bowden. Consider Sandy's record as well: in six years he has raised hundreds of millions of dollars to bolster the university's academic strength; he has reasserted the preeminence of our traditional architecture and launched a campaign to beautify the campus and return our core buildings to their proper use; he has created mechanisms to take maximum advantage of the nearness of the State Capitol; he has fostered a new sense of entrepreneurism on the part of aggressive faculty and staff, all of which has enhanced the university's academic standing; and he has embraced the big dreams, including the completion of the University Center complex.

He can't be strong-armed, and if you ask him a question he'll tell you the truth. There are worse things you could say about a fellow than that.

Our university is better now than it has ever been, and the goal of leaders should be to make sure that statement remains true every year.