Thrasher: The 100 million dollar man
Strident faculty and student condemnation for his lack of university credentials. Accusations of lax handling of campus sexual assaults and embarrassing off-field athlete behavior. In his first two weeks, a mass shooting that miraculously ended with no one but the shooter dead.
In his first full year as Florida State University’s 15th President, John Thrasher faced it all — and more — full on, allaying even some of his harshest on-campus critics.
For that reason, he is the Tallahassee Democrat’s 2015 Person of the Year.
Our opinion: What leadership looks like
Thrasher was selected from a host of deserving reader nominees, including dedicated business leaders, environmentalists and social service providers — even the Democrat’s own esteemed retired columnist, Gerald Ensley.
But it was Thrasher — the powerful Republican state politician whose controversial pick to lead FSU left many in the university’s academic community flummoxed — who proved himself the clear choice.
No other among the group faced such daunting challenges and met them with such tenacity, integrity and success.
“People who thought he was horrible begrudgingly say, ‘He’s not as bad as I thought,’” said professor Gary Tyson, who as faculty senate president voted against Thrasher’s selection. “The people who supported him think he’s doing fantastic.”
Thrasher eager to improve FSU's image
Not an academic — as was the top advertised requirement for the job — Thrasher, 72, surrounded himself with people who were and got out of their way. He answered the faculty’s longtime call for market equity raises to recognize their value and enable FSU to compete for talent with other top-notch institutions.
He publicly condemned bad conduct by members of FSU’s lauded football team and championed better ways to support victims of sexual violence in the wake of the Jameis Winston rape allegation — all the while facing excoriating criticism by national media outlets.
He boldly differed with members of his political party in opposing the current push to allow guns on campuses.
He connected with students and every-day employees just as he did as one of the Florida Legislature’s most powerful leaders – by listening and taking the time to know them by name.
Then there was the $100 million donation he secured from the family of businessman Jim Moran to create a brand new college devoted to interdisciplinary entrepreneurialism. The enormous, unprecedented gift stands to change the face of FSU and Tallahassee for years to come.
‘The most reasonable person in the room’
Amid the tumult of his choice as president, former Florida Senate President Don Gaetz wrote in an October 2014 Tallahassee Democrat column: “My prediction is that, years from now, even some of the critics will be proud to say they attended or taught at Florida State University during the glory days of John Thrasher’s presidency.”
During an interview last week, Gaetz, who considers Thrasher one of his closest friends, recalled his words a year ago.
“I’m glad, of all the predictions we politicians make, I was right about this one,” he said. “I knew I’d be.”
Gaetz echoed what was said by many, including FSU community members, who met Thrasher for the first time last year.
“He does what he says he will do — rare in the world of politics,” Gaetz said. “He doesn’t lie and he doesn’t back down.”
Gaetz recounted what Thrasher told him when he assumed the role of Senate President: “Always be the most reasonable person in the room.”
“I knew that his moral and political courage and his ability to find solutions would translate into the academic setting,” Gaetz said. “There couldn’t be a better pick for Person of the Year.”
Faculty fears quelled
FSU music professor Cliff Madsen has seen a lot of university presidents come and go. A faculty member since 1961, he’s been active with the faculty senate for a half-century and has been involved in the hiring of the university’s last half-dozen presidents.
At the outset, Madsen was no fan of Thrasher, and was not shy about making his feelings known.
A year later, he strikes a different chord. Since coming aboard, Madsen said Thrasher has been “impressive beyond belief.”
Madsen concedes he’s surprised.
“He really has done an excellent job in every way,” he said. “And part of his excellence is he leaves the academic side to the provost and doesn’t second guess, which is wonderful. He is doing everything he can for the betterment of FSU and he is an effective person.”
He noted Thrasher’s expert handling of the campus’ Strozier Library shooting just 10 days into his presidency and his continued caring for victims long after the media frenzy. Like others, he talked about Thrasher’s concern and caring for normal, everyday people.
“He is really a very nice person. He treats every single person with the utmost respect,” Madsen said. “I think we are really, really lucky to have him, and he works tirelessly on behalf of this faculty and everybody.”
Head of the class
FSU student body president Jean Tabares served with Thrasher on the FSU Board of Trustees during their first year as university chiefs. Tabares is glad he wasn’t embroiled in the contentious selection process and approached the relationship with an open mind.
What he’s seen firsthand has been impressive.
“He’s been phenomenally great on the student perspective,” Tabares said, “getting out there and talking to students, getting to know them and showing he is the president of the campus as well as the president getting the donations.”
People expect a university president to go to a student event, make the canned speech, shake a few hands and leave. Not Thrasher, Tabares says. Conversations with students last long minutes, not short seconds. He recounted a student government event the two attended earlier this month at which Thrasher stuck around until there was no one left who wanted to talk to him.
“That was amazing to see in him, especially with all the backlash he got first coming in, just for him to show that he is going to put in a good faith effort to prove to the students that he was there first and foremost for them,” Tabares said.
Five questions for FSU president John Thrasher
A man of range
Current faculty senate president Susan Fiorito said the biggest issue for professors was Thrasher’s lack of academic pedigree. For the most part, faculty don’t care about politics. They want to do their research, teach and be left alone.
They feared a politician assuming control of the academy. Like herself, Fiorito said, most didn’t know Thrasher.
“But once he was in, he started doing the things he said he was going to do,” she said during an interview with the Democrat days before she was named the dean of the new Jim Moran school. “It was like, ‘Wow, this politician respects faculty? He thinks that what we are saying is true? What a shock.’”
She concedes not every faculty member has been won over. Some are still taking a “wait-and-see” attitude. But it’s hard to argue about what has been seen so far.
“Getting to know him as faculty senate president, he is a man of his word,” she said. “He’s been here a year and everything we’ve seen has been great.”
She also has been impressed by Thrasher’s humanity. She recounted his holiday reception, to which the housekeeper was invited for the first time, and how at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Thrasher and his wife Jean chose to sit at the staff table.
“That just doesn’t happen that often,” Fiorito said. “It’s a small thing, but it means a lot to a lot of people.”
In on and off the record interviews, people recounted similar stories. University presidents can be aloof. Not Thrasher.
“I’m in a room and there are hundreds of people and he’ll poke his hand up and wave at me,” Fiorito said. “And it’s not just me. I think it’s everybody. He is connected. He is a unique person, he is an individual who cares deeply, deeply about FSU on so many levels. And he’s smart.”
Respect among rivals
Even among his peers, Thrasher is a stand-out.
University of Florida President Kent Fuchs – whose first year coincided with Thrasher’s – already considers his in-state rival a fast friend.
The state approval of their appointments as president occurred on the same day. Thrasher first introduced himself by phone calling Fuchs in October 2015 after the UF board approved Fuchs’ hiring.
“He called me up and welcomed me to the state of Florida,” Fuchs said. “John is a wonderful man and an effective person in all that he does.”
The two forged an immediate bond and decided from the outset to work together for the betterment of their institutions. Fuchs said the Thrashers have since “adopted” him and his wife, sharing meals, most recently this month, when the Board of Governors met in Tallahassee.
Fuchs, who earned his position with an iron-clad academic pedigree, has been impressed by Thrasher’s political gravitas and humility. Everyone at the Capitol knows Thrasher by name. Yet in university settings, where people often address top leaders by calling them “doctor” – an acknowledgment of doctoral degrees - Thrasher, who has an undergraduate and law degree from FSU, always sets the record straight.
Fuchs said his relationship with Thrasher is like no other in his career.
“It’s been very meaningful to me,” he said. “John is just a special person. My guess is everyone feels they have a special relationship with John.”
Finalists for Person of the Year
William McCluskey: Start-up scene trailblazer and founder/CEO of Proper Channel.
Jim Stevenson: For a half-century, a tireless advocate for Florida State Parks and freshwater springs.
Rudy Ferguson Sr.: Pastor of New Birth Tabernacle of Praise church, a community activist who established the first G.E.D program in the Griffin Heights Community and resurrected John G. Riley Park.
Elmira Mangum: President of Florida A & M University, the first female president in school history.
Carly Spinazzola: A Leon County special education teacher nominated for her devotion to her students.
Gerald Ensley: The Democrat’s award winning columnist who retired in 2014 after nearly 35-years.
Jim Croteau: Interim CEO for America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend and former head of Elder Care Services, widely credited for resurrecting the area’s only food bank.
Scot Benton: A bicycle accident victim who started Bicycle House, promoting safe transportation, social responsibility and healthy living.
Taylor Biro: A former homeless teen turned business champion and volunteer known for her work at Capital City Youth Services’ Going Places Street Outreach and Gaines Street Fest.
Paloma Rambana: Legally blind 10-year-old who successfully lobbied the state Legislature for $1 million in blind services funding to benefit Florida’s children.
Laura Johnson: Arts advocate and director of the Southern Shakespeare Festival who restored the annual event as a Tallahassee tradition.
Willie L. Williams: Distinguished Young Gentlemen leader who devotes his time to counseling, mentoring youth and helping others overcome life’s obstacles.
Other nominees
Ron Yrabedra
David Brightbill
Micah Widen
Ron Goldstein
Chuck O’Neal
Stan Peacock
Jermaine Miller
Quincy D. Griffin Sr.
Eva Killings
Jackie Pons
Preston Scott
Will Dance
Hugh Vanlandingham
Regina Bryant
Andrew Gillum
Bill Proctor
Kristin Dozier
Scott Maddox
Dalvin Cook
Amy Harris
Ann Toliver Massey
Billy Hudson
Colleen Fahey
David Poole
Elizabeth Ricci
Herb Shelton
John E. Lawrence
Marthine Woodward
Rick Kearney
Ruthann High
Contact Jennifer Portman at jportman@tallahassee.com.