U. Florida president agrees to resign

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (U-WIRE) - University of Florida President John Lombardi will remain at UF, but not in the capacity of its highest-ranked administrative leader, a state official said Monday.

Steve Uhlfelder, chair of the Board of Regents, said Lombardi has agreed to resign as president, following the public disclosure of a slur he made toward new Chancellor Adam Herbert. He called the first black chancellor of Florida's State University System an "Oreo."

Uhlfelder said Lombardi will stay on at UF as the head of an academic institute, most likely in the area of Latin American Studies, which is one of Lombardi's academic areas of expertise.

He will retain his current salary of $238,000 for one year, after which he will receive 10 percent pay cuts for three years, Uhlfelder said.

Uhlfelder said the Board of Regents, the 14-member panel that oversees Florida's public universities, is waiting for Lombardi to decide exactly when he will resign.

"It's been terrible. I've agonized over this," Uhlfelder said of the "gentleman's agreement" that is still in the works. "It's been hard on me and Dr. Lombardi, but I believe this will be the best thing."

Lombardi was one of more than 300 candidates who was considered in the University of Michigan's last presidential search.

Lombardi would not comment Monday on the verbal agreement, which Uhlfelder said they discussed Friday.

But on Friday, in an interview with the Independent Florida Alligator, UF's student newspaper, Lombardi denied that he had made any such promise to the regents. The media "can talk all they want to, and we'll see what happens," Lombardi said in his office. "I haven't agreed or disagreed to anything."

Before publicly announcing the agreement Monday, Uhlfelder had said it was Lombardi's decision if he wanted to resign and that it was "primarily in (Lombardi's) hands."

But when informed of this remark Friday, Lombardi hesitated before responding, "I find that ... interesting."

Lombardi has had a notoriously rocky past with the regents. In 1995, he received an outraged letter from Regent James Heekin, who suggested Lombardi's position was in danger after Lombardi submitted a proposal to the Florida Legislature without consulting the regents. A year later, Lombardi called a regent policy restricting statewide university expansion "stupid" and "typical of this idiotic system."

Ulhfelder indicated that this shaky relationship may have factored into Lombardi's agreement to resign.

"I don't think he's been comfortable working in this environment," he said. "I don't think he's enjoyed the relationship."

On the same note, the regents have not wasted any time moving on. They already are looking for Lombardi's replacement.

Uhlfelder would not disclose who is being considered to serve as interim president or when the person would enter office. But he expressed confidence in the yet-to-be-named replacement.

"Anytime you have change, it's not easy, but I think we'll have a worthy successor," he said.

In the meantime, several possible replacements have been suggested by close sources. They include E.T. York, interim UF president from 1973 to 1974 and SUS chancellor from 1975 to 1980, as well as former UF President Marshall Criser, who served before Lombardi and left in March 1989 following several controversies with UF Athletics.

Also named by off-the-record sources were Karen Holbrook, UF Graduate School dean, Dr. David Challoner, UF vice president for Health Affairs and UF Vice Provost Gene Hemp.

01-21-98