The Florida Board of Regents was from 1965 to 2001 the governing body for the

State University System of Florida The State University System of Florida (SUSF or SUS) is a system of twelve public universities in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2018, over 341,000 students were enrolled in Florida's state universities. Together with the Florida College Sy ...

, which includes all

public universities A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

in the state of

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It was created to replace a predecessor body called the

Florida Board of Control The Florida Board of Control (1905–1965) was the statewide governing body for the State University System of Florida, which included all public universities in the state of Florida. It was replaced by the Florida Board of Regents in 1965.< ...

, which had existed from 1905. Its powers are now held by the

Florida Board of Governors The Florida Board of Governors is a 17-member governing board serving as the governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida. After its predecessor, the Florida Board of ...

. The Board of Regents was established in the

Florida Statutes The ''Florida Statutes'' are the codified, statutory laws of Florida; it currently has 49 titles. A chapter in the Florida Statutes represents all relevant statutory laws on a particular subject. The statutes are the selected reproduction of the p ...

, Title XVI, Chapter 240, Part II.

Function

The Board of Regents had the responsibility for adopting system-wide rules and policies; planning for the future needs of the State University System; planning the programmatic, financial and physical development of the system; reviewing and evaluating the instructional, research, and service programs at the universities; coordinating program development among the universities; and monitoring the fiscal performance of the universities." (Title XVI Chapter 240.209, The 2000

)

Composition

The Board of Regents had a total of 14 members, 13 of which were appointed by the

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

, and one who was the commissioner of education. One of the members appointed by the governor had to be a full-time student of the state university system; historically, Florida governors gave great weight to the recommendation of the Florida Student Association in filling that seat. The governor's appointments had to be approved by the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

and the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. The commissioner of education and the full-time student served for one year. while all other members served for six years. Excluding the full-time student member and the commissioner of education, no county could house two regents except for counties with over 900,000 residents. The regents were not paid; however, they were reimbursed for expenses incurred as a result of fulfilling their role, such as travel expenses. The board appointed a chancellor to serve as its chief administrative officer.

Institutions founded or incorporated

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

(1965) *

Florida Institute of Oceanography The Florida Institute of Oceanography (FIO), located on the campus of the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, is an entity of the State University System of Florida that works collaboratively with 32 institutions and agencies from across ...

(1967) *

University of North Florida The University of North Florida (UNF) is a public university, public research university in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern ...

(1969) *

University Press of Florida The University Press of Florida (UPF) is the scholarly publishing arm of the State University System of Florida, representing Florida's twelve state universities. It is located in Gainesville near the University of Florida, one of the state's maj ...

(1973) *

New College of Florida New College of Florida is a public university, public liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida, United States. The college is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. New College has the smallest student enrollment in the State U ...

(1975) * Florida Student Association (1976) *

Florida Gulf Coast University Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) is a public university in Lee County, Florida, near Fort Myers. It is part of the State University System of Florida and is its second-youngest member. The university was established on May 3, 1991, and is acc ...

(1991)

Dissolution and succession

In April 2000, the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

voted 81-29 to abolish the Florida Board of Regents. The Board of Regents hindered efforts by Governor

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...

and the Republican-controlled legislature to end

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

in Florida's public universities, and it was consequently abolished by an act of the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

which was signed into law by Governor Bush on July 1, 2001. The powers held by the Board of Regents were then divided between the Florida Board of Education (which was given some authority over all levels of public education in the state), and appointed boards of trustees, which operated independently for each separate institution.

Bob Graham Daniel Robert Graham (November 9, 1936 – April 16, 2024) was an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 38th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida from 1979 to 1987 and a United States Senate, United States senat ...

, a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from Florida, objected to the abolition of the statewide body, and responded by leading a ballot initiative to restore it through an amendment to the Florida

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

. This initiative succeeded in creating what is now called the

. As it is ensconced in the Florida Constitution, this new body cannot be abolished by the legislature without another constitutional amendment.

References

Government of Florida 1965 establishments in Florida 2001 disestablishments in Florida State University System of Florida {{Authority control