FIU board hears more on Rosenberg investigation, learns why board chair terse after resignation
In its first meeting since former president Mark Rosenberg resigned in late January, the Florida International University Board of Trustees heard details Thursday from the Miami lawyer who conducted the investigation into Rosenberg’s alleged misconduct with a young woman who worked for him.
“We were fairly exhaustive,” said Eric Isicoff, adding that his law firm reviewed about 700 pages of text messages and all emails between the 72-year-old Rosenberg, and the woman, whose name was not disclosed. She is in her 20s.
During the 2 1/2-month investigation, Isicoff and his law firm partner, Teresa Ragatz, interviewed Rosenberg, the woman and two witnesses — an unnamed supervisor in the President’s Office and Javier Marques, vice president for operations and safety and Rosenberg’s chief of staff.
Isicoff, the lead investigator, delivered the 15-page report on Rosenberg Wednesday to the trustees. The report concluded Rosenberg “acted in a manner that was unprofessional and that he crossed appropriate boundaries in his behavior towards and interactions with a female subordinate.”
The report also detailed the woman’s allegations, including that Rosenberg called her “princess,” commented on her clothes, told her he would divorce his wife and asked her to be his “lover.”
Rosenberg “flatly denied” calling her princess and commenting on her clothes, according to the report. He also said he never used the term “lover” but suggested the FIU staffer could be his “companion” post-presidency, the report said. The report also detailed how he invited her to go to New Orleans with him.
“The report, I think, pretty much speaks for itself,” Isicoff told the trustees at Thursday’s meeting.
Per its policy, the Herald doesn’t identify victims of such alleged harassment.
‘I expected a different letter than I received’
Attorney Dean Colson, the board of trustees’ chair and the first trustee who found out about the female employee’s request to transfer out of the President’s Office in mid-December, spoke on the issue Thursday — although, he joked, he had told FIU’s General Counsel Carlos Castillo he wouldn’t. Castillo smiled from the other end of the Graham Center ballroom.
Colson pondered aloud whether the board should adopt an official policy on how to deal with similar situations in the future.
READ MORE: ‘It’s weird’: FIU expresses little admiration, concern for Rosenberg after abrupt exit
Colson said he was heavily criticized for his cold demeanor on Jan. 21, the day Rosenberg abruptly resigned after nearly 13 years at the helm of South Florida’s largest public university. As community members praised Rosenberg’s tenure, Colson and the trustees remained silent. Colson explained why Thursday.
In his initial announcement, Rosenberg only mentioned health issues affecting him and his wife. Two days later, Rosenberg disclosed he had “unintentionally created emotional [not physical] entanglement” with an FIU employee and apologized for his actions.
“I expected a different letter than I received ... so from that Friday board meeting until the Sunday we got a different letter, it was a little awkward, because my comments were terse,” Colson said. “And the reason for that was I thought it was more important to accept the resignation and get an interim president, than wait two or three days to see if I could get a better letter.”
Rosenberg declined to comment Thursday.
Trustees push board to decide Rosenberg’s fate
Trustee Cesar L. Alvarez, an attorney, wondered whether the board could decide Rosenberg’s future at FIU. Colson and Isicoff said that because Rosenberg resigned as president, only the FIU Faculty Advisor Board could determine whether Rosenberg could return as a tenured faculty member. Rosenberg joined FIU in 1976 as an assistant professor of political science.
According to Rosenberg’s contract, because he resigned in good standing, Rosenberg could return to campus after his one-year sabbatical at full salary and teach classes with a $377,000 annual salary. As president, Rosenberg made $502,578.63 a year, per his contract, plus bonus and pension supplements paid by FIU.
On Thursday, the board approved a $503,000, one-year contract for Interim President Kenneth Jessell, 66, whom the board named to replace Rosenberg.
When asked after the meeting whether he thought Rosenberg should return as a professor, Colson said he didn’t want to interfere with the Faculty Advisor Board’s resolution. ”That’s their job to figure out,” he said.
The board’s vice chair, Roger Tovar, asked the Faculty Advisor Board, made up of the vice provost for faculty leadership and success, the associate provost for academic planning and finance, the director of employee and labor relations, the associate director of employee and labor relations and FIU’s deputy general counsel, to issue its decision soon.
“I don’t think I want to suggest that the board would set a timeline, but I think so far we’ve tried to act as quickly as possible ... so I would ask that the Faculty Advisor Board go through their process as completely but as quickly as possible,” he said. “So that this is not a process that drags on.”
Trustee Joerg Reinhold, a physics professor and the Faculty Senate chair, didn’t comment on the report specifically, but earlier in the day reminded the board that the Faculty Senate approved a resolution condemning sexual harassment.
He also pointed out the Rosenberg investigation affected some people more deeply than others, especially victims of harassment, and added that some of his colleagues couldn’t come to work the Monday after the news broke. Trustees listened intently.
“Many of us in this room don’t share the same experiences,” he said. “Many of you and I have not been on the receiving end of such behavior.”
Search to take six to nine months
At the end of the meeting, Colson urged the board to quickly start a national search for FIU’s sixth president, as four other universities in the state are conducting searches for new presidents: the University of Florida, the University of North Florida, the University of South Florida and Florida Gulf Coast University.
“I don’t want to lose the best search firms because we got there a week or two late,” he said.
Colson said the board’s governance committee, which he chairs, will select a search firm in the next 10 days or so, then likely launch the search in early April. The search should last six to nine months, he estimated.
Colson mentioned FIU needs a 15-member presidential search committee, with representation from trustees, students, faculty and community members.
This story was originally published March 3, 2022 at 8:46 PM.
