FEATURE
1. Dan Mica (click for full article)
2. Robert Griswell (1966-67)
Graduated: ’67, BA Political Science
While in office: Griswell struggled to help SG mature — many members regularly failed to show up to meetings while he was president. Griswell resigned after just more than two months in office, saying he had to work on his GPA and complaining that presidents should be “allowed one year off academically, to take only 3-5 credits.”
After FAU: Unknown.
3. Henry “Hank” Petrillo (1967)
Graduated: ’67, BS Biological Science
While in office: Petrillo inherited the position and made the best of it, at one point personally driving to Tallahassee to protest a tuition hike — to no effect, of course. He then lost the students’ goodwill when he decided to, in his words, “go on an extended vacation from the university due to employment,” giving way to a third president in a year.
After FAU: Petrillo continued on to become a doctor, graduating from the College of Osteopathic Medicine in Dallas, Texas. He returned to Florida to practice, but ran into several legal issues — in 1986, his osteopathic license was revoked for malpractice and false advertising; in 1987, he served three months in prison for grand theft; two years later he was convicted of insurance fraud, for which he served eight months of a four-year prison term. Again in 1999, he was indicted for health care fraud, and when he refused to pay a $5000 fine, his license was revoked once more.
4. James “Jim” McCollum (1967)
Graduated: ’68, BS General Administration
While in office: McCollum made that drive to Tallahassee with Petrillo, but that’s about all he did, since he was president for less than a month — as SG’s secretary of state, he was merely filling in for Petrillo’s vice president, who hadn’t enrolled in classes that semester.
After FAU: After his bachelor’s, McCollum got a law degree from FSU and practiced law in Sebring, Fla. He opened his own self-named law firm, and stayed very involved in the community, serving as president of the Sebring Chamber of Commerce and president or board member in several other organizations. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, and died in August 2010.
5. Paul Scherer (1967)
Graduated: ’68, BA English
While in office: As Petrillo’s VP, Scherer took up the presidency in September at the start of the semester. He, too, accomplished nothing in the one month remaining of what was originally Griswell’s term — elections were held in October.
After FAU: Scherer went on to study law, passed the Florida Bar in 1973, and is now an attorney at Christopher B Young PA in St. Petersburg, Fla.
6. Kenneth “Ken” Jenne (1967-68)
Graduated: ’68, BA Political Science
While in office: Only the third elected president, Jenne’s forceful personality imposed some much-needed stability on SG, although he won the election by just five votes after picking Scherer as his VP and beating out McCollum for the top spot. As president, he saw the enactment of a revised SG Constitution — then called a charter — that he had mostly rewritten himself as a student senator.
He held regular “bitch-ins” — his term — for students to voice their complaints and for him to address them directly. Jenne also fought for student discounts, putting students on administrative decision-making committees, and removing campus maintenance costs from the activity and service fee budget — in other words, making the administration pay for it, instead of students. Jenne also organized a series of campus lectures by local politicians, and began SG scholarship and book exchange programs.
Jenne sparked controversy when, on a committee of two administrators and two students tasked with picking FAU’s “Man of the Year” and “Woman of the Year,” he voted for himself. The other student, female, voted herself Woman of the Year. Both “won,” to student outrage.
After FAU: One of FAU’s most successful — and now infamous — alumni was just as productive after graduating. He went on to earn a law degree from FSU and quickly moved up the ranks of local government. He became a prosecutor for the Broward County State Attorney’s Office in 1972, a county commissioner in 1974, commission chairman in 1976, and a state senator in 1978. He held that position for 18 years, then moved into the role he is most known for — Broward County Sheriff, in 1998. After a corruption investigation in 2007, he pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion and mail fraud and resigned his position.
He spent a year in federal prison, and when he got out, went to work for another highly recognized and now disgraced lawyer: Scott Rothstein, who was convicted last year in one of the biggest fraud schemes in South Florida history. Jenne also fought a two-year legal battle to regain his pension plan, estimated at $134,500 year — and lost at every turn. Since Rothstein’s firm collapsed, Jenne has kept a low profile — the only Jenne in the news is his son, state Rep. Evan Jenne.
7. Judy Larue (1968)
Graduated: ’68, BA English Education
While in office: When Jenne graduated in the summer, student senator Judy McAtee (her maiden name) took over, making her FAU’s first female student body president, though she had little time to accomplish anything before Jenne’s term was up.
After FAU: Larue works as an insurance consultant in West Palm Beach.
8. Michael “Mike” Moore (1968-69)
Graduated: ’72, BS Mathematics
While in office: Moore emerged from a field of four candidates to win with just under 39 percent of the vote — 435 students. Moore fought to allow beer on campus and to start student evaluations of teachers. After less than three months in office, he resigned due to “academic pressures and personal reasons,” although he continued to write for The Atlantic Sun. In one column, he came out in favor of legalizing marijuana, and also said “LSD has favorable effects.”
After FAU: Moore is a computer programmer who has done work for big-name companies including Google, Home Depot, and Elbit Systems, a military electronics manufacturer based in Israel.
9. Madeline “Matey” Veissi (1969)
Graduated: ’68, BA Social Science Education
While in office: Moore’s VP, Matey Horton (her maiden name) took over for the rest of his term — reluctantly, according to The Atlantic Sun. She received little attention in the paper after that, although her male VP was frequently quoted — perhaps a sign of the era’s gender inequality.
After FAU: Veissi and her husband run Veissi & Associates, a real estate firm in Miami. She’s on Twitter as @MateyVeissi and keeps a real estate blog.
10. David “Dave” Grover (1969-70)
Graduated: ’69, BA Political Science
While in office: Grover was the first student body president to enter office married. His wife Vicki was dubbed “FAU’s First Lady.” During his term, he tried to pick up past presidents’ projects and get them going or revamp them, including getting beer on campus, bringing back the textbook exchange and lecture series.
After several students got food poisoning from the cafeteria’s macaroni salad, Grover sent a list of complaints about sanitation to the administration — including the reuse of dirty dishes and silverware, hair in food, and unrefrigerated food being left out all day — and demanded they be addressed immediately. They were. He resigned three-quarters through his term shortly before graduating.
After FAU: Unknown.
11. Kevin Miller (1970)
Graduated: FAU doesn’t know.
While in office: Miller is the president FAU forgot — perhaps understandably, after a confusing string of fill-ins. He has no photo or plaque on the wall of presidents outside SG, and a records request for information about all past presidents completely left out Miller. That’s OK, since he didn’t do much: He was Grover’s VP and took over for about two months.
After FAU: Unknown.
12. Miles McGrane (1970-71)
Graduated: ’70, BS Management
While in office: McGrane proposed the original student code of rights and conduct, and got it adopted. He also spoke out against FAU President Kenneth Williams, after Williams fired dorm administrator John Marshall. Marshall had criticized the university for turning a blind eye to marijuana use in the dorms, and McGrane urged Williams to rehire him and not to use him as a “scapegoat” for FAU’s poor enforcement. Florida’s senate became involved in the issue, and McGrane gave testimony that helped lead to policy revisions.
After FAU: McGrane got a law degree from Samford University and has since practiced in Miami. He is president of McGrane, Nosich & Ganz and was president of the Florida Bar in 2003. He has been an adjunct professor in the law school at UM since 1980.
13. Xavier “Drew” Atria (1971-72)
Graduated: ’72, BBA Management
While in office: Atria ran as a write-in candidate against a field of four others — and won. It helped that he was president of the dorm council and was already pretty popular on campus. It was during Atria’s term — although he had little to do with it — that the club predecessors to Owl TV and Owl Radio first began broadcasting, as FAU TV and Radio FAU.
After FAU: Atria was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1987 and has worked in the Broward County Public Defender’s Office ever since.
14. Rosa Miller (1972)
Graduated: ’71, BA History
While in office: Atria’s VP Rosa Gil (her maiden name) inherited the position when he either resigned or graduated — The Sun doesn’t say which. During her very brief presidency, she railed against the “catastrophic apathy” contributing to SG’s struggles.
After FAU: Miller went on to USF to get her master’s degree in education. Although she became a Broward County librarian — and is now retired — she also stayed politically active, working on local campaigns for presidential candidates George McGovern, Walter Mondale and Bill Clinton. She still lives in Boca Raton.
15. Richard Perlini (1972-73)
Graduated: ’72, BA History
While in office: In the second-closest election to this point in FAU’s history, Perlini won by just 28 votes. He immediately threw himself into the job and took up extra work, asking FAU President Kenneth Williams to send back the budget which had been submitted for next year so he could have a hand in it. He also pushed for quick revisions to the SG charter, saying the current one — Jenne’s, five years later — wasn’t “worth a damn.” He cut the document down from 17 pages to just five, and that wasn’t all he did to slash bureaucracy.
He called for mass resignations in SG, frustrated with an absurd number of committees he couldn’t keep track of and meetings that people weren’t showing up to. In his words: “We don’t know who’s on the committees, when or where the committees meet, and whether the appointees have attended.”
He also helped get FAU students a 25-percent discount to use the Florida Turnpike, which was the primary route to commute at the time. Perlini was also known for the scathing letter he sent to Florida Gov. Reubin Askew, in which he demanded that the search for FAU’s next president — Kenneth Williams had announced his retirement — be conducted in the public eye.
During his term, the University Center — now the Student Union — first opened. A photo from the period shows President Williams and Perlini clinking beer mugs together at the Rathskeller —now called Coyote Jack’s. Both were grinning.
After FAU: Perlini went for a law degree at UF and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1975. His self-named practice in Fort Lauderdale concentrates on personal injury, criminal defense, and family law.
16. Joy Shearer (1973)
Graduated: ’73, BA Communication
While in office: Shearer inherited the presidency from Perlini when he graduated, and rounded out his productive term by getting the GPA requirement for student office abolished, and continuing work toward getting an FAU daycare funded. She also stood up to President Williams when he booted Atlantic Sun editor Ed Schiff and others and took over control of the publication — an action that led to a five-month legal battle that ultimately saw the staff restored. At 19, she was the youngest SG president till that point.
After FAU: Shearer went on to get a UF law degree and has bar memberships from the Florida Bar, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court — where she has argued two cases. She was assistant attorney general in Florida from 1977 to 1989, and is now a magistrate in the 15th Judicial Circuit of Florida — Palm Beach County.
17. Chip Fuller (1973-74)
Graduated: ’74, BS Engineering
While in office: Fuller was known for something before becoming president: finding ancient silver coins and other sunken treasure. A marine archeological company called Seafinders Inc. hired him at the recommendation of the ocean engineering department. He got to help explore the shipwreck of the Maravillas, a Spanish ship lost in the 1600s, which they had found near the Bahamas.
He was known for plenty in SG, too — he fought FAU President Glenwood Creech to allow students to distribute pamphlets teaching about birth control and sexually transmitted diseases; he went straight to the Florida Board of Regents — now the Board of Governors — which manages all public universities in the state, and urged them to change dorm policies that allowed students to visit the opposite sex only during restricted hours; he continued work on previous presidents’ initiatives including a student daycare facility, an outdoor stage behind the Student Union, and allowing wine sales on campus.
Fuller was also president when SG moved into its current offices, and insisted that they ask for donated carpet rather than spending student money to beautify their space. He also worked hard to promote SG during student orientation, and his efforts paid off when a record 21 students ran for nine student senate seats in the next election.
After FAU: Fuller actually came back to FAU for an MBA, which he earned in 1982. He then launched his own company near Atlanta, Ga., called Strata Systems, which manufactures and installs “geogrids.” These grids are specially designed meshes that reinforce structures and prevent erosion in locations with safety risks — highway embankments and railings, bridges, dams, levees, landfills and other places with steep slopes. It may sound weird, but there’s a national and even international market for them — Fuller’s company recently established a branch in India.
18. John “Jack” Petsche (1974-75)
Graduated: ’76, BA Philosophy
While in office: Petsche had a rocky, controversial presidency. His main stated goals were to focus on student entertainment and the expansion of the Rathskeller. He failed to appoint students to important committees for months. He was accused by others in SG of spending student money on personal trips, renting campus rooms for birthday parties, and other nonsense that resulted in impeachment charges that ultimately went nowhere. To his credit, Petsche tried to organize a tuition hike protest — but nobody showed up. Not enough free food?
After FAU: Petsche moved to Ohio and started a law firm: Jack A. Petsche III & Associates.
19. James “Jim” Hardman (1975)
Graduated: ’75, BA Political Science
While in office: Hardman’s main goal was to get unrestricted parking on campus. In particular, he was annoyed by faculty’s reserved parking, and said in one meeting, “If the faculty insists on restricted parking, then damn it we’ll charge them for everything: for the use of the pool, the tennis courts, and all other privileges that are supposed to be for students.” Although the student senate initially supported him and passed a resolution expressing a similar sentiment, the initiative went nowhere. After FAU President Glenwood Creech said “this isn’t the time” for a student-faculty war, Hardman backed down.
After FAU: Hardman worked as a floral designer until he died in April 1992.
20. Dorothy “Dot” Walker (1976-77)
Graduated: ’76, BBA Criminology
While in office: Walker was not only FAU’s first elected female president — all the others had won it through succession — she was also the first black president. She focused on state politics, lobbying the Board of Regents to include a student member and opposing their plans to switch the university from a quarter system to a semester system.
But she was criticized for neglecting local duties and not spending enough time on campus issues: She failed to appoint an attorney general or election board for several weeks and missed several meetings. She was also criticized for attempting to call a closed meeting — when law dictated the meeting must be public — but canceled it and allowed a public one to be scheduled.
After FAU: Unknown.
21. Timothy “Tim” Monaghan (1977-78)
Graduated: ’77, BA Political Science
While in office: Monaghan won the first seriously botched election at FAU. He won the first time — with almost 100 more votes than the other three candidates combined — but his sore-loser opponent Terry Heekin filed 35 frivolous complaints about the election process. They were going to be thrown out, but the election board allowed him to rewrite them. Then they threw out the election, instead. In the second election, Monaghan still beat Heekin handily, by exactly 100 votes.
Monaghan was the first president to have an assistant of any sort, got free legal advice for students, and for some reason opposed the existence of palm trees on campus.
After FAU: Monaghan went on to get an MBA in 1979 and a law degree in 1984, both from FSU. He then returned to South Florida to practice, where he focuses on healthcare law. He has been an adjunct professor at FAU, and recently became a partner at Shutts & Bowen, one of the 250 largest law firms in the country as ranked by the National Law Journal in 2008.
22. William “Will” Wallace (1978-79)
Graduated: ???
While in office: Heekin made another attempt at the presidency, but Wallace, who had run twice before himself, was virtually guaranteed to win after he kicked off his election campaign with a keg party. He sought a greater portion of funding for student services rather than administrative costs, more favorable dorm visitation rights and policies, and the inclusion of dental as part of student health services.
After FAU: FAU believes Wallace is dead, but provided no other information. Unfortunately, a more famous William Wallace made it virtually impossible to find out.
23. James “Jim” Koburger (1979-80)
Graduated: ’78, BA Political Science
While in office: Koburger, who had been Wallace’s VP, continued Wallace’s initiatives. He focused on creating the child care center that still hadn’t come to fruition, and placed some spending limits on Program Board, which was blowing its budget. Koburger was president when state officials made proposals to merge FAU and FIU — the plan passed in the Florida House, but ultimately, and fortunately, fell through in the senate.
After FAU: Koburger runs a Tallahassee branch of Florida Farm Bureau, an insurance company.
24. John Makris (1980-81)
Graduated: ’84, BA Economics
While in office: Makris, in talks with administrators, got rid of an annoying $25 “replacement key fee” that had been put in place to stop dorm students from giving spares to their boyfriends/girlfriends. He also mounted one of the largest FAU student protests of a tuition hike by starting a big letter-writing campaign — but it still didn’t change legislators’ minds.
After FAU: Makris opened a self-named accounting firm in Boca Raton. He is the current president of the Atlantic chapter of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, a professional accounting group that’s been around since 1905.
25. Robert “Rob” Desimone (1981-82)
Graduated: ’83, BBA Marketing
While in office: Desimone took Makris as a VP, but it didn’t help his popularity. After firing two SG officials early on in his term, Desimone was at war with his fellow leaders for the rest of the year. All sides in the battle descended into petty politics, accomplishing little.
After FAU: Unknown.
26. Helen Strain (1982-83)
Graduated: Majored in Economics
While in office: Our second elected female president combined the most genius ideas of two predecessors: She held a letter-writing campaign against tuition hikes along with free beer. It still didn’t lower tuition, but it sounds fun.
She was also known for promoting the separation of athletics fees from activity and service fees, and for working on improvements in health services.
FAU doesn’t say whether she ever graduated.
After FAU: Strain stayed in politics as a field organizer for Democratic political campaigns. She was a field director for Janet Reno’s governor campaign, Dave Aronberg’s state senate campaign, and West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel’s campaign, among others. She’s also been vice chair of the Florida Democratic Party and a member of the DNC, and is currently a VP for Planned Parenthood of North Florida.
27. Anthony “Tony” Raitano (1983-84)
Graduated: ’84, BA Economics
While in office: Raitano won because he ran against a student senator who tried to single-handedly change the FAU mascot from the Owl to the Seahawk, and then tried to hide the fact. The most noteworthy thing The Atlantic Sun reports him doing is giving his VP a raise.
After FAU: Unknown.
28. Thomas “Tom” Plante (1984-85)
Graduated: ’84, BA Communication
While in office: Plante was Raitano’s VP, and finagling a raise was probably one early sign of his persuasive skills. He finally got a child care center on campus and, like a true politician, declined to comment on a proposed tuition hike until he heard the opinions of other student body presidents in Florida. Plante presided over the first freshman class of FAU — until then, the university only had upperclassmen.
After FAU: Plante became a political campaign consultant, and has worked for Palm Beach County School Board member Mark Hansen, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, and Florida Rep. Bill Hager, among others.
29. Daniel “Dan” Hyndman (1985-86)
Graduated: ’86, BSSE Electrical Engineering
While in office: Hyndman, sadly, is most known for being hit in the face with a crème pie by a student named Michael Guzman, who died in a motorcycle accident a few weeks later. In an Atlantic Sun column, Hyndman wrote that he was struck with “a caustic, creamy substance” that left him “shocked and nearly blinded.” He called it an “unbelievable atrocity.” He filed charges against Guzman, while SG tried to impeach him.
Hyndman’s VP, Lynette Causey, had orchestrated the pie-throwing to humiliate Hyndman, and she asked Guzman to throw it so she could take a photograph. She wanted to humiliate him because she was angry he had vetoed a bill that would’ve given her $5,000 in travel money to go to London, where she had won a summer scholarship.
SG mostly sided with Causey, and saw no problem in giving students’ money to benefit one SG leader. Hyndman — dramatic as he might’ve been about it — did. Reporters from The Miami Herald, Sun-Sentinel, Boca Raton News, and Palm Beach Post covered the whole month-long circus.
After FAU: Unknown.
30. Virginia “Gigi” Sharp (1986-87)
Graduated: ’86, BS Physics
While in office: Gigi Reed (her maiden name) debated Ken Jenne’s — then a state senator — proposal for what ultimately became FAU’s Davie campus, arguing that it would be a competitor to the Boca campus and split funding. She called it “Ken Jenne University,” and staged a protest that prompted a direct response from Jenne, praising her dedication and loyalty to FAU, even though he disagreed with her opinions.
She also began two FAU traditions: the “Walk of Fame” — where the sidewalk blocks outside dorms get repainted each year — and the annual SG banquet. She, like many before her, resigned before her term was up. But out of the bunch, she had the best reason: to spend more time with her young son, Timmy.
After FAU: Unknown.
