Moez Limayem is starting a new role this week: the University of South Florida’s new president.
Limayem served as the dean of USF’s Muma College of Business for a decade before starting as the University of North Florida’s president in 2022. He grew up in Tunisia and has lived in a handful of different countries before he became an American citizen about a decade ago.
He will guide the university as it faces the growing political pressures of higher education and seeks to grow its standing in the Association of American Universities, which it joined two years ago.
“What we need now is, let’s go from (being) that rising star to being the star,” Limayem said.
Limayem recently sat down with the Tampa Bay Times to talk about issues facing higher education and USF’s path forward. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What did you learn from your time leading another school outside of USF, and did that experience illuminate anything you hadn’t previously recognized about USF?
I have learned so much and grew professionally and personally from that experience. What made that transformation is a much deeper knowledge of the state higher education ecosystem, a much stronger relationship with the Board of Governors. I think also a very deep, strong relationship with leaders in our government agencies in Tallahassee. I come here now as someone who has a better understanding of how different disciplines can work together, something I was not fully aware of when I was the dean of one college.
How do you see AI impacting the college landscape? How could it augment, or threaten, different fields of study?
AI is absolutely transformational. Many higher education institutions try to ignore it, others try to stop it and forbid their students from even using it. I think that’s not the way to go. I think we should invest tremendously in training our faculty and staff. We should make sure that our students know how to use AI effectively, efficiently and most importantly, ethically.
The Board of Governors is considering a one-year ban on employees with H-1B visas, which are issued to foreign professionals. Do you think Florida, and the U.S., would be forsaking their own growth by limiting who can come here and work?
We’re a state university. We have no other option than to obey by the laws and regulations in place. My mantra has always been: Control the controllable. The ban is for one year, we’ll obey with that, and we’ll do everything we can. We are committed to hiring the best and most competent faculty and staff, but also to retain them and keep them here.
You lived in many different countries before becoming an American citizen in 2015. Prospective international students face a variety of obstacles, like fee hikes and concerns over immigration enforcement. How would you approach those challenges if you were a student today?
I am really in a good position to understand the concerns and the worries of international students. I was one of them, so I do understand that. Let me also emphasize how much USF values our international students and scholars, their numerous contributions to USF. I am committed to talking with them to better understand their concerns and provide them with the resources they need to feel safer, to also make sure they are complying with the immigration law.
Many university professors across the state of Florida are looking for work outside of the state, some of them citing concerns about academic freedom. So I’m curious, what does academic freedom mean to you?
I’ve heard it many times that everybody (at UNF) is leaving. And at least my limited experience shows that in my current institution, that’s probably not true. We have been able to actually attract star scholars from out of state.
I am an academic at heart. I understand the importance for a faculty member to be able to do research in areas they want to do research. But also I understand that we are a state university. I also understand that there are governed by laws. So I will commit to academic freedom in the framework of the law.
You’ve said that it’s important for students and faculty to be able to express their thoughts without being scared for their safety. How will you ensure that?
The strength of any university is that it is a marketplace for ideas, for people to be able to express their their views. We have to make sure that freedom of speech is also done without violating any laws or university policies. And if people do violate this, despite us making sure that everybody knows these laws, that there will be consequences. One of my dreams is that USF will be the model for civil discourse. Civil discourse is the ability to listen, to understand, not to attack or to reply. It’s the ability to disagree respectfully.
To get more specific, do you think that there’s a place on campuses for debates around ideas like critical race theory and gender identity?
All the freedom of speech has to be done within the framework of the law. Anything that is allowed by the law, do it. If it’s not allowed by the law, we’re going to have to enforce it. We have no other options. We’ll make sure that people know these laws and these regulations in place, so they know what is allowable and what is not allowed. If people violate them, despite our effort and our transparency about these laws, there will be consequences.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has cracked down on pro-Palestinian student activism over the last couple of years. Do you think that there’s a place on campuses for criticism of the Israeli government?
Again, there are laws that govern what we can do and what we cannot do. I am committed to a university that is a safe place, that our people will feel safe. And not just Islamophobia or antisemitism, but any other type of harassment because of religion, shared ancestry, even cultural heritage.
You have said that you want to make USF into a model institution in the Association of American Universities. What challenges do you foresee kind of along that process, and how you plan to address them?
Partnerships are the rule of the game now, as funding from state and federal governments for research is not as extensive as used to be. Of course, we will cater to our region and our state, and they will always be a priority. But I think we should go national and international if necessary.
Everybody will tell me that the constraint is resources. But throughout my career, I followed one rule: You cannot take a pie of resources and split it different ways. That does not increase the resources. We have to work really hard on making that pie bigger.