Republican Rick Scott named five new members Thursday to the board of governors leading Florida’s universities – giving him a powerful hold on a panel that earlier resisted his calls for lower tuition and cost-cutting.

The five new appointees include H. Wayne Huizenga, Jr., 51, of Delray Beach,  son of the South Florida investor and former
sports team owner, and Wendy Link, 48, of Palm Beach  Gardens, managing partner of a law firm
bearing her name.

With the five new selections, Scott appointees now comprise nine-members of the 17-person State University System Board of Governors. The new members get seven-year terms and must be confirmed by the Florida Senate.

By adding new allies, the governor likely fortifies his drive to retool Florida’s university system, which he sees as central to the push to expand the state’s economy and create jobs.

“Gov. Rick Scott has chosen a group of well-qualified individuals, with broad ranges of skills and experience,” said Board Chair Dean Colson, an appointee of Scott’s predecessor, Gov. Charlie Crist. “They join the Board of Governors at a time when there is a heightened awareness of the importance of higher education to the citizens of our state.”

After vetoing a tuition increase for FSU and UF, signing off on a controversial new state university and axing $300 million from the universities’ budgets, Gov. Rick Scott launched a possible remake of Florida’s higher ed system with a new “Blue Ribbon” panel announced today.

“The state has a vested interest in ensuring its higher education system produces world-class talent to serve as engaged citizens and meet the demands of Florida’s emerging knowledge-based economy. It’s time to assess the progress of prior reform efforts and identify strategies to improve efficiencies and enhance the system’s effectiveness as an economic catalyst.” Scott said in a statement announcing the “Blue Ribbon Task Force on State Higher Education Reform.”

Dale Brill, president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce Foundation, will chair the seven-member panel. The other six members will be chosen by House and Senate leaders and Board of Governors Chairman Dean Colson and Vice Chairman Mori Hosseini. The panel is slated to deliver its recommendations to Scott in November.

Scott last week vetoed a measure that would have given the University of Florida and Florida State University the ability to raise tuition as high as they want. The university presidents insisted the unprecedented authority was necessary to bring tuition at the institutions more in line with the higher-ed market.

But in his veto message, Scott said schools first need to reduce costs and administrative salaries and prove that their degrees equate to jobs for students.

State university system Chancellor Frank Brogan said Florida’s already “traveling toward a new frontier of accountability” and he hopes the Blue Ribbon panel will rely on work already done by the Board of Governors that will create “the most accountable public university system” in the nation.

“In particular, the Board’s Strategic Plan and Annual Accountability Report provide more than 60 System-wide comparative data points at-a-glance. I am confident that these products taken together can provide the strongest possible foundation for this group’s discussion,” Brogan said in a statement.

Board of Governors Chairman Dean Colson reacted with a cautious response that stopped short of an endorsement.

“Additional support for Florida’s public universities is always welcomed, especially if it accelerates the achievement of the Board’s goals and metrics for our university system,” Colson said in a statement. “During the past two years, the Board of Governors has laid out a comprehensive vision through three significant work products: a new 2025 Strategic Plan1, transformed metrics in the Annual Accountability Report2, and a three-year work plan template3 that each university will present annually. We look forward to a meaningful dialogue that bolsters a shared vision for the State University System.”

University budget cuts loom and the Legislature is divided over talk of tuition increases.

But Dean Colson, chairman of the State University System’s Board of Governors, said Thursday that lawmakers’ criticism overlooks the level of belt-tightening Florida’s 11 public universities have already endured.

“I understand the need to push us to make cuts to get rid of fat,” Colson said, after testifying before the House Education Committee.  “But the last four years, we’ve gotten rid of $500 million worth of fat, so I’m not sure there’s that much fat left.”

The Senate budget committee approved a state spending plan Wednesday that reduces state support for universities by $400 million, including a $47 million cut for Florida Atlantic University. The FAU reduction amounts to about one-third of the school’s operating budget.

The Senate plan also doesn’t include a tuition increase, although budget chief J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, acknowledges that universities can seek up to 15 percent tuition hikes from Colson’s board. Alexander said universities should first draw down the more than $800 million in reserves they hold.

Colson, though, isn’t so sure about how easy it’ll be to tap the cash.

“There’s an explanation for most of that money,” Colson said, adding, “but if some have hoarded that extra money, it’s okay to squeeze them for it.”

Gov. Rick Scott has rejected the pitch for tuition increases. And Colson also distanced himself from another level of Scott criticism: That universities should work on reducing the robust salaries drawn by many of the school’s top admininstrators.

“The president of the university of Florida is running a $4 billion, $5 billion operation. What should he get paid? You can’t pay him $200,000-a-year,” Colson said.

Indeed, UF President Bernie Machen earned almost $524,000 in 2009-10, according to the most recent review of presidential pay, compiled by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Colson said that whether Scott or the Legislature endorse a tuition increase, he expects universities will come to the Board of Governors to seek approval for as much as a 15 percent hike next year. But he conceded that less certain is how the board will rule on those requests.