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Rehwinkel Vasilinda Rejected For FGCU President

Former Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda failed to make the final cut in the extended search for Florida Gulf Coast University president.
Former Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda failed to make the final cut in the extended search for Florida Gulf Coast University president.

For a second time, a presidential search committee for Florida Gulf Coast University has given a thumbs down to a former Tallahassee lawmaker.

Former Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda failed to make the final cut in the extended search for Florida Gulf Coast University president.
Former Representative Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda failed to make the final cut in the extended search for Florida Gulf Coast University president.

Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda at least gets an “A” for effort. She was rejected in a preliminary round, but reapplied when the committee reopened the search.

An attorney, Rehwinkel Vasilinda has been a professor of Legal Studies and Applied Ethics at Tallahassee Community College since 1989. The former House member angered fellow Democrats when she supported a controversial guns on campus bill. She ultimately left the Democratic Party and appeared with candidate Donald Trump at a Tallahassee campaign rally.

Former Republican Representative Tom Grady of Naples made the final round.

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Jim Ash is a reporter at WFSU-FM. A Miami native, he is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.