FAMU board took step toward cleaning up its reputation by permitting flexibility on Robinson’s appointment

Every presidential search conducted by the FAMU Board of Trustees has been a dirty process. Between 2001 and 2007, the core conflict always came down to a tug-of-war between the FAMUans who wanted a research-oriented president with a backbone versus those determined to pick a weak president who Jeb Bush’s top cronies could easily control.

The latter group won in 2002 and 2005 in the wake of under-the-table dealing and smear campaigns against high-quality candidates. They came just one vote short of winning again in 2007.

Jeb is long gone, but Rick Scott has gotten the band back together by using many retreads from the Bush years to try and take over Lee Hall. Today, the go-to persons for the governor’s office’s bullying against FAMU include Frank Brogan (Jeb’s one-time lieutenant governor), Dean Colson (a Jeb appointee to the Commission on Ethics and Judicial Nominating Commission) and Rufus Montgomery (field director for African American outreach in Jeb’s 1998 gubernatorial campaign).

That is why it was encouraging to see the FAMU board establish a safeguard against the outside pressure to tap a spineless, submissive president. For the first time since its creation in 2001, the board declined to vote to restrict the interim president from being considered for the permanent position.

Back when he was appointed interim president on July 16, 2012, Larry Robinson said he would not apply for the permanent job. When FAMU trustees confirmed his appointment on August 15, 2012, Chairman Chuck Badger stated his personal opinion that most trustees weren’t interested in making Robinson the 11th president of FAMU. But the board never took a vote to bar Robinson from being appointed to lead FAMU on a permanent basis.

That flexibility is important to protecting the university against being pushed to settle for a low-quality candidate. The FAMU presidential application pools in 2007 and 2013 were poor, overall. Very few of the hopefuls had strong records of leading institutions ranked at the Carnegie Doctoral Research University-level or above.

If FAMU ends up with another subpar applicant list in 2014 or if the trustees decide that it’s still too early for another presidential change, the board has the option to keep Robinson in place with either an interim or permanent designation.

The trustees closest to Jeb and Scott have never been comfortable with Robinson. The arguments used to attack him in 2012 during the Scott governorship were many of the same that were used against him in 2004 after Fred Gainous’ firing during the Jeb governorship. He’s viewed with suspicion because he’s brought millions of research dollars into the university and has played a central role in building FAMU’s graduate programs.

Some Scott supporters at FAMU also grumble about his relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama appointed Robinson to serve as assistant U.S. secretary of commerce in 2010.

But too bad. FAMU’s future as a research school is too important to leave to outcome of a presidential search that could be destroyed by political yes-men who are more concerned about pleasing the governor’s office than ensuring the growth of the university’s multi-million dollar grant-raising programs. Keeping the option of a Robinson permanent presidency open gives FAMU another way to help defend itself from such individuals.