Badger must avoid same mistake Art Collins made during 2001 presidential search

Back in 2001, Art Collins defied Gov. Jeb Bush by winning the first FAMU trustees chairmanship race despite being pressured to let R.B. Holmes have the position. Collins seemed to think his election victory meant it would be easy for him to build enough support to seat a highly-qualified successor to President Frederick S. Humphries. But he underestimated R.B.’s desire for revenge.

On the night before the final vote in the selection process, the majority of trustees still supported Collins. There were more than enough votes for Charlie Nelms, the only candidate who had been the top executive of two universities, to become the ninth president of FAMU. Nelms had served as chancellor of Indiana University East and the University of Michigan at Flint before being selected to serve as vice-president for student development and diversity for the entire Indiana University system.

But the 11th hour shadiness that is still typical of FAMU Board of Trustees processes turned the presidential search into a train wreck. A lie that claimed there weren’t enough votes to seat Nelms was spread throughout that evening. By the end of the shenanigans on that night, Nelms had withdrawn his application.

When the board met for the presidential vote the next morning, the anti-Collins trustees smiled and laughed when the chairman had to announce that Nelms was out-of-the-running. A group of trustees that included R.B., Castell Bryant, and Jim Corbin then worked to fast track the selection of Fred Gainous to run FAMU.

R.B. got his payback against Collins by introducing the motion to name Gainous the ninth president of FAMU.

Collins made a big mistake by failing to establish a safeguard against the obvious under-the-table dealing aimed at destroying the search and seating a weak president who Jeb’s top cronies could easily control.

Today, Badger is in a situation similar to Collins. He won reelection as trustees chairman despite pressure to let Rufus Montgomery, Gov. Rick Scott’s top crony, have the job. Badger should not underestimate what Rufus and the trustees who think like him are willing to do for revenge.

When FAMU trustees confirmed the appointment of Larry Robinson as the interim president on August 15, 2012, 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.

Badger temporarily suspended the search for a new FAMU president on March 15, 2013. Yesterday, Badger announced that he was restarting the presidential search. He gave a confused answer when a Tallahassee Democrat reporter asked him about if there was a still a scenario that could permit Robinson to remain as permanent president.

“I can’t answer that question,” Badger said, “because I’m the person who said he can’t apply.”

Once again, the FAMU board DID NOT vote to bar Robinson from becoming permanent president. Robinson said he was not going to apply and the board left it at that.

FAMU should go forth with the presidential search and seek the very best candidates possible. But it is important to remember that 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, the board still has the option to keep Robinson in place with either an interim or permanent designation. Badger should clarify that point to the media and stop giving jumbled answers.

FAMU is still in danger of having another search process ruined by gubernatorial cronies who are obsessed with seating a puppet instead of a president and getting even with the board chairman. If FAMU retains the flexibility to extend Robinson’s period of service as long as needed, then it will be harder for those trustees to succeed in what they are trying to do to the university.