The BOG’s policy of “confirming” the presidential selections
of public university boards of trustees has a controversial past. Back in 2009,
state Sen. Don Gaetz (R-Niceville) introduced a bill that clarified the fact that only university trustees had power to appoint and supervise the chief executives of their respective schools. It
was widely seen as a rebuff of the BOG’s attempt to gain more control over
presidential hiring and evaluation decisions.
Gaetz’s bill passed in both the Florida Senate and House of
Representatives. It had the support of FAMU advocates such as then-Sen. Al Lawson. Gov. Charlie Crist signed it into law on June 23, 2009.
But the Florida Legislature did a large-scale rewrite of the
state’s higher education laws during the 2010 session and declined to keep the
rule in place. The BOG then reintroduced the presidential “confirmation” policy.
A press release from the BOG stated that Mangum offered a
number of compliments to the State University System of Florida’s leadership
after the favorable confirmation vote. She is scheduled to begin work at FAMU on April 1, 2014.