FSU trustees send Thrasher back into ring with Mangum, giving him power of presidency

Last spring, Elmira Mangum led the way in defending FAMU against state Sen. John Thrasher’s attack against the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. It now looks like that was just the first round. Mangum will need to put on her gloves back on again soon to go toe-to-toe with “President Thrasher.”

Yesterday, the Florida State University Board of Trustees chose Thrasher as the university’s next president. The selection appears to be an indirect endorsement of the crooked tactics he has used to try and break the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering apart.

Back during the legislative session, Thrasher led an unsuccessful effort to split the joint E-College and give Florida State University $13M to begin the process of creating a separate college. He said the change would be beneficial to FAMU, which would now have an engineering college all-to-itself.

Thrasher’s words did not fool Mangum. She shot back by stating her opposition and informing the legislature of the full cost required to provide FAMU with a top-rate, independent engineering college. Mangum said that it would take $100M to construct a brand new engineering college on the university’s main campus and an additional $5M in new recurring dollars (the amount necessary to replace all of the FSU faculty who would leave).

When Thrasher refused to offer one cent towards those costs, it proved that his plan was an attempt to weaken FAMU's engineering programs, just as many Rattlers had thought. 

Thrasher claimed that Mangum and FSU Interim President Garnett Stokes had met and agreed to develop a “memorandum of understanding” on breaking up the joint E-College. But Mangum said it was not true and took Thrasher to task for mischaracterizing her position.

Thrasher got his proposed $13M through the Florida Senate, but the Florida House of Representatives said “no.” The two chambers came to a compromise by appropriating $500,000 for the Florida Board of Governors to conduct a study of the joint E-College.

FAMU alumni such as state Sen. Arthenia Joyner and Rep. Alan Williams came to FAMU’s aid during the legislative battle by fighting to demand fair treatment for the university. But state Sen. Bill Montford, whose district includes FAMU, remained very tight-lipped throughout the debate over Thrasher’s budgetary amendment.

Mangum was successful in seeing through Thrasher’s dirty tricks last spring and rallying support for the defense of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering despite the silence of some so-called “friends” of the university. Rattlers should prepare to support her again as she deals with more political strong-arming that is aimed to hurt FAMU’s future in engineering education.