Miller claims shift of COE fiscal agent duties to FSU consistent with what BOT “authorized”

FAMU’s policy for the past 28 years has been that it wants to serve as the fiscal agent of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering (COE). That was established by a 1987 agreement between FAMU and FSU that received the approval of the Board of Regents, which was the policy-making body for both of the universities at the time. The FAMU Board of Trustees adopted that policy when the Florida law made it the new policy-making body for the university in 2001.

The FAMU board reaffirmed that policy in 2007 after its interim president said she had no problem with a legislative plan to make Florida State University the fiscal agent for the COE instead of FAMU.

But on May 20, 2015 the Joint College of Engineering Governance Council, which includes voting representatives from the FAMU administration, unanimously passed a resolution to shift the COE fiscal agent duties from FAMU to FSU. FAMU Vice President for Communications Jimmy Miller said the change was consistent with what the FAMU board “authorized” during a February meeting.

“We believe the actions taken by the Governance Council on May 20th are fully consistent with the board of trustees’ action and comments at its February 2015 meeting where the president was authorized to do what is necessary to assure the continuing existence of the joint COE,” Miller said in a statement to the Tallahassee Democrat.

FAMU President Elmira Mangum could have a hard time defending that position when she meets with the Board of Trustees on July 21. The minutes of the February 6 meeting show that the FAMU board took a vote “to go on the record in support of keeping the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering intact.” But it did not take a vote to eliminate its policy stating that FAMU wants to be the fiscal agent for the program.   

The claim that giving the fiscal agent duties to FSU was part of what was “necessary to assure the continuing existence of the joint COE” could also be a very tough sell.

Back in 2014, the Florida Board of Governors hired CBT University Consulting to complete a study of the COE that had been requested by the Florida Legislature. The final report stated that the option of dividing the college into two separate schools with “differentiated programs” would likely be challenged by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and in the federal court system. It also concluded that it would cost $1 billion in startup costs to establish two separate research-oriented colleges of engineering at FAMU and FSU in a way that complies with federal case law. Federal case law would also prohibit both separate colleges from being located in Tallahassee.

Neither the Florida Legislature nor any private donor has publicly offered $1 billion to cover the costs of establishing separate engineering colleges for FAMU and FSU. So a transfer of the fiscal agent duties to FSU was not required to assure that the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering continued to exist.