On Monday evening, the NAA executive board held an emergency
meeting to discuss the recent layoffs of the manager of fiscal affairs and
membership coordinator in the university’s Alumni Affairs office. The two
positions assisted the NAA with a number of administrative tasks.
NAA President Tommy Mitchell said the executive board
decided to inform Mangum of its disappointment about the way the two employees
were treated.
“We are going to indicate our concerns,” Mitchell said in a
quote published by the Tallahassee Democrat. “This was not done in a respectful
manner. The people they fired played a critical role in our operations.
“The staff realignment is an essential part of the ‘Back to
Basics’ changes that are needed to help us build a team and create the
necessary positions that will accomplish the expectations of our Board of
Trustees, Board of Governors, and more importantly our students in supporting
our programs with effervescent and effectual fundraising, friend-raising, and
alumni cultivation agendas,” Jones wrote.
Last month, WFSU reported that the NAA declined an
invitation to support a press conference organized by a group of FAMU alumni
lawmakers who wanted Board of Trustees Chairman Rufus Montgomery to resign. Mangum
had accused the chairman of violating her rights as an employee two days
earlier.
“While we chose not to be part of that press conference,
we’re equally concerned about the dilemma of our board chair and president of
being unable to work together,” Mitchell told WFSU.
WFSU reported that “Mitchell argues the battles between
Mangum and Montgomery are largely policy, not pettiness.”
“The president is responsible for the operation of the
university, however it seems the board feels if there’s a decision made that
involves the budget—they feel it’s a policy issue,” he said.
The report did not specify the budget issue that Mitchell
referred to. But Mitchell has recently expressed concerns about Mangum’s
support of a decision to shift the $12,996,539 core operating budget of the
College of Engineering (COE) from FAMU to Florida State University. That change
was made with a vote of approval from the FAMU Board of Trustees.
“Alumni are extremely concerned,” Mitchell told Diverse
Issues in Higher Education in July. “It
appears as though FAMU did not fight this. I think it’s important for FAMU to
always be a strong advocate for FAMU and to make sure that whatever decisions
are made [are] in the best interest of FAMU.”