Cassidy started his job at FAMU about a month before Mangum
announced in a November 2014 press release that Marcella David would become the
new provost. The provost is officially the second-in-line to the presidency at
FAMU, but David’s start date was not until February 2015. So in the months before
David came to Tallahassee, Cassidy took on a leading role in helping the new
Mangum administration get up-and-running.
When January 2015 came, Mangum signaled the high ranking she had given Cassidy among her vice-presidents by bringing his division from Foote-Hilyer to Lee Hall. She moved the Division of University Advancement out to a new location on Tennessee Street and gave Cassidy’s Division of Finance and Administration its former suites on the first floor of Lee Hall.
The arrival of David in February 2015 didn’t appear to
change Cassidy’s status as the go-to vice-president on Mangum’s team. David hadn’t
ever served as a university vice-president before in her career and seemed to
be overwhelmed by the demands of the job. She fumbled through many of her
public appearances during her first six months at FAMU and often looked lost
when she was asked basic questions about the university’s academic programs.
But Cassidy had previously served as a university CFO twice in
his career. He also had started working with Mangum before David did. Those
advantages helped him hold on to the power he had in the administration even
after the provost position was filled.
Cassidy is now at the center of two conflicts with other
FAMU vice-presidents that have made headlines.
At the August 5 Board of Trustees (BOT) committee meeting,
then-Chairman Rufus Montgomery said Cassidy had called him and asked him to
consider a potential deal to replace General Counsel Avery McKnight with a new appointee to that position.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the chairman claimed “he was told the
call came at the request of Mangum.”
Mangum refused to give a “yes or no” answer when the BOT
chairman and vice-chairman asked her if she had any knowledge about the alleged
call. Rufus then followed up with an email that he sent to Mangum and copied to
McKnight on August 12. He said the following about the issue:
"1. Employment status of FAMU general counsel Avery McKnight"Your CFO (and member of your senior leadership team) contacted me regarding potential termination of the university general counsel and clearly stated verbally and in writing that it was on your behalf.
"Did you authorize this conversation? When did you first know about this conversation?"
The latest controversy involving Cassidy began when Vice-President
for Audit and Compliance Rick Givens expressed concerns about a written message
he received from him. On Oct. 21, Givens forwarded Rufus an email that Cassidy had
sent him about documents Givens' office was compiling to answer questions Vice-Chairman
Kelvin Lawson had asked about spending at the on-campus President’s House.
Givens wrote the then-BOT chairman and told him that: “Per your request
to notify you of potential interference with the work of Audit &
Compliance, I am forwarding the e-mail string to you.”
At an emergency BOT conference call on Oct. 22, Rufus referenced
the email Givens had sent about the “potential interference” in order to make
the case that the board should hire an external auditor.
“I do believe it would better serve the institution if we
were to have an outside independent voice given that the vice president of
audit and compliance has already experienced what he perceived as interference,”
he said.
The BOT voted 9-0 during the conference call to hire an external
auditor to conduct a report on the renovation projects at the President’s House
and bonuses that were awarded to members of Mangum’s staff.
Mangum already has a tough task ahead of her when it comes
to dealing with a BOT that voted to deny her a performance bonus and then
almost fired her. The public tensions among her own vice-presidents are only
adding to the dysfunction.