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| Joe Bullard, Elmira Mangum, Chuck Badger, and Gayle Andrews
at the 2015 Inaugural Prayer Breakfast |
At the time of the prayer breakfast in honor of Gov. Rick
Scott’s election to a second term, FAMU President Elmira Mangum appeared to be
working to mend fences with him.
Back on August 23, 2014, the Tallahassee Democrat ran a
story that included the following comments that Mangum made about FAMU Trustee
Rufus Montgomery, who Scott appointed in 2011: “Reminded that Montgomery is
closely affiliated with Gov. Rick Scott, who appointed him to FAMU’s board,
Mangum responded: ‘What does that say about the people that appointed him?’”
The governor won his reelection race just over two months after Mangum made that statement about Rufus in the Democrat. Mangum later agreed to continue the tradition of hosting the Inaugural Prayer Breakfast on the FAMU campus. FAMU has served as the site of the event for almost 30 years.
But Rufus, who was then vice-chairman of the Board of
Trustees, said the president refused to let the university reimburse the
travel expenses of certain trustees who wanted to attend the prayer breakfast. He said
that led to a contentious phone conversation that other university staffers
heard.
Rufus wrote his claims about that what happened during that
phone call in an email dated January 11, 2015, five days after the prayer
breakfast. He sent the email to BOT
Liaison Linda Barge-Miles with a request that it be forwarded to Mangum. He also copied the email to General Counsel Avery McKnight.
“Chairman Badger and Attorney Barge-Miles were both on the line. Both can attest to the fact that I did not raise my voice on the call. Furthermore, your accusations of yelling on the phone are patently false. You failed to include that you raised your voice several times and yelled my first name 'RUFUS, RUFUS, RUFUS' several times immediately after I made it clear that you did not have the authority to set Board policy. With your voice in a loud tone, you also made reference to another meeting you were 'missing' in order to have a conversation with me.“All of this resulted from your assertion that Board member travel to Tallahassee for the Governor's Inaugural Prayer Breakfast would not be covered as an official expense? You insisted that the only official invitations received were addressed to you and Chairman Badger. Even though the Board does not have a standing policy on Board member travel, you were outside your pay grade in your attempt to apply your interpretation of University policy to valid requests for reimbursement from Board members…“The restraint I showed by allowing up to four interruptions before taking action was met by public accusations from you of bullying and implied sexism. On what planet do university presidents (who want to keep their jobs) make disparaging and openly public remarks about their Board members to the local media? Followed by a shot at the governor?”
Section 1001.71(2) of the Florida Statutes says that: “Members
of the boards of trustees shall receive no compensation but may be reimbursed
for travel and per diem expenses as provided in s. 112.061.”
Rufus didn’t specify which trustees were denied travel
reimbursements for prayer breakfast, but video of the event shows that he and
then-Trustee Lucas Boyce attended.
As expected, the governor later declined to offer
reappointment to Badger, a Mangum-supporter. The governor replaced Badger with
Robert Woody in March.
Woody gave Mangum a “Does Not Meet Expectations” rating for
every question in his individual evaluation of her in July. He referred to the
complaints about what Mangum had said about Rufus in the Tallahassee Democrat even
though his comments seemed to suggest that he hadn’t personally read the quote.
On October 22, Woody made a motion to terminate Mangum’s
employment terminate Mangum’s contract “without cause” and with “no
confidence.” The motion failed with a 6-6 split on the board.
Scott will soon make a number of new appointment decisions
for the FAMU BOT. The term of Torey Alston, a Scott appointee, ended on
January 6, 2015. Scott also hasn’t chosen a replacement for Boyce, who resigned in October.
The terms of three more Scott appointees will end on January
6, 2016. Those appointees are Rufus Montgomery, Belinda Shannon, and Kelvin Lawson.