Back when the BOT voted to hire Mangum in 2014, Rattler
Nation wrote about how FAMU presidents have faced tough challenges ever since
the Republicans gained control of the legislature and governorship in the
1990s.
Former Gov. Jeb Bush didn’t like then-FAMU President Frederick S. Humphries’ cozy relationship with the Clintons. James Ammons, who became president in 2007, was viewed with scorn by numerous ex-Jeb supporters who backed the 2010 Rick Scott campaign. He was faulted for permitting the Marching 100 to perform at a 2007 Barack Obama presidential campaign event in Ybor City and giving the green light for two Obama 2008 rallies to take place on the Tallahassee campus. Back in 2012 political influences told FAMU board members not to appoint Larry Robinson, who had served as Obama’s assistant secretary of commerce, to the interim presidency.
But Humphries, Ammons, and Robinson all understood that they had
a responsibility to not make the situation worse by publicly snubbing Florida
GOP leaders. Those presidents treated state GOP leaders with professionalism
even when some Republican politicians were disrespectful to them.
Mangum has been very careless in her dealings with
Republican officials in Florida while Warren has kept quiet.
2014 Comments by Mangum during Governor’s Reelection Campaign
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?’”
2015 Travel Reimbursement Dispute for Scott’s Inaugural
Prayer Breakfast
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. 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.
“You insisted that the only official invitations received
were addressed to you and Chairman Badger,” he said in an email dated January
11, 2015 (five days after the prayer breakfast). “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…”
2016 FAMU Day at the Capitol Controversy
The latest controversy involving Mangum and state GOP officials is linked to FAMU Day at the Capitol. Mangum’s office announced that
February 4 would be date for the event. But on Monday, the Tallahassee Democrat
reported that Mangum had chosen to skip FAMU Day at the Capitol in order to
participate in a set of activities in Washington, DC. One was the White House
National Prayer Breakfast, which U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, had invited
her to attend as his guest.
Warren decided to join Mangum in DC and told the FAMU
National Alumni Association that Trustee Kimberly Moore would speak on behalf
of the BOT at the evening reception for FAMU Day at the Capitol.
Members of the majority Republican Florida Legislature had
been asked to set their schedules for a February 4 event date requested by the
FAMU administration only to later learn that the FAMU president and BOT
chairman preferred to spend time with a Democratic U.S. senator and a
Democratic U.S. president instead of them on that day.
Mangum ending up cutting her DC trip short and rushing to FAMU Day at the Capitol after a February 2 Capitol News Service report that
said: “Many close to higher education say Mangum is snubbing lawmakers at a
time when she’s barely recovered from efforts to fire her.”
Warren might not think it’s a big deal for him to ignore
Mangum’s slights toward Florida GOP leaders. But his silence is sending a
message.