Warren was another low-quality trustee with no loyalty to FAMU

For years the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) has declined many excellent applications for the FAMU Board of Trustees (BOT) in order to appoint low-quality individuals like Cleve Warren. The BOG finally got rid of Warren yesterday after he spent years hurting FAMU.

The end of Warren’s time on the BOT came after he chose to keep silent about FAMU President Elmira Mangum’s slights against top Republican politicians in the state of Florida.

Warren didn’t lift a finger to help when FAMU lost budget authority for the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering after 28 years or after the vice-president for audit and compliance reported “potential interference” in his work. He also didn’t speak out about the terrible media relations by the current administration.

Warren had no loyalty to FAMU and Rattlers are all better off with him gone.

FAMU deserves to have a BOT like the one at the University of Florida. The governor’s office and BOG have appointed nine alumni to the BOT at UF. But they have only appointed two alumni to the BOT at FAMU, the only public historically black university in the state.  

The small number of FAMU alumni that have been appointed to the FAMU BOT is an insult. It suggests that FAMU doesn’t have as many alumni who are up to the task of leadership as UF does.

Rattlers must continue working to get more alumni trustees who have strong professional records and who actually care about the university.