June 2016: SBI professor warns BOT about possible targeting of 4 FAMU deans

At the June 10, 2016 meeting of the FAMU Board of Trustees (BOT), School of Business and Industry Professor Clyde Ashley told board members about the possible targeting of four deans at the university.

Ashley didn’t go into details about what he meant when he said the deans were “being targeted.” But the four deans he mentioned during his two-minute speech in the public comments section of the meeting were School of Architecture and Engineering Technology Dean Rodner B. Wright, SBI Dean Shawnta Friday-Stroud, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Dean Michael D. Thompson, and School of Journalism and Graphic Communication Dean Ann L. Wead Kimbrough.

President Elmira Mangum didn’t comment on the issue at the BOT meeting.

The full statement Ashley made to the BOT is below:

Trustee Lawson, chairman, members of the Board of Trustees, Madam President, I am Dr. Clyde Ashley, associate professor in the college of Business and Industry.

 

Board of Trustees, your fiduciary responsibility: financial excellence, high quality institution, ethical integrity, sustainable growth and development. You hire and evaluate the president. You help create a culture of success.

  

President Mangum, your job is to be a visionary leader; inspire and motivate others, shared governance, increase enrollment, be “best in class” in terms of programs, successful processing or progression of students, graduation of students.

  

FAMU is great. Period. The College of the Year in 1997. Led the nation in national scholars. Best in class programs, such as pharmacy, engineering, nursing, law, environment, agriculture, allied health,  journalism and not but least SBI.

  

Graduates: Dr. Shawnta Friday-Stroud, Oscar Joyner, Jon Thompson, Shaundran Thomas, Michael Robinson. Donations given by Jon Thompson: five million dollars. Donation given by Hershey, in honor of Dr. Mobley: one million dollars.  

  

At FAMU, we cannot target our deans. As I understand it, some of our deans are being targeted.

SBI dean -- one of the best deans in the world; pharmacy dean, architecture dean, journalism dean. That is asinine. We have flashy programs all over this campus.

  

Board of Trustees, you hire and evaluate the president. If the president is doing a great job, you maintain her and renew her. If she’s not doing a great job, then don't renew her and replace her with  someone who can do the job.  

In the name of Spike Lee, do the right thing.