Belinda Shannon was the last alumna of FAMU to receive an appointment to the BOT. She was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott in 2011 and served until 2016.
For Fall 2017, 6,428 of the total 9,909 students at FAMU were women. That’s 64 percent. But there are no women who graduated from FAMU in any of the 11 appointed seats on the FAMU BOT.
Six of the appointed seats are filled by the governor and the other five are filled by the Florida Board of Governors (BOG). The last two trustees are the elected Faculty Senate president and Student Government Association president.
Vice-Chair Kimberly Moore and Trustee Nicole Washington are the only two women who have appointed seats on the BOT. They were both selected by the Florida Board of Governors.
Bettye A. Grable was elected to the BOT by a vote of the FAMU Faculty Senate. She is the only woman on the BOT who has a degree from FAMU. Grable earned a M.S. in journalism from FAMU.
FAMU went from having six of the 11 appointed seats on its Board of Trustees filled by alumni in 2015 to now only two. At both the University of Florida and Florida State University, alumni hold the majority of the 11 appointed seats.
The FAMU National Alumni Association has spoken out publicly about the problem. But so far Scott and the BOG haven’t announced any intention to correct it.
No candidate in the Florida gubernatorial race has publicly promised to work to restore the alumni majority on the FAMU BOT if elected.