Search Committee Chair Deveron Gibbons staunchly defended the process calling it “smooth,” “open,” and “transparent” while dismissing mounting criticism as baseless “innuendo.” He praised the committee for narrowing the pool to four finalists and emphasized that FAMU’s General Counsel monitored all meetings, which were recorded.
“If rules were violated, it would have come out,” Gibbons said, challenging skeptics to file a formal complaint with the Florida Board of Governors (BOG). “This nonsense about what happened in the room… I can assure you none of it is accurate.”
But the reassurances failed to quell dissent. Ellison's motion was seconded by Trustee Belvin Perry, who sited weeks of public speculation over the search and a perceived preferred candidate, and rumors of preliminary salary negotiations with the candidate, secret meetings and other 'backroom deals". “If these [claims] are true, it brings the credibility of the entire process into question,” Perry said.
The pressure intensified Wednesday when Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor called the search a “farce” in a letter to the BOG and FAMU trustees. He criticized the lack of “qualified candidates,” flagged concerns over diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and urged officials to “peer through the haze of this Hanky Panky Express and restart the process.”
Proctor’s rebuke echoed earlier skepticism from the FAMU community. BOT Chair Kristin Harper, questioned why semifinalist names were leaked to the press despite confidentiality rules. “If there’s no problem, how did this happen?”
Gibbons, denied all allegations of collusion, stressing he had “no contact” with candidates or fellow committee members outside official channels to avoid violating Florida’s open-government “sunshine” laws. “None of these claims have been brought forward with any proof,” he said.
The four finalists in the FAMU Presidential Search include Marva Johnson, a former Florida Board of Education chair with ties to GOP leadership, whose late addition to the list had already sparked accusations of political influence. Others are Donald Palm (FAMU’s current COO), Rondall Allen (University of Maryland Eastern Shore provost), and Gerald Hector (UCF finance executive).
In the end, Ellison’s motion failed on an 8-5 vote with Gibbons, Crossman, Gainey, Washington, Lawson, White, May, and Brown voting against.
This is a developing story. Updates to follow.
At this point, the FAMU General Counsel should release the tapes and transcripts of the search proceedings that including those that lead to selecting fourth finalist … Gibbons should also release his phone and text records so that the public can be certain that he did not talk to search committee members outside the "sunshine"
ReplyDeleteLet’s keep things above board .