FAMU, UCF challenging SUS hierarchy

Between the Board of Trustees vote to hire him in February 2007 and Larry Robinson’s appointment as FAMU’s acting CEO that May, James Ammons essentially served as president of two universities at the same time.

While stilling leading North Carolina Central, Ammons personally came down to Tallahassee to fight two anti-FAMU proposals that interim President Castell Bryant would not: Florida State’s attempt to take over the joint College of Engineering and the Pappas Plan.

University of Central Florida President John Hitt (pictured) joined Ammons in opposing the Pappas Plan. The report, written by a consulting firm hired by the Board of Governors, called for FAMU and UCF to become baccalaureate-only institutions.

UCF’s campaign against the Pappas Plan (supported by many powerful Orlando politicians and campaign donors) pushed the BOG to quickly shut up its discussions about turning any current state university into “baccalaureate-only” school, which benefited FAMU.

FAMU and UCF were targeted by the Pappas Plan because they threaten the current State University System hierarchy. FAMU and UCF’s graduate and professional programs provide affordable alternatives to those at the University of Florida. UF seems to be more concerned about enhancing its elitist magazine rankings by rejecting large numbers applicants than increasing low-income and middle class access to those areas of study.

UCF is an especially big problem for UF due to its location. Orlando is home to many politically influential individuals who want a first-rate public university in their backyard. Orlando’s central position in the state also makes UCF a convenient option for thousands of families who want their children to attend college close to home. And, “Disney World” is a much more appealing living area than “The Swamp.”

UF knows that UCF wants to knock it down from its privileged perch and become the best funded university in the state. UCF already took a critical step toward that goal by snatching UF’s crown as the SUS institution with the largest student body.

UF initially planned to decrease its freshman enrollment this year to help its “selectivity” and faculty-student ratio rankings. However, the Gators backed off after finding that they could not afford the likely multi-million dollar hit in state enrollment funding this move would have caused.

State Sen. Evelyn Lynn has now proposed a bill (SB 2442) to help UF get past this problem. It would designate UF as the de facto “flagship” of the SUS and set the stage for it to receive special treatment in funding. It would also require the BOG to rank SUS schools in tiers based on the "quality of their students, faculty, national reputation, and amount of funded research."

Lynn’s bill says that: “A nationally recognized and ranked university that has a global perspective and impact shall be afforded the freedom to pursue an agenda on the global stage in fair competition with other flagship institutions of other states.”

UF is the only public university that could qualify for this "flagship" distinction under the terms set by the proposed legislation. The bill requires Florida’s “flagship” be an institution that “brings over one-half billion dollars per year into the state economy through external grants and contracts.”

Lynn’s bill would place UF into a top tier and every other state university into a bottom tier. Her proposal is another example of placing elitist ranking games above the state’s economic needs. Florida should reward universities which prioritize student access, not those which try to up their magazine rankings by turning away large numbers of applicants.