For most of the past decade, the FAMU Board of Trustees has been chaired by individuals who have given the group a bad public reputation. FAMU trustees should use the upcoming chairmanship election to make a clean break from the dirty, self-serving politics that have been standard since the board’s creation in 2001.The best way to accomplish this is to make sure the new chair does not maintain a cozy relationship with outgoing Chairman Bill Jennings, a central figure in the board shenanigans of the past and present.
Jennings served as vice-chairman for two former chairs who established a tradition of incompetence and under-the-table dealing on the board, Jim Corbin (2003-2005) and Challis Lowe (2005-2007).
Jennings worked hard during the 2002 and 2005 presidential searches to help Corbin's cronies gain control of the university. He also stood by Corbin and former Athletic Director J.R.E. Lee, III in pushing the poorly planned D-IA move that made FAMU a laughingstock in the national media.
While serving as Lowe's vice-chairman, Jennings made the formal request for trustees to grant Interim President Castell V. Bryant a $50,000 raise that was primarily justified by her claims that she had straightened out the financial books and created an $8M surplus. He failed to ask the board to revisit her raise or $35,000 bonus even after state auditors reported that there was actually $10.4M deficit and gave Castell's books the first-ever qualified opinons in FAMU’s history. This led to questions about whether Jennings and Castell were looking out for one another.
Some FAMUans thought Jennings had finally changed his ways when voted to hire James H. Ammons as president in 2007 and was elected chairman. But he soon showed that he was still the same Bill Jennings.
As board chairman, Jennings refused to summon Developmental Research School (DRS) Superintendent Ronald Holmes before the board to answer tough questions about what he had done to the K-12 program. Ronald’s failure to recruit enough students to satisfy the demands of the 2009-2010 year’s budget threatened nine teaching jobs before Ammons dipped into university coffers to provide a $425,802 bailout DRS.
Many FAMUans openly wondered whether Jennings was trying to protect Ronald because of his chummy relationship with his brother, Trustee R.B. Holmes. R.B. personally nominated Jennings for the chairmanship in 2007 and 2009.
Now, it appears that Jennings’ ego has been bruised because he is seemingly getting the “lame duck” treatment as he heads toward the end of his term as board chairman (August 4, 2011) and the final year of his appointment (which expires on January 6, 2013). It is no secret that a growing number of Rattlers believe this is a big reason behind Jennings’ decision to give Ammons a hard time on his bonus despite the fact that he left Castell’s bonus alone.
Rattler Nation has learned that a deal might be in the works to make Jennings the head of the presidential evaluation committee and/or keep him on as the chief negotiator for making revisions to Ammons’ contract.
Vice-Chairman Richard A. Dent, III, a close ally of Jennings, is widely expected to be a candidate for the chairmanship. He and any other prospective candidates for the job should understand that Jennings does not represent the type of leadership that FAMU deserves. The new chairman must avoid any appearance of placating Jennings with power.
Jennings has shown that he does not have what it takes to be an objective and selfless leader. If he ends up with another powerful position on board after the chairmanship election, it will show that the rotten politics that have characterized FAMU’s Board of Trustees since 2001 are still alive and well.