Brogan's FAU record disqualifies him from criticizing FAMU's grad rate

Frank Brogan led Florida Atlantic University (FAU) for six years and never pulled the six year graduation rate above 39.4 percent. He now seems to think that his record at FAU somehow qualifies him to be a leading critic of FAMU's current 39.3 percent six-year graduation rate.

Brogan, who is now the chancellor of the State University System of Florida (SUS), was back at it in yesterday's Orlando Sentinel. The newspaper ran a story entitled: "Brogan to FAMU: Cut number of low-performing students."

Denise-Marie Ordway, the article's author, declined to tell her readers about Brogan's graduation rate record at FAU.

Ordway also failed to mention that FAU and Florida International University (FIU) barely graduate more students than FAMU in six years despite the fact that they only admit a very small number of students who don't meet the SUS's standard admissions requirements. FAU and FIU's six-year graduation rates were both 41 percent in 2010-2011.

That information is in the SUS records, but Orlando Sentinel reporters like Ordway still refuse to acknowledge it. They would rather ignore those facts in order to print more slanted articles against FAMU. Highlighting comparative information about Brogan's FAU record and FAMU's ability to keep pace with FAU and FIU's graduation rates would undercut the biased news coverage.

If students admitted through the SUS profile assessment process "profile admits" were really the biggest factor preventing FAMU from having a higher six-year graduation rate, then its current six-year graduation rate wouldn't be anywhere close to that of FAU and FIU, two universities that take in very few profile admits.

Ordway also chose to depict students admitted through the SUS profile assessment process as "low-performing students." The fact that a student was admitted through the profile assessment process doesn’t automatically mean that he or she had a low GPA or standardized test scores. Students can end up in the "profile admit" category simply because they attended a low-income high school district that didn't offer enough foreign language classes or enough math classes above the Algebra I level.

FAMU’s ability to keep its graduation rate neck-and-neck with FAU and FIU’s despite its large number of profile admits speaks to the quality of the academic program at the university.

Brogan couldn't get FAU’s six-year graduation rate up to 40 percent even though he had a very small number of profile admits. He's the last person who should be bashing the graduation rate at FAMU, which remains close FAU's despite the extra challenges FAMU has assumed as part of its historical mission.