Yesterday, the terms of two FAMU trustees came to an end.
Bill Jennings and Charles Langston’s appointments to the
FAMU Board of Trustees (BOT) both expired on Jan. 6, 2013. Jennings originally joined
the BOT in 2001 after being appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush. Langston came aboard in
2008 after being selected by Gov. Charlie Crist.
The Florida Board of Governors will decide what happens to
Jennings’ seat. Gov. Rick Scott will make the choice to either keep or
replace Langston. Jennings and Langston will continue to serve until final decisions are made with respect to their seats.
Jennings and Langston both came to the aid of Scott’s go-to
trustee, Rufus Montgomery, when he worked against the decision to appoint
then-Provost Larry Robinson as the interim president on July 16, 2012. But
Student Body President Marissa West out-debated all three of them and rallied
enough support pass her motion to place Robinson in charge of FAMU.
FAMU deserves better than individuals like Jennings and Langston, who are in Scott’s pocket. Rattlers should begin lobbying FAMU’s district senator, Bill Montford, and the senators in the Florida Black Legislative Caucus to block any attempt to reappoint Jennings or Langston to the board.
The stakes for FAMU’s presidential search are much too high to take risk of supporting low-quality trustees who don’t want FAMU to have the very best
leadership possible.