Marva Johnson and Deveron Gibbons wildly take credit for FAMU’s legislative success they had nothing to do with

Marva Johnson, the FAMU president-elect set to take office on August 1, addressed the media for the first time, Wednesday, at the Florida Capitol, to celebrate FAMU's 2025 legislative achievements in the FY 25-26 budget. Accompanied by FAMU trustees, including Vice Chair Deveron Gibbons, Faculty Senate President Jamal Brown, and former Chairman Kelvin Lawson.  

Prior to Johnson’s remarks, Gibbons took to the podium to lecture “Rattler Nation”, in a Trump-like rant totally devoid of reality, saying “it’s time for us to come together and work together.  We can no longer talk about being under resourced, not having the proper appropriations and not getting what we deserve out of the state budget. That’s what this president-elect will bring to the table.” 

Johnson touted  FAMU’s  $65.5 million windful, above and beyond its operating budget appropriation.  Among the FAMU funded projects in the FY 25-26 budget are:

·      $40 million for the construction of Building C at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering;

·      $15 million for operational enhancements;

·       $5 million for the College of Law;

·       $2.5 million to enhance campus security (last year FAMU received $5 million)

·       $2 million for the College of Agricultural and Food Sciences Brooksville campus

·       and $975,000 to conduct an agronomical study on emerging crops in Florida.

“This take-home is nearly double what we took home from last year’s legislative budget request,“ Johnson said. ”In fact, this is the largest legislative budget request in recent history.”

Johnson and Gibbons managed to pack an impressive amount of hyperbole and nonsense into a nearly 10-minute press conference on the 22nd floor of Florida's Capitol.  After concluding her remarks, Johnson quickly exited the without answering any questions from reporters (as she has done before).

 

The “rocket sized hole” in Johnson’s claims

Johnson, a corporate lobbyist, claimed that the extended legislative session allowed her to ‘weigh in and advocate for the university’s needs.  ’The timing raised eyebrows: Florida’s $115 billion 2025-26 budget had already been largely finalized by late May, with only minor details unresolved when legislators reconvened on June 3 for budget conference after a week’s long feud with Governor Ron DeSantis.  Under close scrutiny, Johnson’s boasts about her ‘securing resources’ collide with the inconvenient truth that the state budget was passed on June 16^th, two days prior to her BOG confirmation.  

 

Johnson’s claim that this was this is the “largest legislative budget (amount FAMU received from the Legislature) in recent history”, ignores the fact that FAMU received nearly $70 million from the Florida Legislature just three years ago in the FY 22-23 state budget.

Interim President Timothy Beard, who has led the university since last August, was notably absent from the press conference—a curious omission given Beard’s stewardship of much of the institution’s legislative agenda throughout the year.