OPINION: As FAMU's leadership shifts, alumni must guard against MAGA-infused power grab

BOT Chair-elect Deveron Gibbons, President-elect Marva Johnson,
Faculty Senate President Jamal Brown and Trustee Kelvin Lawson at last weeks press event.

The transition of power at FAMU—from Interim President Timothy Beard back to a permanent presidency—is not merely a bureaucratic handoff. It is a sacred passing of the torch. Now, as Beard prepares to step aside, that flame of progress faces a dire threat: the incoming administration of Marva Johnson and Board Chair Deveron Gibbons, whose blind allegiance to Governor Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump style politics risks smothering FAMU’s legacy of independence and advocacy.

Johnson’s tone-deaf press conference last week—where she theatrically claimed credit for a budget finalized weeks before her confirmation—was not just a display of arrogance. It was a warning. Flanked by Gibbons, whose unhinged, Trumpian lecture to “Rattler Nation” dripped with hypocrisy, the duo made their priorities clear: self-aggrandizement over substance, partisan loyalty over principled leadership. Their performative allegiance to DeSantis’ regime, which has systematically undermined public education and Black institutions, should alarm every stakeholder who cherishes FAMU’s role as a beacon of empowerment.

Do not be fooled by Johnson’s hollow boasts about “historic” funding. Her narrative crumbles under scrutiny. The $70 million secured under former President Larry Robinson in 2022—achieved without groveling to Tallahassee’s far-right power brokers—exposes her claims as recycled deception. Meanwhile, her decision to erase Beard from last week’s victory lap, despite his tireless advocacy during the legislative session, reeks of the same toxic elitism that fuels DeSantis’ attacks on academic freedom.

This is not leadership. It is political colonization. Johnson, a corporate lobbyist, and Gibbons, a DeSantis acolyte, represent a calculated effort to reshape FAMU into a prop for extremist agendas. Their vision—a university that kneels to lawmakers hostile to diversity, equity, and the very mission of HBCUs—must be resisted.

The torch Beard carries was lit by generations of Rattlers who fought for FAMU’s survival against racism, underfunding, and erasure. We cannot let MAGA-aligned opportunists blow it out now. The time for unity is not a empty slogan bellowed by Gibbons—it is a call to action. Alumni, students, and faculty must demand accountability, transparency, and leadership that honors FAMU’s legacy, not exploit it for political gain.

While FAMU's flames of progress still burns bright we must guard it fiercely.