Nearly ninety days into her tenure as president of FAMU, it has become painfully clear: Marva Brown Johnson must choose whether she leads the university with courage and independence, or remains a compliant instrument of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ political agenda.
Let’s not pretend how she got here. Her appointment reeked of political patronage, not academic distinction. But what’s even more alarming is her apparent willingness to serve as a proxy for the governor’s office—undermining the very institution she was hired to protect.
Now, DeSantis’s administration is poised to install yet another ally, Florida Lottery Secretary John Davis—a Republican operative with no athletic administration experience and his own trail of ethical questions—as FAMU’s next athletic director. This isn’t governance; it’s a political colonization of one of the nation’s most revered HBCUs.
He would replace Angela Suggs, who was forced out over travel voucher discrepancies at a previous job—a case that ended with a deferred prosecution agreement and less than $650 in restitution. Her offense, it seems, was minor enough to be resolved with a check and an apology. But her return was never seriously considered. Instead, Marva Johnson and her boss DeSantis appears to be opting to install another loyalist, a "plant".
Mr. Davis, of course, has faced is own scrutiny over more than $50,000 in questionable travel reimbursements for which he has not reimbursed a single dime.
This isn’t governance. It’s patronage. And it stinks.
President Johnson’s actions as president to-date have done little to inspire confidence. Her hasty alignment with Florida State University in the controversial Tallahassee Memorial Hospital transfer deal—cut with little transparency or regard for FAMU’s interests—suggested a troubling pattern of concession to powerful, predominantly white institutions. Now, as she acquiesces to the governor’s hand-picked AD, she risks becoming not a leader, but a lapdog.
And let’s be clear: this is not merely a FAMU problem. It is a warning to every public university in Florida. When elected officials can unilaterally place their loyalists into positions of academic and administrative authority, the very idea of higher education as a sphere of independent thought and meritocratic leadership is corrupted.
But FAMU is not helpless. Rattlers—alumni, students, faculty, and supporters—must demand better. They must reject the narrative of powerlessness and hold President Johnson accountable. If she wishes to be seen as anything other than a DeSantis subordinate, she must demonstrate real backbone. Now, in these early days of her tenure, precisely her opportunity to prove whose interests she serves: the interest of FAMU students, alumni, faculty, or those of the political operatives who installed her.
The soul of FAMU is at stake. So too is the principle that our universities should be run by educators, not enforcers of political orthodoxy.
It’s time for Marva Johnson to decide who she works for. And it’s past time for all of us to defend the independence of institutions meant to serve our students, and Rattlers yet unborn —not politicians and the powerful.