Marva Johnson's 100 Days of Disaster: The train wreck is just getting rolling

With the 100th day of Marva Brown Johnson’s presidency now behind us, it is time to step back and survey the wreckage. Her first 100 days have been nothing but failure after failure.  

Disables social media comments on day 1
Johnson’s disastrous presidency began not with presence, but with evasion—launching her tenure from a safe distance in Orlando with a sterile, heavily scripted video. The tin-eared rollout was timed precisely as Interim President Timothy Beard stood before graduates at summer commencement, a move that managed to be both disrespectful and politically clumsy.

The backlash was immediate and severe. As criticism flooded FAMU’s social media platforms, the university’s response was not introspection, but suppression: comments were abruptly disabled, and dissent was erased. This heavy-handed, Orwellian tactic—silencing the very community she was chosen to lead—sparked accusations that Johnson and her allies are employing Trump-style authoritarian tactics to control the narrative.

The communications team’s decision to lock comment sections reflects an administration already retreating into defensiveness and secrecy. As one viral post from a FAMU alum noted, “This is straight from Trump’s MAGA playbook: if you don’t like the feedback, shut it down.” So begins the Johnson era: not with dialogue, but with a blatant attempt to sanitize dissent.

Johnson hires trustee as second in command
In a move emblematic of this disastrous tenure, Johnson appointed Kelvin Lawson, a former FAMU trustee with no formal higher education administrative experience, to the powerful role of Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer. Lawson's was not a résumé built on academic leadership or administrative excellence.  Despite his glaring lack of qualifications, Johnson has handed him one of the most powerful posts on campus, overseeing the provost and vice presidents of student affairs, division of administrative services, and division of sponsored research.  Keen observes quickly called this appointment for what it was --- quid pro quo.

Mr. Lawson, who until recently appeared to be without regular employment, was most notably the president of North Star Total Services—a limited liability company he quietly registered just two years ago.  

Academic partnership with struggling NY college 
But the failures did not stop there. At the request of Rufus Montgomery, a controversial former FAMU trustee and vocal Trump supporter, Johnson recklessly forged an academic partnership with a New York college mired in serious accreditation issues. 

Then, in another bewildering spectacle, Johnson appeared alongside Montgomery at Fox News studios to pay homage to ultra Black conservative host Harris Faulkner just ahead of homecoming week—a tone-deaf political stunt that raised eyebrows across the university community.

Top hire comes from college fighting for its survival 

Perhaps most absurd of all is the appointment of Marcus H. Burgess, Ed.D., another Montgomery protégé, as senior vice president. Mr. Burgess came to FAMU fresh from his role as interim presidency at Saint Augustine’s University—an institution in free fall, where enrollment has collapsed by more than 70 percent in a two-year period, dwindling to a mere 174 students.  

During his one-half year tenure at SAU, Burgess was citied by the state of NC for allegedly failing to secure workers compensation insurance for the university.  The school currently clings to accreditation only by court order, embroiled in a legal battle to avoid being stripped of its standing. That Johnson would deem such a record worthy of reward is not just baffling; it smacks as another bold "in your face hook-up" for a friend, and a stunning betrayal of Johnson’s purported mission to attract top-tier talent capable of helping the university achieve R1 status.

Lottery Secretary as AD

Then there is the expected appointment of current Florida Lottery Secretary John Davis as FAMU Athletic Director, a move so brazen in its cronyism that it borders on parody.  Davis, who was photographed walking around the FAMU sideline during the Jackson State game -- in FSU gear is a longtime Republican operative with zero experience in athletic administration. 

Mr. Davis’s primary qualification for the job appears to be that he played football at Florida State University three decades ago—a credential stunningly irrelevant to overseeing a modern Division I athletics program. His expected appointment is a blatant case of patronage, openly trading the integrity of FAMU’s athletics on the altar of political favoritism. The move has already drawn sharp and warranted criticism, revealing an administration more committed to serving powerful interests than to upholding even the faintest pretense of ethics or merit.

Johnson’s pattern of rewarding unqualified allies is leaving the university’s reputation and stability in peril.  One hundred days in, under Johnson’s leadership, FAMU isn’t just stumbling—it’s being driven off a cliff.