Plight @ Institutions of Higher Learning

[NUPE4LIFE]

Originally posted by AKA2D '91
Florida A&M president fired
Wednesday, September 29, 2004 Posted: 10:07 AM EDT (1407 GMT)


Florida A&M president Dr. Fred Gainous leaves a Board of Trustees
meeting Tuesday.



TALLAHASSEE, Florida (AP) -- The president of Florida's historically
black public university was fired Tuesday after a little more than a
two-year tenure marked by a dispute over the school's football
program and bookkeeping problems.

Florida A&M board of trustees voted 9-4 to dismiss Fred Gainous
effective December 31. It provided what all agreed was a meaningless
caveat -- that he could keep the job if he wins unanimous board
support by then.

"We knew the job was dangerous when we took it," Gainous said. "We
thought we could make a difference. And I think we have."

Gainous became president of the 13,000-student university in July
2002. His decision earlier this year to delay moving the football
program to NCAA Division I-A left a badly split board and divided
loyalties among the school's alumni.

Gov. Jeb Bush said he supported the decision to remove Gainous,
saying in a statement: "It is my sincere hope that the interests of
FAMU's students remain the school's number one priority."

Trustees chairman James Corbin said there would be a national search
for a replacement. Trustee Barney Bishop III, however, called the
ouster "a railroad job."

"This agenda was manipulated to get the result that they wanted,"
Bishop said.

Though Bishop said he feared the decision would slow fund-raising
efforts, a faculty member said it was time for a change.

"Sooner or later, you can't continue to say, 'Sorry I made a
mistake,"' said William Tucker, president of the university's chapter
of the United Faculty of Florida. "Too much water had gone under the
bridge for the situation to be salvageable."

Among other problems, a 2003 review found the school's construction
budget was off by more than $3 million.

Living in Tallahassee, I'm very familiar with what's going on over there at FAMU. This situation has been brewing for months. The alumni were not happy with Dr. Gainous at all. He came in with good intentions I believe, but who knows what went wrong. I know there move to Division I-A was wrong! They moved without even a forethought to what i was gonna take to actually make the jump. Not talking just being successful, I mean upgrading athletic facilities, providing more athletic scholarships etc. I never wanted to go to FAMU but they do have a few nationallly renownd programs. Recently the much maligned financial aid dept. accidentally sent people double net checks. And a girl I know who is a student at FAMU, her net check was sitting at the bottom of a pile. If she didn't go in to the office, she might have never gotten it. And it's not the students. It's the average HS Diploma workers, that live in Frenchtown who are the problem.(If you're familiar with Tallahassee, you know how Frenchtown is.) They just need someone to come in and overhaul the entire University. FAMU is a good school with a rich legacy! Something has to be done!

[SKEEphistAKAte]

I am so afraid that my alma mater will become an FSU Annex.
From jump, everyone had reservations about Gainous. I figured it was because most people loved Humphries (our previous prez) so much that they didnt think anyone could fill his shoes.
What FAMU needs to do is stop chosing presidents according who was their classmates (this is not a popularity contest) and choose someone who is QUALIFIED. They are just giving Jeb a reason to step in and take over, tripping over themselves to show these saltines that we can't take care of business on our own...It is just sad to see your alma mater fall apart before your eyes

[Jody]

Gainous really got in trouble when he wanted to merge some programs with TCC. Even if it wasn't initially his idea, he should have been astute enough to talk to Trustee members individually to gain some support instead of allowing them to read about it in the newspaper. He was brought to FAMU to fix the problems, not to build a legacy of his accomplishments. Had he addressed the overwhelming problems at FAMU first, I'm confident he wouldn't have been in this situation.


ps: Skeephistakate:

When were you at FAMU? pm me!

[AKA_Monet]

Gainous spoke at my Grandfather's funeral at Bethune-Cookman College in 1994...

He had come from a rich legacy of African American Floridian educators...

I imagine his leadership style is such that it was "old school" rather than the corporate leadership it takes to run any college or university... When I say "old school" leadership, I am talking knocking on doors and having bake sales for endowed planned gifts and fundraising...

Sad for FAMU because several of my cousins graduated from excellent programs, there...

Oh well, Bethune-Cookman College will have an anniversary this coming weekend. My folks will be there with my grandmother!!! In fact my father donates more money to BCC than his alma mater, Fisk...

[nikki1920]

Why is it that we have such a hard time trying to run our schools like BUSINESSES? HBCUs will end as we know it if we keep doing this..

[SKEEphistAKAte]

Jody your box is full.

[Dionysus]

Originally posted by nikki1920
Why is it that we have such a hard time trying to run our schools like BUSINESSES? HBCUs will end as we know it if we keep doing this..

I know I know. We must PRAY for them!

[Dancerella1908]

Being a FAMU Alum. it is very disheartening to hear and read about all of the turmoil surrounding the university this past year. I just pray that some rays of sunshine will prevail soon from this dark cloud.

[CrimsonTide4]

FAMU Financially Shuts Down Football Program:

http://www.wctv6.com/sports/headlines/1108652.html

[AKA2D '91]

Originally posted by CrimsonTide4
FAMU Financially Shuts Down Football Program:

http://www.wctv6.com/sports/headlines/1108652.html

Oh. my. word!

[CrimsonTide4]

Originally posted by AKA2D '91
Oh. my. word!

Yeah.

[AKA2D '91]

I KNOW the alums are NOT going to sit back and just LET THAT HAPPEN. FAMU has a long/rich football tradition. I hope something can be done to restore funding.

[SKEEphistAKAte]

I was heartbroken when I saw this on the news last night. I mean really, where is the Marching 100 going to play? at the baseball games?

I love my school and I hate to see this happening. Be prepared to see heads rolling!

[jojapeach]

Originally posted by NUPE4LIFE
I know there move to Division I-A was wrong! They moved without even a forethought to what i was gonna take to actually make the jump. Not talking just being successful, I mean upgrading athletic facilities, providing more athletic scholarships etc.

Even with that being the case (and I agree with you), I'm still saddened to see the school just give up on the program like that. What were the powers that be expecting in just 2 years? And if the football program is being shut down like that, what will be the fate of other sports? Honestly, I know more about FAMU's football than basketball, etc, so it makes NO sense to cripple the better known program.

Also, SKEEphistAKAte hit the nail on the head about the band. Doing that much damage to the football program can only cause a ripple effect that will hurt other programs and activities.

I hope that FAMU alumni can unite to help their school. I'm not a product of an HBCU, but FAMU is a school I would definitely hate to see go the way of Morris Brown.

[NUPE4LIFE]

one of the problems the football program had this year is that they had a much tougher schedule due to the fact that they played some I-A white schools who they had already scheduled when they moved to I-A. However, they couldn't even beat their past MEAC division rival at the Florida Classic. Many alumni feel that Billy Joe's tenure as coach is up. For the past few seasons they have been performing under expected performance.

i can't imagine that the athletic dept. can be so much and debt that they would take away any spending from the life blood of their the dept. i think that dr. ramsey wants coach joe out and that he's just using this as some kind of leverage against joe. rev. dr r.b holmes one of the trustee members said they were going too look into it. who knows. i believe that yesterday they named an interim pres. yesterday. i'll try and pull up the article from the democrat. oh i forgot, they haven't beaten bcc at the classic in the last 2 or 3 seasons.