FAMU Rattlers chose to "strike" during presidential candidate Marva Johnson's interviews

Get the Point!

Concerning Florida A&M University's search for its 13th president, in all honesty, I had only casually followed the process until last month when Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor sounded the alarm that a fourth candidate, which I later learned was Attorney Marva Johnson, had been added to an initial list of three well qualified candidates as recommended by the search committee.

Attorney Marva Johnson

As I delved deeper into Proctor's concerns, I took time to read the multiple page curriculum vitae of the three candidates with experience in university settings, Dr. Rondall Allen, Mr. Gerald Hector, CPA, and Dr. Donald Palm, and I also carefully read Johnson's two page resume as posted on the University's website. Please note that as I have disclosed in this blog space and in an article published earlier this month in the Tallahassee Democrat, I have known Allen and Palm for decades, share organizational ties with both, and consider them to be personal friends. Those ties, however, are not the reason why upon reading their professional accomplishments in academic settings, as well as those of Mr. Hector, that I immediately understood why the search committee named them finalists; simply stated, each of these men meets the requirements outlined by the search committee in that they hold terminal degrees, have experience at research oriented universities, and experience with the complexities of the NCAA.

After reading Johnson's resume, it was clear that she has had an objectively impressive career in telecommunications and as a lobbyist for various business entities! It was also clear that she has been objectively successful in her extra professional pursuits, which include being tapped by Florida Governors Rick Scott and Ron Desantis to serve on education related boards, the 2018 Florida Constitution Revision Commission, as an organizer for the 2020 Republican Convention in Jacksonville, and as an elector for Donald Trump in that year's presidential race pitting the then 45th president against the victor, Joe Biden.

And yet, as I perused Johnson's resume, it was also objectively clear that while she holds a terminal degree (JD), she did not meet the search committee's second and third requirements of having experience working at a research university and with the NCAA—facts that render her inclusion as a finalist suspect. 🤔

Mind you, these criteria were set for a reason, and that was to ensure that FAMU would continue to excel in the strategic plan implemented by its 12th president, Dr. Larry Robinson, one that helped the school ascend to the top ranking among public HBCUs for the past two years per U.S. News & World Report. And to be frank, but for the fake $237 million donation fiasco that led to embarrassing headlines last year, President Robinson would still be sitting in Lee Hall and continuing FAMU's tradition of excellence in academics and athletics.

But the fake check fiasco did happen, which led to Robinson's resignation and our current process of finding his replacement. A process, as Commissioner Proctor called out, in which the appearance of impropriety, including allegations that back room deals were being made by several politically connected members of FAMU's BOT, such as Vice Chair Deveron Gibbons, to install Johnson as the next president.

Over the past several weeks, Gibbons and other search committee members have denied these allegations and absent litigation and a discovery process in which phone records and emails are disclosed, and sworn depositions under penalty of perjury are taken, there is no way at this time to prove their denials to be false. On this point, Florida NAACP President Adora Obi Nweze stated earlier this week that her organization is considering a legal challenge, thus, as I always like to say, "stay tuned!"

In the meantime, FAMU alumni, students, and even some faculty members and staff have also reviewed Candidate Johnson's record and prior to her on campus interview, over 11,000 had signed a petition calling for her withdrawal, while over three thousand had signed a letter from Keepers of the Flame, one that compares and contrasts FAMU's search with a similar one going on at the University of Florida. Last, a number of FAMU faithful have created social media posts, like the viral one from Hollywood mogul (and FAMU alumnus) Will Packer, calling attention to Johnson's lack of qualifications per the Board's criteria.

willpowerpacker

A post shared by @willpowerpacker

Johnson's defenders, including Vice Chair Gibbons, have suggested that she is a "non-traditional" candidate who brings a unique set of skills or experience that would render the search criteria "advisory" instead of mandatory. While I do not agree that the criteria are mere advisory, I realize that such was their position coming into Johnson's on campus interviews yesterday and, to no one's surprise, such comprised one of the key talking points that she made during each of the three public segments that I observed in person.

Now, I submit that when I prayed before heading to campus yesterday, I humbly asked God to grant me the wisdom to listen to Johnson as objectively as humanly possible. Trust, I know that we ALL have subjective biases and pre-conceived notions that can color our judgments, but I have had numerous discussions with several friends who know Johnson well over the past several weeks and while they do not share her politics, they vouchsafed that she was an intelligent and kind person who, for reasons they could not figure out, was determined to push forward in this process despite knowing that a great majority of FAMU stakeholders were so suspicious of her political ties that she'd been dubbed "MAGA Marva."

On stage at the Will Packer Amphitheater following yesterday's prayer/protest rally with Commissioner Bill Proctor and Hollywood mogul Will Packer…

So as I settled in for what turned out to be a 10-hour day on campus, I didn't just listen carefully, but I watched her carefully, too, knowing that in courts of law, judges instruct jurors that they must listen to what a witness says—and also consider how a witness appears when weighing their credibility. And in using these standards, I can state without question that while initially skeptical that Johnson was sincere in her desire to be FAMU's president, I came away with zero doubts in my mind that with a nod to the late Marvin Gaye, she really wants the presidential position—and really wants to be wanted, too, by FAMU students, alumni, and supporters.

But the questions that kept repeating in my head as I watched her nervously testify in the first BOT session, appear more relaxed but still non-committal during the student session, and then revert back to extreme nervousness when she entered the "Rattlers Den" with hundreds of vocally and viscerally opposed alumni and supporters in the final session, is "why' does Johnson want this job, and "why" was she so unprepared to answer even softball questions that she could have easily hit for home runs?For example, my eyebrows were raised when she fielded an early question about funding DRS and while responding for several minutes about ensuring that students are adequately prepared for college, it was obvious that she did not realize that the acronym stands for (Developmental Research School), better known as "FAMU High School," one that has produced leaders in every field of professional endeavor for well over a century!

Johnson, under the watchful eyes of a legendary FAMU Rattler, Mrs. Mary Kidd, seemed nervous during the majority of the day’s hearings…

But where I submit that Johnson clearly erred was in refusing to embrace the "MAGA Marva" moniker and tell the BOT, faculty, students, and alumni precisely how her political ties could serve FAMU's best interests! In fact, she spent too much time deflecting and denying her political ties instead of outlining precisely how those ties to Donald Trump could lead to greater allocation (and reallocation) of federal grants on her watch! Or, she could have outlined how her relationship with Ron Desantis will ensure that FAMU's performance based funding, one that is directly impacted by the disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds of many of its students, will yield more state dollars than the paltry sums that are decreasing each year due to metrics that are skewed against the state's sole public HBCU.

And during the very contentious final session with alumni and supporters, when I gave Johnson a brief, but passionate, history lesson about how Jim Crow era racism, not poor performance as was suggested, led to the closing of the original FAMU College of Law in 1968 (and the opening of Florida State University's law school the next year with books stamped "FAMU Law"), and how that history compelled me to ask her what would she do if MAGA Republicans propose moving FAMU's Schools of Pharmacy, Nursing, and Allied Health across the tracks to the relatively new FSU College of Medicine, she responded by saying that "just because you make a statement passionately doesn't make it factual."

Well, actually, it does, Ms. Johnson, as the facts that I outlined not only are a mere Google search away, but are ones that older Rattlers who lived through the Jim Crow era, like both of my FAMU alumni parents and history professor mentors since my own days growing up at FAMU High School like Dr. Ledell Neyland, author of FAMU's Centennial History book, and Dr. Larry Rivers, who later became my graduate school advisor and teacher, would often attest!

What's worse is that even though I pitched a rhetorical fast ball with my statement/question to Johnson, if she had a "good eye" like all baseball coaches say, she could have smashed a towering home run by declaring, "Mr. Hobbs, I assure you, all assembled, and everyone watching online that on my watch as president, I will be the biggest advocate against any attempts to remove programs, departments, colleges, or schools from FAMU."

But she swung and she missed with her response, a miss, I suspect, because she can't make such assurances because she doesn't have the greenlight from the MAGA honchos to make such promises to the FAMU faithful!

All of the above leads me to further lament that as an objectively unqualified candidate per the stated credentials, Johnson did not come "on the Set" as an "alternative" credentialed candidate with pledges of multiple millions of dollars already secured, similar to the way FSU's non traditional president, former Republican legislative leader John Thrasher, did nearly two decades ago!

No, Johnson essentially wants FAMU nation to "trust" that her ties with the same MAGA Republicans who are whitewashing Black history each day, firing qualified Black workers in federal positions each day, and claiming that "Florida is where Woke goes to die," as Ron Desantis infamously exclaimed three years ago, will somehow benefit a proud HBCU that is the actual embodiment of the very Black excellence that these MAGAs are proving to be against in Washington, D.C. and at the Capitol Complex two miles from FAMU's campus in downtown Tallahassee!

Candidate Johnson sitting next to SGA President President Zayla Bryant (with Robert Seniors flanking them) in the Student Senate Chambers. The absolute highlight of my day was watching and listening to a packed room of extremely intelligent FAMU students, led by President Bryant, posing piercing questions to Johnson with the utmost decorum!

And while I sincerely believe that Johnson sincerely believes she can deliver the goods, her lack of preparation for yesterday's questions, a lack that portends someone who has heard the same rumors that I have, which is that the votes are already in place to install her as president regardless of her interview performance or Rattler Nation's response, are clear signs that at best, she would need "on the job training"—and multiple peace conferences with FAMU students and alumni who have loudly declared “we don’t want you”—during a time when FAMU must have a seasoned, consensus building leader ready to continue its mission of providing "Excellence with Caring" on day one!

Lest we forget...