Feud at Florida A&M Has Echoes of Governance Issues at Other Black Colleges

A bitter feud between Florida A&M University’s president and the chairman of its Board of Trustees culminated on Friday in the chairman’s stepping down and the president’s narrowly hanging on to her job.

But the turmoil has raised questions that are reverberating beyond the boundaries of the public, historically black institution. Among them:

• When does a board’s involvement in day-to-day matters devolve from responsible oversight to micromanaging?

• Are historically black institutions, which often face unique enrollment and financial challenges, particularly prone to boards that overreach?

• Are male-dominated boards more likely to challenge the authority of female presidents?

• Does a president who publicly criticizes the board, as Elmira Mangum did when she accused Florida A&M trustees of “mudslinging” and conducting a “witch hunt” against her, deserve some of the blame when relations fray to the point of breaking?

Experts on historically black colleges and universities are divided on whether the tensions at Florida A&M reflect governance problems specific to HBCUs or might have cropped up at any college with severe financial challenges.

Marybeth Gasman, a professor of higher education at the University of Pennsylvania who follows historically black colleges, describes what the board demanded of Ms. Mangum as “a blatant example of micromanaging.” Among other things, the board wanted the president to meet with the board chairman every week for three hours.

Stepping Into Turmoil

Ms. Mangum became Florida A&M’s president in 2014. The university had endured several years of turmoil and falling enrollment following, among other things, the 2011 hazing death of a drum major of the marching band, Robert Champion. The university’s accreditor had recently lifted its probationary status, imposed in part because of financial mismanagement, but the university’s credit rating had still dropped.

At an institution that was struggling to regain its footing, Ms. Mangum’s background as vice president for budget and planning at Cornell University was widely welcomed. Almost from the start, though, her relationship with the board was strained. In addition to questioning financial decisions, board members criticized her travel spending and scrutinized her day-to-day activities. And they accused her of failing to communicate with them on key decisions.

Ms. Gasman, who has served on the boards of two historically black colleges, said the dysfunction at Florida A&M could make it even harder for the institutions to recruit leaders. “I had a president of an HBCU call me and ask who is going to be willing to work at an HBCU when a top financial administrator at Cornell can’t even be successful,” Ms. Gasman said.

Trustees at Florida A&M say they’re just doing their job. They have accused Ms. Mangum of improperly spending thousands of dollars on renovations of her university-owned home and have questioned a bonus paid to a top administrator with public money. Ms. Mangum has said that the renovations were underway when she took office and that the problem with the bonus had been fixed.

On Friday, Rufus Montgomery submitted his resignation as chairman of Board of Trustees after two votes to fire Ms. Mangum narrowly failed. He had supported the effort to fire her.

Mr. Montgomery said in a written statement that he was resigning his chairmanship immediately because his relationship with the president was “broken and irreparable.” He remains on the board.

Later that day, the board’s vice chair, Kelvin Lawson, said board members were “recommitting ourselves to a conciliatory approach.”

Ms. Gasman sees some similarities to the way another female president of a historically black college has struggled with her board.

Last year, when Gwendolyn E. Boyd became president of Alabama State University, her employment contract included a provision that Ms. Gasman sees as an indication of how female presidents are often treated at HBCUs. “For so long as Dr. Boyd is president and a single person,” the provision reads, “she shall not be allowed to cohabitate in the president’s residence with any person with whom she has a romantic relation.’”

It is highly unlikely, Ms. Gasman said, that a single man hired as president would face a similar requirement.

At Florida A&M, Ms. Mangum has also faced requirements that some find demeaning.

Raymond D. Cotton, a lawyer in Washington who specializes in representing university presidents and boards of trustees, described as “ridiculous” requirements that she meet for three hours a week with the board chairman and have some top administrators, including the general counsel, report to the board rather than to her. The board also asked her to send them weekly updates.

“They’re treating her like she’s in first grade,” said Mr. Cotton, who represented Ms. Mangum in her initial contract negotiations at Florida A&M.

When Boards Step In

Johnny C. Taylor Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which represents public HBCUs, doesn’t believe the tensions between the board and Ms. Mangum are any different from those at any other financially struggling college.

He serves on the board of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, in New York City, which has been embroiled for years in controversy over board governance and other issues. Five Cooper Union trustees resigned in June after a battle involving the board’s decisions to end free tuition and to dismiss the president.

“When you have financial and oversight problems, the board has to become more involved than it would otherwise,” Mr. Taylor said. And when a financial crisis looms, “everyone is trying to decide who’s at fault, and there’s a lot of finger pointing.”

Shared governance, he said, used to refer mainly to interactions between administrators and the faculty. Now bottom-line-focused boards are inserting themselves more into issues that used to be the purview of presidents.

In Florida A&M’s case, the board had a responsibility to scrutinize the president’s travel as well as other spending, Mr. Taylor said. And Ms. Mangum bears some responsibility for the tension, he said, for publicly lambasting the board.

Ms. Mangum declined to comment beyond a statement, issued by a spokesman, saying that she looked forward to helping the university excel and planned “to focus on our performance metrics, work plan, and strategic planning.”

What’s needed, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Cotton agreed, is better training on the rules of engagement for presidents and their boards so that disputes like the one at Florida A&M don’t spiral out of control.

Being more open to change is one key, Ms. Gasman said. Many historically black colleges cling to tradition, she said, and resist leaders who say that big changes are necessary to make the institutions viable.

Two years ago Morgan State University’s Board of Regents voted to remove its chairman, Dallas R. Evans, after he led a controversial move to fire the president, David J. Wilson.

Among other things, Mr. Wilson had pushed to create a strategic plan for Morgan State, as well as to put more emphasis on research, according to local news accounts. The board voted to deny Mr. Wilson a contract extension, but later reversed itself and extended his contract.

In an email to The Chronicle this week Mr. Wilson said that he enjoys “a respectful and effective relationship” with his board and that what occurred in the past “is part of the past.”

Katherine Mangan writes about community colleges, completion efforts, and job training, as well as other topics in daily news. Follow her on Twitter @KatherineMangan, or email her at katherine.mangan@chronicle.com.