Top Education Leader Demands FAMU President Be Held Accountable


Nonchalant

Hail, Hail To Thee...
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/n...be_held_accountable/srvc=home&position=recent

Top education leader demands FAMU president be held accountable

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ORLANDO, Fla. — One of the most powerful education leaders in Florida wrote a harshly worded letter to the Florida A&M University Board of Trustees on Monday in which he demanded university President James Ammons be held accountable for a “number of serious issues†confronting the university.

The letter from Dean Colson, chairman of the Board of Governors, which oversees the State University System, came on the same day that Ammons announced a series of reforms he will present to the trustees this week to prevent hazing in the wake of drum major Robert Champion’s death last fall.

Though Colson alluded to the Board of Governors’ ongoing investigation into FAMU’s handling of the hazing scandal, he also outlined other “matters that have arisen or persisted this past year that should be included in Dr. Ammons’ (job) evaluation.â€

They include:

— The 100 ineligible people who were on the roster of the university’s famous marching band last year. Among those 100 were 60 who performed at the Florida Classic in Orlando on Nov. 19 — three of whom are charged in connection with Champion’s beating death that evening.

— The administration’s response to whistle-blower complaints regarding more than a dozen “fraudulent audit summaries†submitted to the board of trustees last year.

— FAMU’s response to reported sexual assaults of minors at FAMU’s Developmental Research School on the Tallahassee campus. In one case, an 8-year-old boy reported that an 18-year-old student molested him in a school bathroom in May 2011 at the school that serves children in kindergarten through grade 12.

— Issues raised by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which accredits FAMU.

Several of the concerns Colson raised were outlined in an Orlando Sentinel article May 27 in which state Sen. David Simmons, R-Maitland, called for a broad review of FAMU’s entire operation in the wake of the hazing scandal and the university’s financial troubles.

Simmons, who serves on the Senate committee overseeing higher-education spending, told the Sentinel that an outside group needs to investigate FAMU and report back to Gov. Rick Scott, the Board of Governors and the Legislature.

Belle Wheelan, with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, told the Sentinel that she had some of the same concerns. The accrediting agency, she said, would be sending a letter to FAMU seeking answers about the financial problems.

Solomon Badger, chairman of the FAMU board of trustees, could not be reached for comment Monday night.
 



I knew this would happen. I knew white politicians where going to pounce on FAMU when it is down especially when they would love nothing more than to see the school shut down or merged.
 
Ammons needs to go, but he is staying till we get a new governor. No one trusts this redneck to appoint a new president. And a land grant school in our position is at no risk of shutting down.
 
Ammons needs to go, but he is staying till we get a new governor. No one trusts this redneck to appoint a new president. And a land grant school in our position is at no risk of shutting down.

Cliff do you honestly think Ammons will last that long and at what cost?
 
They just gave him a vote of no confidence, but he needs a supermajority for removal. How hot can it get for FAMU till the gubernatorial election in 2014? How will Obama fair in FL? Lots of questions.
 
They just gave him a vote of no confidence, but he needs a supermajority for removal. How hot can it get for FAMU till the gubernatorial election in 2014? How will Obama fair in FL? Lots of questions.

Good luck brother. Watch out for this name, Leonard Haynes III. Southern Grad, former interim president of Grambling and served in both Bush administrations.
 
http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/07/2837547/no-confidence-vote-for-famu-chief.html

[h=1]Hazing crisis: FAMU head gets no-confidence vote[/h]
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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- The president of Florida A&M University received a no-confidence vote Thursday from school trustees for his handling of the hazing death of a drum major in its famed Marching 100 band, but he said afterward that he won't resign.

The board voted 8 to 4 to approve the no-confidence measure against university president James Ammons.

Ammons signed a five-year contract extension last year. He said he plans to remain in his post and help the university stamp out what many call a culture of hazing surrounding the university and its nationally recognized band, which has played at Super Bowls and inaugurations.

"This is very serious for the future of this university," Ammons said after Thursday's vote. "You have my commitment to fix them and get this job done."

The school has been reeling since the November death of drum major Robert Champion. Eleven members of the band have been charged with felony hazing for allegedly beating him to death. The death exposed a wide culture of hazing at the school. Critics say Ammons and other administrators ignored it.

 
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