A former president of notorious Florida A&M gives a talk in which he mentions nothing about the academic mission of the university (at least the reporter reports nothing), and in which he simply commands people to be positive about the place.
“We can’t have naysayer[s]; people who doubt and let the doubt overcome them in terms of what they are willing to do. …This year, we need to all get behind Florida A&M and don’t accept negative viewpoints about the university.”
But, you know, why? Why shouldn’t people be free to act on their ethical judgement and do what they’ve been doing since the violently hazing marching band beat one of its members to death not long ago? Why shouldn’t people stop coming to football games where the band plays, and stop giving money to the university? The university conducted itself hideously through the hazing scandal, basically blaming his death on the student himself.
And this is the aspect of the school’s culture – athletics and the marching band – that the speaker wants to make the top priority.
Florida A&M could begin to put a dent into its nagging athletic budget deficit in a short time if the Marching 100 band and the football program are given top priority, Frederick Humphries said Friday at the 220 Quarterback Club’s luncheon…
“The best indicators for black colleges; two things give the greatest visibility that they have,” he said. “It’s the athletic program and the marching band.
“If you were to put it in priority where you should spend some money; you keep your athletic program strong and keep your marching band strong.”
Yes, athletics – that’s the ticket.
August 10th, 2014 at 12:07AM
Here’s an overview of events that took place during the “reign” of former FAMU president Fred Humphries, as recounted in a 2004 St. Pete Times article. I think it helps explain his take on the hazing death — sweeping illegal, immoral, and unethical actions under the rug was SOP then, and the same seems to be true now.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1056078/posts
Excerpts:
“…his 16-year reign, which ended in 2001, was riddled with fiscal and management problems. ”
“When the school had significant problems – as it did dozens of times in the past decade – Humphries and his administrators faced few consequences.”
“…when the school hired an associate dean it later learned had been convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl, several regents had sharp words for Humphries, but then decided to convene a special committee. The committee eventually declared the incident a “once in a lifetime” circumstance. Some members, however, wondered whether FAMU officials should have been more suspicious, since the dean had spent the previous three years working in a pharmacy, not a university.”
“In 1988, for example, the regents publicly chastised Humphries for a poor athletic department audit. Alumni and faculty demanded an apology. They said the board was rude to Humphries and would never treat a white president that way.”
“HERE is a partial list of the financial and administrative problems that have dogged Florida A&M University in recent years:”
1995: A state audit into FAMU’s financial aid office shows missed deadlines, overpayments, reporting errors, mathematical miscalculations and trouble tracking the status of student borrowers.
1995: The school loses track of 22 campus cell phones, leaving them open for abuse.
1996-97: The administrator of a federal grant hires her live-in boyfriend to be the program’s computer specialist. Despite a state report outlining the problem, he continues to work for the school and be paid by the grant.
1997: The state threatens to decertify the FAMU Boosters because the fundraising group fails to give audited financial statements to the state for two years.
1997: A number of adjunct professors go without pay for several weeks because the school has overspent its $1-million adjunct faculty budget by $500,000.
1997-1999: A state audit shows poor accounting methods and spending guidelines that cost the foundation $350,000. The report also raises questions about Humphries and other top administrators using money for Christmas gifts and jewelry.
1998: A number of graduate assistants are paid two or more weeks late
1998: The FBI, U.S. Department of Education and Florida Department of Law Enforcement launch an investigation into missing money at the financial aid office.
1999: A number of adjunct professors go without pay for six weeks.
1999: A state audit shows the financial aid office awarded $300,000 more than was authorized by paying students who weren’t qualified academically and by giving too much money to students who were qualified.
2000: Federal authorities arrest a financial aid officer charged with soliciting and accepting bribes from students in exchange for submitting fake records for extra aid. At least two other employees and 13 students are thought to be involved in the scheme, which dates to 1996.
2000: The school hires an associate dean, then learns he has been convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in Texas. He resigns when it becomes public.
2001: FAMU’s longtime education dean is charged with stealing $60,000.
2001: State auditors launch an investigation into why Humphries used most of the money in accounts for two $1-million chairs at the business school on student scholarships and not faculty.
2003: New FAMU president Fred Gainous fires the administrator of a federal grant after an internal inquiry uncovers questionable spending, including tens of thousands of dollars spent on trips for Humphries, who is working as a consultant.
2003: Gainous discovers Humphries’ construction budgets since 1990 are off by more than $3-million. About $1.5-million is used to pay contractors who have not been paid in years.
Ex-regents say they coddled FAMU. Education leaders acknowledge the historically black university used race to seek and receive special treatment, and the school is suffering for it: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1056078/posts
August 10th, 2014 at 12:44AM
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/06/09/State/At_FAMU__bad_hiring_p.shtml
“In 2003, it [FAMU] installed a Kentucky lawyer into an endowed chair he created — and then agreed to pay him $100,000 a year.
In June 2005, interim FAMU president Castell Bryant fired Shirley Cunningham Jr. from an endowed chair he established at the law school.
Cunningham is a friend of Humphries. He made a fortune on cases involving the diet drug fen-phen. He gave the law school $1-million. But then, in a highly unusual arrangement, he was appointed to the chair he created and given a fat salary. Bryant said she found no evidence he had done any work.
Former law school dean Percy Luney said Humphries approved the arrangement with Cunningham and verbally slapped him down when he questioned it. Humphries has denied that.
Two months after Cunningham was fired, interim law dean James Douglas recommended that FAMU hire Victoria Dawson, a legal writing instructor at Texas Southern University, where Douglas used to be dean. A year later, he made Dawson the director of FAMU’s legal writing program.
The appointment came even though Dawson had posted a working paper online that was so filled with errors it has since made her a laughingstock among students. Douglas told the Times he glanced at the paper before making Dawson director, but could not remember his impressions.”
August 10th, 2014 at 11:05AM
“The best indicators for black colleges; two things give the greatest visibility that they have,” he said. “It’s the athletic program and the marching band.
“If you were to put it in priority where you should spend some money; you keep your athletic program strong and keep your marching band strong.”
Can you imagine the outrage if a vanilla corporate white guy like Mitt Romney said that? It would be wall-to-wall, 24-7 on most of the networks.
August 10th, 2014 at 11:12AM
tp: I agree. Quite a shocking thing to say. Hence, my post about it.
August 10th, 2014 at 4:39PM
Poor persecuted Mitt, with nothing but his $22 million a year and his effective tax rate of 14 percent to console him.
August 11th, 2014 at 8:53AM
Alan, you really needn’t be so defensive about the abject failure of your messiah, the godlet Obama. I picked Mitt since he’s just about the most vanilla guy I can think of.
The serious issue here is that Humphries’ condescension toward his students undoubtedly affected many of his presidential decisions. The vast majority of FAMU students are NOT there to play sports or be in the marching band.
August 11th, 2014 at 12:10PM
I look forward to seeing you quote back to me all those posts of mine that lavished ecstatic praise on Obama, tp. Actually, what I look forward to is a whole lot of blank space, because that’s what we usually get when you’re called out on these vapid absurdities.