It was supposed to be a feel-good press event for embattled Florida A&M University President Elmira Mangum, but it didn’t end up that way.
Mangum held a news conference Thursday to discuss a new initiative at the historically black university. But the story of the day turned out to be her abrupt departure from the event — without taking questions from reporters who wanted to ask her about FAMU’s latest governance woes.
Last week, the president barely survived two motions to fire her — one with cause and one without — by the university’s board of trustees. Within hours, FAMU students marched to the governor’s office to support her. The next day, trustees Chairman Rufus Montgomery, seen as Mangum’s chief opponent, stepped down from his leadership post, although he remains on the board.
And late Wednesday, longtime trustee Spurgeon McWilliams resigned, effective immediately. The retired physician was the lone vote on the current board against hiring Mangum in January 2014, and supported both motions to ax her for unproven “financial improprieties” at the emergency board meeting last week.
As a result, there was an unusually large turnout of reporters for a news conference focusing on an initiative known as “Ban the Box,” which seeks to eliminate questions on admissions forms asking if the applicant has been convicted of a crime.
On Nov. 12, the university will host a “Ban the Box” forum at its law school in Orlando, featuring Judge Greg Mathis and civil rights attorney Ted Shaw.
Mangum said the campaign is part of FAMU’s mission to help struggling community members get an education.
“We want to be a premier university,” she said. “We’re working to be premier in our academics, in our research, and in our community service.”
Then, flanked by supporters, Mangum said she’d have to depart.
“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to step away for some other meetings,” she said — and left by a back door that reporters couldn’t easily reach.
According to Jimmy Miller, the university’s vice president of communications, Mangum had other commitments. “She does have a tight schedule,” he said. “She is going to be going out of town tomorrow. ... She would have loved to have been here, but she was not able to.”