A day after trying unsuccessfully to fire the college’s president, Florida A&M University Board of Trustees Chairman Rufus Montgomery resigned Friday.
An appointee of Gov. Rick Scott, Montgomery announced his decision in an email to fellow trustees that described his relationship with university President Elmira Mangum as “broken and irreparable.”
“An expected spirit of cooperation with the board’s responsible efforts to hold the president accountable has not materialized and is not likely to occur with the current board,” he wrote, adding the challenges facing FAMU “require an effective working relationship between the board chair and the university president.”
Montgomery, a Republican lobbyist based in Atlanta, will remain a member of the Board of Trustees, while Vice Chairman Kelvin Lawson of Jacksonville will become acting chair until a new election is held.
“With this change, we are recommitting ourselves to a conciliatory approach as we continue to provide leadership in the best interest of Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University,” Lawson said in a statement.
The surprise resignation followed an emergency board meeting early Thursday at which Montgomery and other Mangum critics tried twice to fire the president, once with cause and once without.
The proposals failed by votes of 7-5 and 6-6, respectively.
Montgomery and some other trustees have repeatedly clashed with Mangum in recent months. Thursday’s conference-call meeting was held because of allegations involving renovations to the president’s residence and four employee bonuses — allegations that Mangum refuted.
Trustee Tonnette Graham, the president of FAMU’s Student Government Association, objected to the votes because she said the board should take public comment first. But Montgomery proceeded.
Even as the trustees were voting, FAMU students were siding with Mangum.
In the hours that followed, they gathered on the steps of Lee Hall, FAMU’s main administration building, calling for Montgomery to resign. Then they marched to Scott’s office, where they met with members of the governor’s staff.
Attorney Chuck Hobbs — a FAMU grad, Mangum ally and popular blogger — thinks the board and president should go on a retreat and use mediation to resolve their differences.
But if they can’t, he said, FAMU supporters should “put outside pressure on what I call the gang of six that sought her ouster yesterday, to do the honorable thing and resign completely from the board of trustees.”
As to the next chairman, Hobbs said, “It would need to be someone who was not involved in the failed coup yesterday.”
Montgomery is up for reappointment at the end of the year, as are the majority of the trustees.