Marva Johnson has been selected by the Florida A&M University Board of Trustees as FAMU’s next president. The vote was 8 to 4 Friday in favor of Johnson—despite heavy pushback from community members. The decisions comes amid discussions surrounding transparency in the search for university presidents.
Johnson is the group vice president of a major internet and cable company. She has served on the State Board of Education and has ties to U.S. Sen. Rick Scott and Gov. Ron. DeSantis. Community members have raised concerns about her politics and her lack of experience in education.
“They have internal aspirations, and they feel they can best be authenticated and validated by Republican acceptance and pats on their backs," said Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor. "Some people is just a lapdog and not a watchdog.”
Proctor is also an instructor at FAMU. He’s raised concerns about the lack of transparency in the search process—something caused by a 2022 law that allowed universities to keep the identities of presidential candidates secret until three finalists were selected.
At the time, supporters felt the move would lead to better candidates because people could apply for the job without worrying about their boss finding out. But this session, Pensacola Republican Representative Michelle Salzman sought to move the search back to the sunshine. Here she is on the House floor:
“This is about showing the voters what we’re doing," she said. "This is about transparency in government.”
Salzman’s move comes after complaints that it’s become a trend under the DeSantis administration for politicians to get to tapped to lead universities. A recent example is former Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez, who now leads Florida International University.
Salzman says putting the searches back in the sunshine will clear up questions about why a particular leader was chosen and avoid speculation.
“Media does one thing. People say one thing," she said. "People in back rooms whisper unanimous conversations. You know, ‘Off the record.’ And then it creates even more distrust in Floridians.”
The effort to move university presidential searches back into the sunshine was a bipartisan effort, but one the governor fought against.
DeSantis makes a point of pushing colleges and universities to the political right, and he was unhappy about Salzman’s bill. They used to be allies, and she called him a great governor while debating the bill. But he said the measure doesn’t reflect the conservative policies she ran on.
“Because I’m confident that if she ran on that, you wouldn’t have elected her in the first place," DeSantis said. "And yet she is proposing a bill co-sponsored by the most flamboyantly left-wing Democrat in the entire Florida House of Representatives is a co-sponsor. So, do you think the far left is going to co-sponsor bills that are going to further our mission?”
At a mid-April press conference in Pensacola, DeSantis said he’s keeping a tight rein on Florida’s institutions of higher learning.
“Academia, left to its own devices, is absolutely going to run aground. They are going to go very hard left," he said. "They’re going to be mired in all this indoctrination and all these ideological, leftist fads. And we can’t have that in Florida. So, you’ve got me in there. We make sure that we keep this thing going.”
Salzman’s bill passed the House overwhelmingly but died in the Senate. In a statement to WFSU, Salzman wrote that support for the bill shows that transparency is a value that transcends politics.
