In what may his last time evaluating a FAMU president, Bill Jennings failed to make much headway in his goal of unseating President James H. Ammons.Jennings, Richard Dent, Charles Langston, and Karl White were not expected to give Ammons positive evaluations even before Gov. Rick Scott asked for the president’s temporary removal back in December. They all previously tried to get rid of the super-majority clause in Ammons’ contract, which would have made it easier to dismiss the president. Ammons’ refusal to give in to their demands seems to have only increased their determination to build a pathway for his exit.
There was pressure for other trustees to give the president extremely negative feedback in the aftermath of Scott’s failed attempt to get Ammons suspended. But it was too little, too late. The evaluation only covers Ammons’ performance from July 30, 2010 to July 1, 2011. Consultant Edward Penson completed his interviews with trustees before the Nov. 19 homicide of drum major Robert D. Champion gave Scott an excuse to start trying to push FAMU’s trustees around.
The majority of the Board of Trustees refused to even entertain the idea of re-doing the interview process.
According to the Associated Press, Penson “told trustees he had never seen such variation in any other collegiate job review he's worked on.”
Yesterday, Penson read anonymous trustee comments that urged Ammons to increase fundraising, speed up the process of fulfilling certain administrative positions, and improve communication with board members.
Jennings has less than a year left to continue his increasingly personal face-off with the FAMU president. His term on the board ends on January 6, 2013.
