FAMU's Interim President Missed Students' Greatness

By Driadonna Roland
Black College Wire

Florida A&M University's former interim president, Castell V. Bryant, quit in May, less than two months before our 10th president, James Ammons, was to arrive.

Driadonna Roland

That move was incomprehensible. How do you weather the storm for two years and quit right before your time would expire anyway?

Unsurprisingly, Bryant is bitter and has gone on to blast her alma mater in an interview in the St. Petersburg Times.

As a senior, I can admit I am not graduating with overwhelming nostalgia in my heart. FAMU has been a four-year headache brought on largely by administrative issues. Hearing the interim president— the top administrator — lambaste her institution in the media brings disgrace first and foremost to herself.

She did not successfully complete the task she was entrusted to perform — and she is upset? What about the students she was supposed to serve? Here's what she thinks of her constituents:

"I'll give FAMU students a two," she said. (On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the best.) "But that's awful because we accept them and we could help more be successful."

While she does place some blame on the university, she basically says it's FAMU's fault for accepting substandard students.

Let's keep it funky. I can attest to being disappointed at times by the caliber of students on campus. But I have consistently been disgusted and appalled by the leadership of the university.

That includes everyone from the rude, unhelpful employees to the disorganized administrators and some pompous, inaccessible faculty members.

Every year, there is a problem with the dispensation of football season or homecoming activity tickets. Or more clubs and organizations are asked to provide more services with less funding.

You read the headlines this year. Campus employees (students, professors and others) went a semester and longer without receiving paychecks from FAMU.

Reflect a moment on an exchange between Bertier and Julius in "Remember the Titans," where Bertier, the racist quarterback, accused Julius of having a poor attitude because Julius did not beg the black players to pay attention to Bertier's calls: "Attitude reflects leadership," Julius said.

So the leader of our university for the past two years leaves her post with a horrible attitude and turns on the students.

You give the students a 2, Castell?

In 1997, Time magazine and the Princeton Review named FAMU College of the Year. In 1992 and 1997, we recruited more National Merit finalists than Ivy League schools, and tied with Harvard in 2000.

Florida A&M University is the No. 1 producer of black baccalaureates in this country. Just last year, Black Enterprise magazine named us the No. 1 school in the country for black students. But let's understand that underneath stats and facts lie people.

People like me are not 2s, and neither are the students whose company I keep.

FAMU recruited me three years ago, when I was a National Merit Finalist in the top 10 percent of my high school class, with a near-perfect GPA and four advanced placement classes.

Howard University offered me a full ride, and I was offered scholarships at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.

And I'm a 2? How so, when I have continued to excel? This summer, the New York Times selected 30 of the best student journalists in the country to be reporters in New Orleans, and I was one of them. This year, student Jessica Larche won three Hearst Awards (commonly referred to as the "College Pulitzer Prize") in one year!

But Bryant gives FAMU students a 2 out of 4?

Girlfriend, please count these last two years as the greatest failure of your life, for you failed to walk among the 12,000 beautiful black students you were asked to serve, and recognize our greatness.

Driadonna Roland, a senior broadcast journalism student at Florida A&M University, writes for the Famuan. She can be reached at [email protected]. Articles in the Voices section represent the views of their authors, and not necessarily those of Black College Wire. To comment, e-mail [email protected]

Posted July 26, 2007