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Florida A&M University’s Board of Trustees on Friday selected telecom executive Marva Johnson as the school’s next president, backing a candidate with ties to Gov. Ron DeSantis despite weeks of fierce community opposition and deepening fears of political interference at the state’s only public historically Black university.
Johnson, a vice president at Charter Communications and former DeSantis appointee to the Florida Board of Education, won the role in an 8-4 vote that capped a bitter, unusually contentious search process. Now, Johnson faces the daunting task of securing legitimacy with a skeptical constituency of Rattlers at FAMU.
A vocal group of students, faculty members and alumni have questioned Johnson’s lack of higher education experience, as well as the process that elevated her over more traditional candidates to lead one of the nation’s top-ranked historically Black public institutions — particularly FAMU Chief Operating Officer Donald Palm, who emerged as the community favorite.
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