Marva Johnson, an ally of Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, has been confirmed to serve as president of Florida A&M University, despite vigorous opposition from students and prominent alumni.
It’s the latest in a trend that now sees former Republican lobbyists or lawmakers leading five of the state’s 12 public universities.
"To the Rattler community, students, faculty, alumni, stakeholders: I am listening, and I hear your dreams, and I hear your concerns,” Johnson, a cable industry executive and lawyer, who has served appointed positions under GOP governors DeSantis and Rick Scott, said during a contentious Wednesday meeting of the state university system’s Board of Governors. “And my door will always be open."
At the meeting, where officials confirmed Johnson to lead the state’s sole public historically Black university (HBCU), many of those criticisms continued.
"Marva Johnson is not ready to lead the nation's number one public HBCU," Florida A&M alumna and former ABC News president Kim Godwin, who served on the university’s search committee, told the gathered attendees, which included alums who stood and turned their back as Johnson spoke.
"She does not have the best resume. She did not have a good on-campus interview,” Godwin continued. “She appeared unprepared and short-sighted and did not present well to our stakeholders. She had the opportunity, but failed to win the support of any stakeholder group. These are facts."
DeSantis was not involved directly in Johnson’s selection in May, but his attorney general praised the executive’s candidacy, and his deputy chief reportedly lobbied the search committee to nominate Johnson, the Tallahassee Democrat reports.
Some feared that Johnson, who served on the Florida State Board of Education for four years, did not have experience in academia, while others worried she would continue Governor DeSantis’s attempts to remake public education in the state in a more conservative image.
Under DeSantis, the state has enacted policies that serve as de facto book bans on materials that often include stories about Black and LGBT+ people, and has banned funding for diversity programs, while blocking an advanced placement African American history class.
Critics of Johnson argued she would be a partisan in this effort, and labelled her with the nickname “MAGA Marva,” after Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan.
"Right this very minute, a group of activist Republicans are trying to put in the highest position of power someone who is solidly and objectively unqualified for it," alum and film producer Will Packer said in a May Instagram video after university officials chose Johnson as their pick to submit to state officials. "She is a career lobbyist with no experience in higher education administration, literally the same amount of higher education admin experience as you or I. Zero, none."
During a May forum with alumni and students, Johnson insisted she wasn’t a “Trojan horse,” and pointed to her experience working in state politics as a sign of her bipartisan bona fides.
“No, I’m not a Trojan horse. I was not sent here to dismantle FAMU," she said. "I would love the opportunity to work with you and to grow FAMU.”
Johnson has said she hopes to elevate Florida A&M to an R1-class research university.
Florida A&M alumni have filed a lawsuit over the presidential selection process.
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