President Ammons Pushes Program Cuts at Trustees Meeting

Florida A&M University welcomed the Board of Trustees today to announce their final plans on FAMU’s $13 million budget cut.

President James Ammons reiterated plans on the affected 24 academic programs and 86 employees. The 42 slideshow covered the emergence of schools and programs, retention and graduation plans and the technical advances added to FAMU.

An unexpected turn came when the board demanded facts before making final decisions.

Charles Langston, a board of trustee member, suggested inviting students and faculty of the proposed cut programs to speak their case. His proposal was met with a quick applause.

But while others on the board quickly agreed, some felt that a final decision needed to be made at tomorrow’s meeting and should not be postponed.

Board members went back and forth between allowing students and faculty members to have their say about the alleged low-productivity programs up for termination. Some members said time simply would not allow and other claimed that not enough information was provided to determine elimination of certain programs.

Board members seesawed over inviting students and faculty members. The meeting ended in a closed session for board member’s further discussion.

The Board of Trustees will meet again tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the Grand Ballroom room to finalize their decisions.

Look out for full story on the meeting later today.