Enrollment suffers at FAMU
Last year's numbers were 13,000; this year's are 10,000, so far. Very public problems are having an impact.
By JAMIE THOMPSON
Published August 29, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - As students arrived on the Florida A&M University campus last week, Patricia Green-Powell waited anxiously every day for the enrollment figures. She would hold off until 5 p.m., then pull them up on her computer screen.
By Wednesday, the number was 10,016.
"I was like, Yes!" said the vice president of student affairs. "I was just absolutely astounded when we hit the 10,000 mark.
"I was concerned," she said. "But we've surprised ourselves."
Still, that number is far behind last year's enrollment of 13,000 and a worrisome sign that the highly publicized problems dogging FAMU are having a tangible impact on its reputation.
In just the last year, the historically black school has fired its president, suspended its law school dean and admitted to 200 violations of NCAA rules. It got rid of dozens of employees after an unusual payroll audit showed they were doing little or no work.
The U.S. Department of Education said FAMU was not complying with regulations governing federal financial aid. The National Science Foundation froze payments on grants, which it only recently lifted. Accountants are still sorting out the school's budget woes.
And now enrollment could take a hit. While administrators expect more students to arrive after classes begin this week, faculty members say some required courses are not filling up.
They are worried.
"Years of neglect have finally begun to take their toll," said physics professor William Tucker, president of FAMU's faculty union.
Students at the 117-year-old school say they, too, are worried about the school, and the future value of their degrees.
But as they begin what administrators have called a pivotal year, students said they think FAMU is on the right track.
"Right now our school name may be down," said student senate president Keon Hardemon. "But the product is good. And when a product is good, it endures."
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While administrators are hoping for the best when registration closes this week, some incoming freshmen said they had to think hard about coming to FAMU.
"I heard a lot of negatives," said 19-year-old Joseph Harris, who graduated from Seminole High.
When he told colleagues at his YMCA job in Pinellas this summer that he was attending the university, they said: "You better transfer to Florida State before FAMU shuts down."
He decided to go anyway.
"I figured every school has something wrong," he said.
An African-American, Harris was intrigued by the idea of attending a historically black school. All his life, people have told him he was too white, Harris said. Even his mother.
"I thought maybe it's true," Harris said while eating lunch with some new friends in the FAMU student center last week. "It's an opportunity to meet people of my own kind."
Across campus, freshmen and other new black students felt the same way.
"It's just - comfortable," said Jermaine Johnson, a 21-year-old from Brandon who is transferring in as a junior. "This is a university built for you, by you. I've never experienced anything like this."
He thinks the school's name might suffer in the short run.
"But its overall reputation will survive," said Johnson, whose uncle and three great-uncles attended FAMU. "It will continue churning out impressive people."
Upperclassmen are more concerned about the problems at FAMU, probably because they've lived through them. But many who were interviewed said they think the news reports are exaggerated.
They say a lot of good things are happening at FAMU, which just seven years ago was named the nation's College of the Year by Time magazine and the Princeton Review . They are tired of snide remarks from relatives and friends.
"My aunt told my little brother he better not go to FAMU," said 21-year-old Dawn Grissett, a fourth-year elementary education major from Jacksonville. "It made me mad."
George Olokun, a senior pharmacy student and student government leader, said he thinks interim president Castell Bryant is fixing the problems.
Still, students long for a sense of permanency on the campus, Olokun said. The university has had three presidents in his four years. All over the campus are interim deans and administrators.
"I'm ready to see some people in place who will be here when my children come to FAMU," he said.
People need to be positive, he said. "In the real world," he said, "you always have problems."
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Tucker, the faculty union president, has heard that sentiment from students across campus. He doesn't attribute it to optimism.
"It's the psychology of low expectations," he said. "They've learned to expect a substandard environment."
Tucker said he is worried about FAMU's future.
"I don't guess I've ever felt more pessimistic about where things are going," he said.
He recently told Bryant she should resign after she named a provost without consulting the faculty.
"The kind of hubris displayed by this president is something I've not seen before," he said. "It offends me."
He said Bryant has failed to keep the faculty informed and involved. If life for the faculty deteriorates, students will suffer, he said.
"I'm pessimistic about the leadership," he said. "I'm pessimistic about the academic climate."
Bryant makes no apologies.
Faculty need to get on board, she recently told them, or get out of the way.
"I'm committed," she said, "to do the very best job I can do."
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Official enrollment figures will not be available for another week or two, said Bill Edmonds, a spokesman for the Florida Board of Governors. But FAMU is behind last year's pace at a time when other universities are so full they are turning students away.
Physics professors say several of the university's six physical science courses are not filling up; one had 54 of 90 spots available last week. Typically, the classes are filled the week before school and students are begging for slots, professors said.
"A lot of the adjunct professors are worried," Tucker said. "If professors get fired, they will go first."
Another issue at play: FAMU is requiring students to pay fees and fines before they can register. The school usually gives them extra time. Some students likely are scrambling to come up with the funds, administrators said.
If enrollment does dip, it will mean the loss of thousands in tuition dollars and state money. Edmonds said enrollment is hard for universities to predict.
"You just have to wait," he said, "and see what you get."
--The Associated Press contributed to this report. Jamie Thompson can be reached at 727 893-8455 or jthompson@sptimes.com