Young woman captured protesting on FAMU campus. (Khalil- Lullah W. Ballentine/WANM)
Student outcry spread across FAMU campus on Feb. 12 during the Board of Trustees meeting in light of degree consolidations and terminations, including African American studies, being a significant concern due to the worry of losing cultural foundation.
In continuation from a delayed vote from December, the FAMU Board of Trustees unanimously approved the decisions to consolidate degree programs, such as, environmental studies, and science, philosophy and religion, history, electric engineering, technology, African American studies, and the termination of studio fine arts.
The decision comes from the State University System of Florida to determine what programs are underperforming.
FAMU Provost Allyson Watson emphasizes that the selection of programs to be consolidated came following the review of metrics of the number of degrees earned between 2022-2025 provided by the Florida SUS and Board of Governors.
“If I go to environmental science in three years, six degrees were awarded … if I looked at environmental studies in three years, 18 degrees were awarded,” Provost Watson said. “If we move to one of the most important degrees of this university, African American Studies, Black Studies, there were 16 graduates in three years … Philosophy and Religion had nine graduates over three-year period. History had nine graduates over a three-year period.”
For students, this announcement felt sudden, confusing and for some a direct threat to identity of a historically black college and university.
“Unfortunately, this board is consolidating and terminating some degree programs that threaten the university’s mission, identity and future,” said Devin Nobles, a senior computer engineering student. “To consolidate these programs today is to set the table for termination tomorrow.”
University officials responded by clarifying that consolidation does not mean the complete elimination of affected programs; instead, it is the process of merging two or more academic programs into a single track. Administrators also acknowledged shortcomings in communication and pledged to improve transparency moving forward.
Florida A&M University Board of Trustees Vice Chair Deveron Gibbons said, “We have an opportunity to get better when our number one customer does not understand what we are doing and we did not spend enough time to make sure that our customer is happy. Now, we make every customer happy. Everything you do will not make every customer happy, but we can be clear about where we are headed, why we are doing certain things.”
