With less than two months to go before election day, Hillary Clinton is fading in the polls and Donald Trump is rising. Despite her many qualifications and solid positions, Clinton may ultimately be hindered from reaching her goal of being the nation’s first female president due to voters’ more visceral concerns—that of trust and likeability.
In the politics of higher ed, all that matters as well.
Just ask Florida A&M University’s now former president, Elmira Mangum.
I admit I didn’t know much about Mangum or FAMU until last week, when I happened to be in Tallahassee and saw her name make headlines.
Until last week, Mangum was the first Black woman president of FAMU, one of the largest historically Black colleges and universities in the nation, and last week was named No.1 among public HBCUs and No. 7 overall among all HBCUs.
Beyond the annual U.S. News PR, the school realized significant progress during Mangum’s 29 months on the job. When FAMU was ranked at the bottom of Florida’s state university system, Mangum lifted it to eighth. It earned the school $11.5 million in funding from the state.
You’d think all this would make someone like Mangum, a hot property as the African-American female leader of a university with a $127 million endowment, more than 600 staff, nearly 10,000 students and who has lifted her school back to respectability.
