BOG study: $1 billion for separate engineering schools at FSU, FAMU

BOG study: $1 billion for separate engineering schools at FSU, FAMU


"A new study performed for the State University System’s Board of Governors estimates that the price tag could be as high as $1 billion for uncoupling the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering and creating separate, top-notch programs at each university.
BOG is expected to consider the report’s findings at its January meeting, and the 17-member, governor-appointed board is scheduled to provide a recommendation to the Legislature by March.
There are no inexpensive options. The report notes that the joint college, created by lawmakers in 1982, is not functioning well and will require major investments if BOG wants to maintain the partnership between one of the state’s two preeminent universities and the only public historically black college in Florida.
BOG and the Legislature will also have to contend with federal legislation that could be a factor as they contemplate separating the college. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, along with the Fordyce decision in the Supreme Court, appear to dictate that an uncoupling would be a direct violation of separate-but-equal education systems.
The draft report, submitted last week by California-based Braintrust Consulting, has been delivered to BOG and both universities for their review and feedback. A final report is due Dec. 10.
Braintrust Consulting does not offer recommendations regarding the joint college, which the Legislature considered splitting earlier this year before it opted to provide BOG with $500,000 to have the college’s operations thoroughly vetted.
FSU administrators welcomed the proposal in April by Sen. John Thrasher — now FSU’s president — to divide the joint college into two separate engineering programs. FAMU, on the other hand, is adamantly opposed to a split. FAMU President Elmira Mangum said in April that FAMU on its own is unable to sustain an engineering program “financially or academically.”
While the Legislature prepared in April to debate the merits of splitting the college, FAMU administrators provided an estimate that they would need $100 million to construct an engineering building on the FAMU campus, with $15 million annually required to cover salaries and other operating costs.
The consulting firm’s report echoes an analysis by the Tallahassee Democrat that appeared in the April 22 edition of the newspaper. The two universities have distinctly different missions. FSU, with more resources, has been more committed to building the faculty at the college; almost one-third of the college’s faculty are on a separate FSU budget line and not the joint college’s budget. In 2013, based on BOG data, FSU awarded 267 degrees to students in the college while only 34 FAMU students earned degrees.
FSU administrators have said that in order to advance into the elite rankings of public universities, it is imperative FSU have a separate engineering program."