Florida Memorial University announced a new permanent president last month, the first alumnus to hold the position. But what appeared to be a celebratory moment for the private, historically Black university has been mired in controversy.

Seven members of the university’s Board of Trustees, including the president of the alumni association, came out with a statement accusing the rest of the board of “illegally” making the hire. The dissenting group—which includes Brandon K. Dumas, who was elected board chair in May— claims that other members of the 17-person board called an unofficial meeting in early August to put interim president William McCormick Jr. permanently in the role. (McCormick previously served as board chair before stepping down to take the interim position last summer.) In addition, those board members voted for Walter Weatherington, the board chair who preceded Dumas, to take the position. Weatherington now appears as board chair on the university’s website. He claims Dumas lost his position in July, which Dumas disputes.

Dumas and his allies called the move a “well-thought-out coup.”

“This is not just a procedural misstep,” their statement read. “This is a painful and shameful moment in the history of Florida Memorial University. The very soul of this beloved institution is being dragged through the mud by those who disregard its laws and traditions.”

Dumas has filed several injunctions against Weatherington and multiple board members seeking to stop them from continuing to conduct board business.

The university, meanwhile, put out a press release celebrating McCormick’s hire.

“At this juncture on our journey, William McCormick is best suited to lead FMU, a place I know he loves and wants to see successful,” Weatherington said in the release.

McCormick said that the appointment marks a “special moment” for him.

“I fully respect having the opportunity to pour back into my alma mater the same way it poured into me,” he said.

A Growing Divide

Controversy over the presidential appointment seems to stem at least partly from conflicts over board leadership.

Dumas, who’s been on the board since 2020, said issues started last year, when, as chair of the governance committee, he was tasked with reviewing the board’s bylaws. During that process, he said he found Weatherington’s tenure had run longer than the bylaws allowed and he would need to take at least a yearlong break to return.

Weatherington’s term abruptly ended without a vote, and the board elected Dumas in his place for a yearlong term, Dumas said, though there were “rumblings” about the “appropriateness of Mr. Weatherington’s discontinued service.” (According to Dumas, the board hired a lawyer to review the matter and ensure the leadership switch was legal.)

In an affidavit responding to the injunctions, Horace Hord, chairman of Florida Memorial Foundation and trustee from 2013 to 2023, insisted that Weatherington’s term was cut short and should have extended through June. He wrote a letter to Dumas in May, included in court documents, calling the leadership change a “deliberate misrepresentation of documented facts and a troubling disregard for established governance procedures.”

Trustee Susan D. Nystrom also said in an affidavit that the meeting to elect Dumas as interim board chair was “hastily called” and didn’t include all board members. She argued Dumas was voted in “based on misrepresentation and errors” regarding how board succession plans work; the vice chair and then the first vice chair are the next in line for the position, she said.

Dumas argued nothing supersedes the term limits in the bylaws. He acknowledged the meeting where he was chosen as interim was hurried to fill the leadership gap but said trustees made no formal objections at the time. He also said his interpretation of the bylaws is that the vice chair or first vice performs leadership duties in the chair’s absence, until or unless a vote is taken to elect someone.

“I’ll be the first to admit, this is a learning experience … There are tons of opportunities for us to streamline … and tighten up the bylaws,” he said.

In addition to this upset, a faction of the board was eager to instate McCormick as permanent president while Dumas wanted to wait until September to discuss it at a regularly scheduled board meeting, Dumas said.

The injunctions filed by Dumas against Weatherington and other board members claim Weatherington called a meeting as chair on Aug. 9, in part to discuss university leadership, which Dumas and some other board members didn’t attend because they didn’t view it as legitimate. On Aug. 10, Dumas and McCormick corresponded about setting a meeting to discuss a financial matter, and McCormick reportedly told him that other board members wouldn’t attend unless a discussion of the presidency was on the agenda. After Dumas refused, McCormick’s office sent out a separate meeting link, where other board members met and voted McCormick in as permanent president, according to the injunctions.

Weatherington said in a statement that the vote took place at a “duly called Florida Memorial University Board of Trustees meeting with a quorum present,” and a majority voted unanimously in McCormick’s favor. The decision was based on an independent third-party evaluation, his “outstanding performance over the past year and his unfailing commitment to the FMU community,” Weatherington said.

Dumas disputes that they had a quorum, given he and other members refused to attend and legitimize an “illegal meeting.”

“You just can’t arbitrarily decide that you’re going to ignore what’s been written and do what you want to do,” Dumas said.

He argued that McCormick’s fitness for the role wasn’t the issue.

“It is just simply a matter of what’s right and what’s wrong and how far people will go disregarding rules to carry out selfish or personal agendas,” he said.

Dueling Chairs

Meanwhile, who should be the rightful chair—and who was removed from the position, and when—remains a matter of disagreement.

Weatherington said in his statement that Dumas was removed for cause from his board chair role earlier this summer, a decision “confirmed” at the same meeting where McCormick was selected. He claimed Dumas lost the position because of a “failure to meet his obligations under the Bylaws” and was notified of his ouster on July 22 and again on Aug. 14.

“It is unfortunate that [Dumas] continues to ignore his removal and unlawfully hold himself out as Chairman,” Weatherington said in the statement. “I, Walter Weatherington, Sr., remain Chairman of the Florida Memorial University Board of Trustees.”

Dumas disputes Weatherington’s account. He said he did receive notice on July 22 that he was ousted because of claims he failed to meet the annual donation threshold required of board members. The notice, shared with Inside Higher Ed, was signed by Weatherington and some of the board.

But Dumas contends the vote didn’t pass with a board majority because Weatherington wasn’t in office and the student government association representative had already graduated.

Dumas also claims he did fulfill his donor obligations. He said that as a Baptist-affiliated university, Florida Memorial has board members who are designees of Baptist conventions, and they have historically met donation thresholds via gifts given by the organizations they represent.

A longstanding board member, Rev. Bartholomew Banks, defended Dumas and the practice in a letter to the board treasurer, which Inside Higher Ed obtained. Banks called the arrangement with the convention designees a “longstanding understanding” that should be “formally acknowledged.” Dumas said no other designees have been removed for such issues.

Rae L. Borden, director of legal and governmental affairs and commission support for the university’s accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on College (SACSCOC), said the accreditor is “aware of the situation” with the board and has made an inquiry into it.

Borden told Inside Higher Ed in an email that SACSCOC can review matters brought to its attention outside of the regular accreditation cycle “when they raise potential concerns about compliance with our Principles of Accreditation.”

“Florida Memorial University has been cooperative throughout our recent inquiry,” she said. “Out of respect for the institution and the integrity of our process, we will not provide further comment at this time.”

Now, the courts will determine how the board continues to operate.

“Unlike them, we’re guided by policies and procedures and by laws,” Dumas said, “so whatever the direction of the court is, that will determine our next steps.”

Affidavits filed by board members in the rival faction are asking the court to stay out of it.

The challenge to McCormick’s presidency “is disruptive to the University and its stakeholders including students, faculty and administration,” and “does not reflect well” to SACSCOC, multiple affidavits read. “From FMU’s perspective, the Court should abstain and, absent an emergency and the real prospect of imminent, irreparable harm, decline to get involved in the internal politics and decision-making of the FMU Board.”