‘A coup’: Trustees of Florida Memorial University dispute vote for new president

Florida Memorial University announced its new president, but about half of the college’s Board of Trustees said the vote to appoint him was done illegally.

On Thursday, FMU, South Florida’s only HBCU, announced William McCormick, Jr., who was the acting interim president, had been voted in as president. But nearly 12 hours later, a letter signed by seven members of the Board of Trustees and the president of the FMU Alumni Association was shared, stating the appointment of McCormick in the position was unauthorized and that “a coup” had been staged.

“Let us be absolutely clear: this presidency was obtained illegally. The meeting that facilitated this alleged vote, which none of us attended, was never properly noticed to the Board, the matter of selecting a permanent president was never mentioned to the full Board, and the action taken is in direct violation of our bylaws and the established processes for presidential selection,” read the letter signed by board chair Brandon K. Dumas with support from seven other board members and a former board chair.

Dumas has filed several injunctions, including one filed Friday, asking the court to block a faction of FMU trustees from conducting “rogue” meetings, overturn prior unsanctioned actions, and protect the university from governance chaos and accreditation risks.

At the center of the dispute is the question of who is acting as the Board of Trustees’ chair. Dumas states in his injunction that he was named chair on May 9 after serving as interim since April. But as of Friday, FMU’s website lists Walter Weatherington, a former board member, as the chair.

According to the injunction, things came to a head earlier this month when Dumas found out that Weatherington had convoked a meeting on Aug. 9 acting as board chair. The meeting was to discuss the appointment of the university’s president, among other issues. The board’s bylaws state only the chair or someone authorized by the chair can call a meeting, so any decisions made during that meeting and subsequent meetings held after are invalid, the injunction states.

The injunction alleges that rouge board members at the meeting Aug. 9 voted McCormick in as president. “This is not just a procedural misstep; this is a painful and shameful moment in the history of Florida Memorial University,” read Dumas letter on behalf of the trustees. “The very soul of this beloved institution is being dragged through the mud by those who disregard its laws and traditions.”

McCormick and Florida Memorial have not responded to a request for comment. Prior to becoming interim president, McCormick served as Board of Trustees chairman. This is the latest scandal in the school’s more recent years. The university faced financial issues and substantial cuts to its staff and program offerings, amid declining enrollment. The university rebounded, seeing an uptick in its numbers since 2022. It has an enrollment of about 1,300 students.

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“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 a statement.

McCormick graduated from the university in 1987 with a bachelor’s in Business Administration and Management, and has had a career in pharmaceuticals and healthcare spanning 32 years. Among some accomplishments under McCormick’s leadership as interim president, the university opened a museum dedicated to Black aviators and started a Center for Entrepreneurship at the Sistrunk Marketplace in Fort Lauderdale. More recently, he has helped craft a plan with developers Redwood Dev Co to bring more dorms to campus and provide workforce housing for the university’s employees.

Though the legality of McCormick’s appointment is still in question, Dumas says the larger issue is the disregard for the rules that govern the board.

“People are trying to make this about personality. This has nothing to do with Mr. McCormick. Mr. McCormick has made a decision to side with the group of rogue trustees who are moving and acting counter to our bylaws,” Dumas said. “For me, this is not a conversation about his ability or his character or fitness to lead the institution. It is about blatant and willful, repeated disregard for the established rules and guidelines that govern this institution.”

Dumas said he will not be bullied into silence and is concerned about the well-being of the FMU student body and alumni.

“We owe it to generations of Florida Memorial students, both current and future, to ensure that we get this right,” he said. “That institution has stood as a beacon of hope, in a gateway of opportunity for so many people for so long to better themselves and they use it as a bridge to a better future. I think we only determine what’s best through fair, transparent processes, and in this instance, that has not happened.”

This story was originally published August 22, 2025 at 6:16 PM.