Ivelaw Griffith, the ninth president of Fort Valley State University in Georgia, has announced that he will leave his post at the end of the academic year on June 30. No reason was given for the change and Dr. Griffith was praised for his work by system chancellor Hank Huckaby. However, Fort Valley State has seen significant enrollment declines over the past several years, which have produced financial problems for the university.
Dr. Griffith has served as the university’s president since July 2013. Before coming to Fort Valley State, Dr. Griffith was provost at York College in New York and Radford University in Virginia. Earlier in his career, he was dean of the Honors College at Florida International University in Miami.
Dr. Griffith is a past president of the Caribbean Studies Association. He is the author of seven books including Drugs and Security in the Caribbean: Sovereignty Under Siege (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1997).
Professor Griffith is a graduate of the University of Guyana. He holds a master’s degree in political science and public administration from Long Island University and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. in political science from the City University of New York.
Something is woefully wrong with this picture when the president of an HBCU decide to resign in less than two full years. First, the hiring committee did conduct an adequate amount of due diligence on Dr. Griffith’s background. Second, what’s the intent and purpose of mentioning his degrees, the HWCU and HSI(Hispanic Serving Institution) called Florida International University, along with his dated publication from 1997. Third, I would definitely venture in saying that Dr. Griffith probably realized that he had difficulty in professionally interacting with native born Blacks as compared to those hailing from the neocolonial Caribbean islands and nations states.
Finally, the Fort Valley State University Administration and the Board of Trustees need to place the egos and group affiliation to the wayside and make decisions that’s in the best interests of the students, alumni(a), and other stakeholders. This type of institutional instability only feeds into the negative stereotype about the justification for HBCUs.