FAMU's Ammons deserves bonus and should keep it

I’m going to go out on a limb here, a thin, already cracking and brittle limb:

I think Florida A&M University President James Ammons has earned his $113,000 performance bonus, and he should keep it.

A deal is a deal is a deal. Ammons more than kept his end of the bargain.

I’ve read the posted comments and letters to the editor. I know most people who have commented disagree with me on this. But the fact is it doesn’t matter what any one of us thinks. In the end, Ammons will do what he thinks is right.

But I would keep the money.

Consider what he did to earn it before saying he doesn’t deserve it.

He did what no one thought possible in one year at FAMU, righting a badly listing ship. Some were talking again about how the only way to fix FAMU was to shut it down.

He worked night and day, some say to the point of total exhaustion. He brought efficient and professional management techniques to a place that couldn’t figure out the basics such as getting people paid on time in a regular fashion.

Let’s not forget that when he became president in 2007, FAMU’s very accreditation was at risk and was placed on probation just weeks before he arrived.

He went on the road to raise money and recruit the best and brightest students he could get.

He put FAMU back on track, in a positive way.

It is not hyperbole to say Ammons might have saved FAMU. And it could be argued that as a FAMU graduate and former administrator at FAMU with a strong track record of success elsewhere, no one but Ammons could have done it.

No, he did not do it alone. No one does. But he inspired others to reach new levels, and this much is indisputable: FAMU was not going well without him.

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