BCU students demand trustee resignations amid leadership dispute
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Students gathered in a boardroom at Bethune-Cookman University, holding posters and calling for the resignation of five members of the school's board of trustees.
During a trustees meeting, students confronted board members.
What they're saying:
"We understand our university's mission, history, and values, and we will not allow anyone to undermine them," said Eternity Bradshaw, the BCU Student Government Association president.
The students specifically called for Pete Gamble, Jennifer Adams, Jeffrey Branch, Deveron Gibbons, and Courtney Rhodes to step down.
"They're unfit to serve and must resign immediately," Bradshaw said.
Although the five trustees have not resigned, board chair Belvin Perry has stepped down from his role. Both students and Perry alleged that the trustees colluded to block acting BCU president William Berry from remaining in the university's top position.
"They’d gone into the back room, had a cabal among them, and got the result that they wanted," Perry said.
Perry claimed the trustees doubted Berry's willingness to fire school employees they disliked. He warned that the trustees ignored student protests at their own peril.
"My sincere prayer is they wake up and see the damage they’re doing to this institution and change course," he said.
FOX 35 reached out to BCU and the board of trustees for comment but has not received a response. Perry also noted that the school’s accrediting body would be looking into the situation.
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The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the BCU Student Government Association, and former BCU Board of Trustees Chair Belvin Perry.