Thursday, June 14, 2001, updated at 12:57AM

FAMU, FSU at odds over college

Joint engineering program subject of budget argument

Engineering doctoral student Jaekeun C. Park adds liquid nitrogen to a huge magnet. The liquid nitrogen will keep the inner magnetic coil down to -273 degrees centigrade. Photo by MIKE EWEN/Tallahassee Democrat

Engineering Dean Ching-Jen Chen has often found himself on the losing end of a stalemate.

Each year, Florida State University and Florida A&M University would forward money requests for their joint engineering school to the chancellor. And each year during final negotiations, one school would end up dropping the engineering school from its short list of priorities that budget year.

"I'm always in a no-win situation," Chen said of his efforts. "If one party says no, it's no."

How the college is being budgeted has become the major sticking point in a public argument between FSU President Sandy D'Alemberte and FAMU President Frederick Humphries. At stake is how the two universities will work together now that the Board of Regents does not exist as a referee.

The situation has D'Alemberte threatening to work toward a split of the college if FAMU will not cooperate more. Humphries refuses to discuss the school's future with D'Alemberte if a possible split is on the table.

But the fight between presidents surprises faculty and students, who say there are issues that need to be addressed but don't see why the two institutions can't get along.

"If this is true, this has become a desirable piece of the university system," said Professor Jerry Wekezer, chairman of the civil and environmental engineering department. "If we didn't perform well, if we hadn't been doing a very good job, nobody would've cared about us."

While the presidents have disagreed - apparently for years - Chen continues to build the college by begging each university individually for money.

He said the quickly growing college demands more and more resources. It started with 35 students and surpassed 2,000 students in just 12 years. A second building was occupied in 1998. A third, needed for growing graduate programs, is slated for 2004.

"I have to go after whatever source I can to get the resources for the college," Chen said.

What started out as a 50-50 budget arrangement has eventually shifted to a lopsided one led by FSU.

FSU now antes up $1.7 million more for the college than FAMU. Although a joint budget managed by FAMU delivers $8.6 million to the college, a separate budget at FSU has supplemented that.

Racial integration

In a city with two distinct university campuses - one majority white and the other historically black - the FAMU/FSU College of Engineering stands as a testament to true racial integration.

Nearly half of its 2,000 students are black. Up to 10 percent of its undergraduates are from different countries. Nineteen different nationalities are represented among its 87 faculty.

More than 3,000 students have graduated from the college so far, and the college produces more than $7 million in research activity each year.

Students like Brian Hammond, an FSU junior from Naples majoring in mechanical engineering, say they're taught from day one that differences among classmates is a good thing. "These different perspectives from different genders and racial backgrounds means different outlooks on problems and ways to solve them," Hammond said.

But having two universities flowing into one college has presented its challenges. One that keeps surfacing is the preparation level of students from each school. Chen said FAMU students have been lacking in math skills in the past, but that has improved. And Associate Dean Samuel Awoniyi said the college has added a first-year engineering lab to help boost performances of students.

Chen and professors noted that high-performing students are admitted from both universities.

The school also has dealt with racial tension in the past. In 1993, several hundred students, mostly black, held a rally at the college demanding changes in the way FAMU students were treated at the school.

But students interviewed this week spoke of no lingering ill will among races.

"We get along fine," said Gretchen Davis, a FAMU senior from Jacksonville majoring in electrical engineering. "For us it's not a difference of whether it's FAMU or FSU."

The unrest in the early 1990s led to a special commissioned study of the college by then-Chancellor Charles Reed. The consultants recommended more streamlining of budgeting and said the entire management agreement of the college needed an overhaul to improve the universities' relationship.

FAMU disagrees, and opinion among faculty is mixed.

Anjaneyulu Krothapalli, chairman of the mechanical engineering department, said efforts should be made if only to remove the perception that there are academic differences between the two groups of students.

"It is my belief that the faculty and students must feel that they are a part of a single institution - the College of Engineering - without having to identify to which university they belong," Krothapalli said.