Reinventing Himself

Ex-legislator wings from Queens to Ohio as head of historic black college

The Rev. Floyd Flake strode about the campus of Wilberforce University recently, greeting passing students and faculty with hugs and air-kisses, and touting the school's improving fortunes since he took charge of his alma mater in 2002.

"For me, I had no second thoughts about taking the job, considering how blessed I have been since I left Wilberforce," the Old Westbury resident, former congressman and influential church pastor said of his decision to lead the nation's oldest private historically black college. "More than anything else, it was out of a sense of gratitude and commitment for what my alma mater has given me."

Twice each week, Flake flies from southeast Queens, where he is pastor of the 23,000-member Greater Allen Cathedral, to the rolling corn country of southwest Ohio.

Here, the African Methodist Episcopal pastor is helping guide Wilberforce - which by the time he took over as president had amassed more than $5 million in debt and had seen enrollments plunge below 700 students - on a path toward financial solvency and increased registrations.

A Wilberforce Class of 1968 graduate, Flake also hopes to use his influence as a financial rainmaker and builder of black institutions to boost Wilberforce's visibility and influence.

He seems to be making a difference.

At Flake's request, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton shoehorned a commencement speech appearance here Saturday, making space amid a grueling day of campaigning that stretched from Baton Rouge to Cleveland.

Flake's role as college president is the latest incarnation of a man who has redefined his career several times.

A former tobacco-company salesman, Flake, 62, has built at Allen an activist congregation that draws 7,000 members from Nassau and Suffolk.

In 1986, 10 years after taking over at the church, he successfully ran for Congress, then quit in 1996 to focus on expanding church-related community development that has brought millions in affordable housing projects, senior citizen units, commercial shops and other community development projects to the neighborhood near his church.

Now, with his wife, the Rev. Elaine M. Flake, overseeing much of the church's daily operations as co-pastor, Flake travels to Ohio after delivering two Sunday sermons.

He presides over university business until Wednesday night, when he returns to his church for Bible studies, then flies back to Ohio for the remainder of the business week.

Flake's work has earned him the respect of many.

"He is a unique college president," said Michael Lomax, the former president of Dillard University who heads the United Negro College Fund. "He is bringing to Wilberforce the same talents for institution building that he brought to his church in New York," Lomax said of Flake's leadership, citing the fact that enrollments have reached 1,000 students, up 42 percent since his arrival.

Flake has succeeded, in part, by defying political conventions that often link black preachers with the Democratic party establishment.

Three years ago, the self-described moderate Democrat persuaded then-Homeland Security director Tom Ridge - a conservative Republican - to place a disaster modeling lab on the Wilberforce campus. Flake, who befriended Ridge while they served together in Congress, said the lab fetches the financially strapped university $2 million in federal funds per year.

Since then, the Houston native has continued to confound political stereotype.

Last year, he co-chaired the unsuccessful Ohio gubernatorial campaign of Kenneth Blackwell, who as Ohio secretary of state helped deliver Ohio for President George W. Bush in 2004. Flake said loyalty played a role: Blackwell is a former Wilberforce trustee.

This year, he has endorsed the presidential bid of Hillary Clinton, who he has considered a friend since he organized a group of black preachers to meet then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton in 1990.

"He's truly independent and has not allowed a party label to pigeonhole him," said New York City deputy mayor Dennis Walcott, whose children have attended the Allen Christian School, a church-affiliated elementary and middle school.

Flake said he works well with Democrats and Republicans because he has persuaded partisans that his first priority is providing for his community.

"I do not rest in the seasons when a Democrat is not in the White House," Flake said. "I've learned the art of working with power no matter who is in power at the time."