Former FAMU President Walter Smith told the FAMUAN that Rattler Nation got its story wrong when we reported on Feb. 14th that he has a contract to serve as a "transition consultant" to the interim president. However, Smith acknowledged he does have a role in the transition process.
"I am the person who will be putting together the document for the transition from interim president to a permanent president," Smith said.
Smith was particualry at odds with the amount of money RN said he was being paid and the number of contracts he has received from the Bryant administration. He only described the amount of money he is being paid as roughly 10 percent of the amount we originally reported.
If, in fact, we are wrong we will gladly apologize on these pages. We do aim to get our facts correct.
Continue reading: Smith says we got story wrong
Smith hired as transition consultant
The fact still remains that Smith has a contract with Castell to produce a document. The questions still remains WHY? A transition team should be appointed by the incoming President. Walter should be ashame of himself for even accepting such an offer. Did he hire a transition consultant to prepare a document for the incoming Humphries administration in 1985? This kind of action is unheard of in higher education administration. If each of the academic units prepare an annual report, that information would be readily available to the incoming administration. I am still proud of RN for reporting this Smith transaction, even though the amount might not have been correct. The Point stills remains, he is mixed up with Castell's tricks and schemes. As an insider of FAMU, I want to let the outside world and alumni reading this Blog know that RN have done an outstanding job reporting on issues of this detrimental administration. It is also interesting to note that some days Pam Bryant is the communication's director and the next day it is Lanitra Carroll. Keep up the good work RN.
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ReplyDeleteCo-sign what anonymous @ 9:32am said.
ReplyDeleteIf Dr. Smith was on the up and up, he'd produce for public inspection, any document/contract that he signed off on to perform this work in an effort t to dispense with all of the speculation and innuendo.
And too, he said: "...I would never do anything that is to the detriment of FAMU.". Well, if he's sincere in his statement, then why isn't he doing this "task" as a public service to FAMU without monetary compensation, especially knowing what dire straits our financial situation is?
This just doesn't get past the smell test for me.
2/25/2007 10:25 AM Wrote:
ReplyDeleteWell, if he's sincere in his statement, then why isn't he doing this "task" as a public service to FAMU without monetary compensation, especially knowing what dire straits our financial situation is?
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YOU CAN NOT BE SERIOUS! He should get paid for his time, his experience, his relationships and his knowhow. This place has no love for anyone. This game and this community is very thankless.
If anyone is going to subject themselves to this sort of professional risk, they should be paid above average.
By the time FAMU gets finished with its leadership their name and reputation is mud, no matter how well they perform. If Smith can add value and If Ammmos welcomes his efforts than they should come up with what they believe is a fair wage.
If anyone is going to subject themselves to this sort of professional risk, they should be paid above average.
ReplyDeleteWhat "professional risk"???? And yes, I'm DEADASS serious. Am I the only person on the planet that is comfortable enough financially that I don't have to charge for EVERYTHING I do?? Especially if it a PUBLIC SERVICE??? And you wonder why you will not advance a people because you feel that you should get PAID to do everydamnthing.
Your alma mater is going down in flames financially, and you want to GET PAID to help right the plane so that it doesn't crash and burn. Pull-leaze
2/25/2007 11:31 AM Wrote:
ReplyDelete"Your alma mater is going down in flames financially, and you want to GET PAID to help right the plane so that it doesn't crash and burn. Pull-leaze"
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Do you really believe that grown ass people should dedicate countless hours of valuable time working for the un-appreciative. Your right Pull-leaze!.
With this logic in mind, maybe we should tell the FAMUan and all those other employees that have yet to be paid to just chalk it up and charge it to game and consider it volunteer work to save the school.
So are you really saying that alums should work for free because they are alums but others should get paid. You talking about Pull-leaze. Might i add N-Pull-leaze.
The brother shouldn't charge a premium but damn, he should charge what it’s worth. We are not talking about a plan to host a alumni bowling tournament. We are talking about an official transition documentation. Now is he qualified, competent and charging a fair value? That's a different story.
As for Professional risk: This discussion alone threatens the brother’s future earning potential. Just read the remarks posted here. True or not true, these comments can adversely influence the decisions of prospective clients and employers that he may court.
Does anybody really believe Walter's lame as claim that he's been working since January for $15,000?
ReplyDeletemy thing is why doesnt this dude want to work for free? its a damn shame that he wants to take from FAMU after all we have given to him. He should be ashamed of himself...10% 1% it doesnt matter at this point it should be about benevolence and giving to FAMU!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't expect Dr. Smith to work for free, however, I'm not buying unsubstantiated claim with the FAMUAN that he's only being paid $15,000.
ReplyDeleteNo reasonable person would fault Smith for taking the work on. Indeed, I fault Castell for offering the contract at what ever amount.
Sounds like more broom, broom, broom stuff to me.
ReplyDelete9:32---LaNedra Carroll.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if Smith ought to be paid as much as he's being paid, and also, with the university in dire financial straits, I think the amount--$10,000?, $15,000--whatever, is a bit much. I do believe he should be paid for his so-called "expertise, but maybe along the line of, say, $3,000, give or take a few hundred. Surely, as a veteran educator/administrator, he isn't starting from scratch in terms of his knowledge of such things, so I doubt very seriously that he will be spending a gargantuan amount of time doing whatever he is doing. He could probably wrap this thing up in little time or nothing, but, of course, he has to at least give an academic appearance that he is putting in a great deal of hours. We all know how to look and keep busy, and if no one is there to "check" on what the man is actually doing, hell, he could have wrapped this thing up in a matter of weeks and no one would be the wiser. In fact, the more I think about the time he's actually going to spend, or, in fact, has probably spent, he's probably already finished when we're still quibbling about what the man oughts to paid.You know that folk know how to make things roll for them, and Walter Smith ain't nobody's fool, believe you, me. Walter Smith has been in the academic game a very long time, and certainly he knows how to make things work for him. The man is probably already finished with the document(s) and is simply waiting to give the appearance of academic involvement. I ain't mad at the man for making things work for him. My only concern is that I don't believe he ought to be paid the great amount that he is being paid. And CVB knows firsthand that Walter already knows what the deal is, so she's not zooming anyone, least of all the folk out there who already know what the $$ game is already about. Give me a break. This isn't anything new. Walter's been there, done that and is doing it again.
ReplyDeleteSome of y'all are some real pieces of work ... Actually expecting someone to work for FREE!
ReplyDeleteThe Question should be ... What pool of funds is he being paid out of - That is not available for everyone else up on the Campus who are waiting to be paid for their services?
Is $10-15K excessive? Nobody in here knows ... But if they had farmed it out to someone on the outside and it cost more, you all would STILL b**** and complain!
Doing s*** half@ss all these years, and expecting hookups and freebies is largely part of the reason we're in this mess to begin with ... And why most Black businesses and organizations are so far behind the rest of the world!!
How difficult is it (or will be, actually) for Walter Smith to do what he's been asked to do. Certainly the man should be paid something, but how much? I don't know, but I think perhaps $15,000 may be a bit excessive. Waler Smith has been in academia for close to (if not well over) fifty years, and certainly he knows the ins & outs of the document that he has been commissioned to prepare. I believe he is certianly entitled to be paid for his academic services/expertise, but I am also of the belief that he is knowledgeable of the process and preparatory time it takes to engage such an academic activity that he will not spend huge amounts of time in the preparation of the document(s). He's a smart man, highly qualified and knows how to engage such academic/administrative initiatives. I guarantee you that he's more than halfway through with the business of assembling the administrative arm of what he's been asked to do and has not spent an overwhelming amount of time doing it. The man has the academic chops to make things work for him. I believe, however, that the amount being paid, as reported, that is, is perhaps a bit much, and that he probably should have not been paid any more than $5,000, at the most. This isn't some "new" thing that he must learn on the job. Smith's a master at doing such things.
ReplyDeleteFormer president Walter L. Smith is calling a story that appeared on the Web log Rattler Nation false. The story said Smith is the transitional consultant for Interim President Castell V. Bryant.
ReplyDeleteThe blog appeared Feb. 14 on www.rattlernation.blogspot.com and stated that Smith had been hired by Bryant to serve as a transitional consultant. It also said, "This is Mr. Smith's second $100,000/+ contract with FAMU under the Castell Bryant administration."
Smith acknowledged he does have a role in the transition process.
"I am the person who will be putting together the document for the transition from interim president to a permanent president," Smith said.
In response to the allegation that he is under his second contract under the Bryant administration, Smith said he has not had a contract with the University in nearly 20 years. B
"I have not had in my life any contracts with FAMU except as a student, when I was a lab assistant; 1963 in the FAMU hospital; when I came back in 1977 to be the seventh president of FAMU; and in 1985 when I became a professor after returning from my leave of absence to the University of Malawi in Central Africa where I served as a Fulbright Scholar."
Smith said he does not have a position at FAMU but is performing a special task.
"I have been asked by Dr. Bryant to develop this document to look at the status of all 13 colleges and schools and the University, so the new president will know what's going on at a glance," he said.
The document Smith is preparing is a state-of-the University type document, and he said it is not a secret. The new president will have to know what each college and school needs and how to address their issues. The document includes information such as enrollment numbers, faculty, the number of graduates, recruitment plans, internal and external partnerships and issues critical to each school or college, to name a few.
The document includes input from the deans of the colleges and schools as well.
Shouldn't this be called a status report.
ReplyDeleteI may be off, but in most cases, doesn't the provost or current president typically pull together this type of report for the incoming president?
ReplyDeleteRattlerNation, do you have documents supporting the $100k claim? I wonder if Dr. Smith is actually on "staff" vs. being on a contract. Just wondering aloud.
7:53 PM said:
ReplyDeleteI may be off, but in most cases, doesn't the provost or current president typically pull together this type of report for the incoming president?
In a word, YES!! That IS the function of the Provost since that individual is the administrator of the day-to-day operations of the university. I can't see WHY they had to bring in Dr. Smith (or anyone for that matter) unless this person (D. Austin) doesn't know what her duties are, or know HOW to carry out this task. I suspect the latter.
Since RN and its sources are usually on correct, I think the larger question is where is Dr. Smith's docments proving his contract is only $15k and no $150k?
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, Dr. Smith should be hired whether as a consultant or as an employee. Because of HIPAA laws you cannot just have anyone reviewing documents especially personnel or student documents. Since we are not privy to how he will compile his report and what records he will look at, it is appropriate that he has some kind of employment contract which then authorizes him to have access.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, consultants are very expensive. Their fees are not just $20.00/hr. Many charge upwards of hundreds of dollars of hours. Phone bills have to be paid, travel to and from Tallahassee has to be paid, hotel accomodations have to be paid etc while he is meeting with people in Tallahasse and reviewing documents and resources are necessary. In my business we pay some consultants $500 to $1000 a day.
Lastly, I think it is appropriate to have someone like Walter Smith do it. You have independent familiar eyes. If Drs Austin and Bryant did the report, most of you all would question what was being documented and whether the comments were legitimate or cover-ups.
Here you have someone who has been a president of this university, is familiar with Florida governance and administrative laws for higher education, knows many of the people involved where people will talk candidly and is an alumnus.
The idea of a transition document is very appropriate at this day and time. Whether Dr. Smth created a document for Dr. Humphries and whether Dr. Humphries created a document for his predecessor is a moot point.
You should never want a person to come into your organization cold and especially not where FAMU is today. Dr. Ammons must hit the ground running and does not have a lot of time to uncover stuff. I am sure he will take the document and do his due diligence, but it is always good to have a starting point.
From the comments from many of you on this board, I wonder where you work. I work in corporate America and the focus is for organizations to have better policies, procedures and compliance to these procedures. The concept of a transtion plan is part of having extablished procedures in place and to help a new person understand the lay of the land.
Bruce Gordon President and cEO of the NAACP spoke at the Tavis Smiley State of the Black Union Conference regarding the problem with Black institutions and organizations. We are personality-driven rather than procedure-driven and it is preventing forward progress.
We demonstrate this behavior daily on RN. All we want to talk about is what this one did and who was the best president or the worse president. Now we have made Dr. Ammons the savior of FAMU, our leader. What Bruce Gordon said was we are all leaders and all accountable. We need to stop waiitng for Jesus to come down and fix stuff that we have the talent to fix (my words).
He talked about how a CEO of a major corporation (I think, McDonalds) dropped dead the day before the annual meeting. The Board of Directors met, named a new president, flew him in before the Annual Meeting and had him debriefed. His point was organizations should not be about one person. You must have systems in place within the organization to make it and keep it successful.
If we would just take the blinders off, we would see that FAMU lacks in so many areas written and documented policies and procedures for the conduct of business. Furthermore, in many areas FAMU LACKS trained personnel to do the job according to today's expectations, job description and needs.
Furthermore, there is no process that addresses accountability to these procedures. It doesn't matter when it occured, under whose adminstration. It doesn't matter!!! We need to stop the one upmanship and the need to feel that we have to defend presidents and hate presidents and others at FAMU. We must do whatever it takes to improve operations and talking about people does nothing.
Dr. Smith is a professional and he should be compensated for his work. How do you know that at the end of the year, that he may not make a large donation back to the university? Some of you all have too much time on your hands. If you would work as hard for the betterment of FAMU as you do running your mouths and tearing everyone down, we would have a university to die for.
Because of HIPAA laws...
ReplyDeleteWhat??
"How do you know that he won't make a donation back to the Univesity?"
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Because he's been gone and trying to leech off FAMU since Humphries left. He was hired under Gainous' administration as well as the Sith's administration. What expert advise did he provide that has landed the University in a favorable manner. We can readily read, hear and view daily the efforts of these two administrations and it ain't pretty.
Secondly, Smith is a taker. He never pays his way. He's like a leech. As the American Express commercial goes, ergo go Smith "Your wallet, always leave home without."
Ok, not only is Walter Smith being paid over $100,000 for his current contract, but it is being doing in several incremental payments under $25,000 so that the University wouldn't have to bid out the contract.
ReplyDeleteYelp, so that's how he came up with the 10 percenter. Makes sense to me.
ReplyDelete10% of $250,000 is about $25,000.
You go Walter Lee.
Well written 2/26/2007 9:47 AM
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with you more. The next question, is Dr. Smith the one for the job or is this more of the same old cronyism?
Nevertheless, whoever prepares the transition documentation should meet some level of qualification. Dr. Smith has served on the executive administration level, he is familiar with FAMU systems, and he obviously understands Florida status. So he is at least minimally qualified.
It's amazing that this discussion is focused on Dr. Smith as a person and then on how much he's getting paid. Little has been mentioned about his capacity to generate meaningful results. It’s unfortunate but this mimics the type of analysis that goes into most hiring decisions here on campus. “How much is he/she making and what’s their hustle.”
Straight up, if Dr. Smith is getting paid $100k+ through the use of a series of smaller contracts that is ILLEGAL. I hope this isn't the case. Judging by the transition document he is submitting to FAMU, I think he owes the university some money instead of the other way around.
ReplyDeleteThis document has already been submitted and discussed at various levels of the higher upper administrator types.
ReplyDeleteWe are already in the process of collecting the information he has requested and completing the forms he/they have designed.
9:47---Who died and made you the arbiter of all things academically correct? Very little commentary here has been about what Walter Smith is doing, but, in actuality, about the great amount of money he is being paid to do it. We all know that a transitioal document is a necessary document for the incoming president. No one has ever said that it wasn't. Apparently, you have have been in corporate America so long (I imagine) that you have forgotten what academic is all about. Apparently you are not a graduate of the university but simply wish to vilify the commentators here on this board. We know that consultants often charge exhorbitant fees. The argument, again, is that Walter Smith's consultancy certainly is soething that is not of the monetary equivalency of what the man is being paid. what he's being asked to do can be done collectively by the provost and other academic affairs personnel. It should be part of their professional duties and responsibilities to prepare such a document. Maybe you need to step out of your bubble and visit a place that you have obviously forgotten, if in fact you've ever been to that place.
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ReplyDeleteYou could have made this statement with out attacking. I thought the comments were valid and provided the hired consultant the benefit of the doubt. There's nothing wrong with that. If evidence exist that suggest that what Dr. Smith is doing is not worth it, than present it and let the discussion move from there. But attacking people that offer sensible input is classic of FAMU ghetto, you think you smart, attitude. Maybe you've been on campus in higher academia too long. It appears that you have some insight. Present it with out trippen.
Anon 9:47 didn't offer anything sensible. Not that I can see, anyway.
ReplyDeleteWho's "attacking"? This blog is a site for general commentary. No one's attacking anyone--just a friendly exchange of ideas. Nothing more. Nothing less. If one's commentary strays too far left or right, folks want to claim that it's an attack, when the comments offered are what everyone else is doing: commenting on a topic. Is it necessary for us all to agree? I dare say it is not.As long as a commentator is in the middle, then I suspect that it's okay. Yes?
ReplyDelete^^^^^^
ReplyDeleteSo, what does this sound like.
"
9:47---Who died and made you the arbiter of all things academically correct?
....
Apparently, you have have been in corporate America so long (I imagine) that you have forgotten what academic is all about. Apparently you are not a graduate of the university but simply wish to vilify the commentators here on this board. "
The poster of these comments could have made their point without including this crap.