There are lies, then there are damn lies! The interim president's claim to the Tallahassee Democrat yestderday that she was "unaware any such movement was afoot" by legistlators to take administrative control of the FAMU/FSU College of Engineering from FAMU and give it to FSU has to fall into the damn lie category.
"I don't know anything about that," Bryant told Democrat reporters. Witch please!
We could allow you one memory lapse, but there is a disturbing patern that is building up here. There's the big whopper of a tale you told about the $8 million surplus, we're still trying to understand that one. Then there's the lie and assorted stunts you pulled when you kept Julian White from accompanying band members to the Grammy's (see: Castell's Grammy Mess).
Then there's a long list of misappropriation of facts and stunts you pulled on Al Lawson dating back to the Booster's plan to renovate and expand the football fieldhouse. You met with Sen. Lawson endorsed the Boosters plan, then at the last minute claimed you knew nothing about it. Then later this year you had your office call the Senator's office not once, but four times, to make it clear he was not to participate in this year's homecoming parade. (see: Fieldhouse debacle and Catell doesn't want Senator in parade) . Why Sen. Lawson continues to speak to you, we'll never know.
We could go on and on, but you get the picture.
Not only did you know of Legislator's plans to transfer administrative control of the FAMU/FSU College of Engineering from FAMU to FSU, you approved of it and authorized University Lobbyist Jackie Maxie to inform legislators that you had no problems with this happening. (See: Castell wants to give Engineering to FSU)
Given the number of run-ins you've had with the truth, we are now beginning to question wether or not you really like westerns.
All of us would feel a whole lot better if you would just come clean and 'fess up that you did Jeb and Corbin's bidding and set out to destroy FAMU from within. So, during this Easter season, please stop lying and seek forgiveness.
There's also the time when Castell met with TK about Innovation Park and agreed to sign over some space then claimed she didn't.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot about the long list of lies she told about SACS.
ReplyDeleteCast-hell is a alchoholic. The only thing she remembers is playing tea cake between the sheets with McB****.
ReplyDeletesenator lawson continues to talk to this bitch because he has class. casthell know nothing about class or love for FAMU!
ReplyDeleteWe finally know for sure that Castell was hired to internally destroy FAMU. She has lied and connived from day one and for some reason Challis Lowe and several other board members continue to support and praise her. Hopefully she will just dry up and disappear from the face of the planet soon and very soon. July 2, 2007 will go down in infamy as the day FAMU was released from hell and let us all pray that Ammons can do what he has promised and has the capability of. Will the Board let him do his job or will Castell continue to have her witchcraft fingers in the pot. Lord have mercy
ReplyDeleteAsked why lawmakers were making the change if it wouldn't be noticed, Wetherell hesitated, then said: ''Who would you rather have manage your money?''
ReplyDeleteBryant, reached at the Board of Governors meeting, was unaware any such movement was afoot early Thursday. After discussing it with Wetherell, she said she was fine with the change.
'It was OK with them for FAMU to be the fiscal agent for 10 years, so why wouldn't it be OK with me for FSU to be fiscal agent for a while?'' she (CASTHELL) said. ''Nothing changes except who the Legislature sends the money to.''
Humphries needs to stop lying too!
ReplyDeleteAbout what!
ReplyDeleteAbout the clean orderly ship he left. The cards were coming down and he abruptly left.
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ReplyDeleteSheeeettttt!
Please don't make me send another missile your girl's way, because I damn sho' will.
We's got papers on her and we ain't afraid to send them to RN.
Can you say contracts?
We've heard about those. Send them. You know the email addy: AnMRattler@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteOMG! The woman is a pathological liar. I simply cannot believe that she is claiming to not know a thing about the E-school transfer business. Has the woman gone mad??? Not only did she KNOW about it, but she had plans in place at the beginning of her interim presidency to get things moving along that path. My God!
ReplyDeleteto the poster at 3:05, you are ignorant. why don't you just leave all of the gossip to another site and stick to the real discussion here?
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry, but this must be a pathology for her.
ReplyDeleteShe recently made similar comments at a directors/deans' meeting on campus a couple of weeks ago.
The next time she addresses the Rattler FAMily we should turn our backs on her just like she has done to our University.
I can't stand a liar and a thief. Cause if you lie, you damn sho'll steal.
Can someone confirm if Jackye Maxey husband is Rick Maxey? Also, if he is the Maxey that is the governmental affairs director for the BOG who works for Carolyn Roberts the chair of the board of governors?
ReplyDeleteIf they are related then it is pretty sad about the E-Sch, because he lobbied to get the support from both the house and senate to clear the way to transfer the E-Sch to FSU.
This means that Carolyn Roberts and Castell were in this together.
Damn, the devil is busy and we can't differentiate the snakes among us, cause they looking just like you and me.
I'm an outsider to the situation, but I'm wondering why some believe Castell was an agent of Jeb Bush to destroy the university from within. I won't deny she's been a terrible president, but you actually think she's intentionally trying to harm FAMU? And what did Jeb say/do that makes you think he wanted to close FAMU? I'd prefer factual responses, maybe with quotes, as opposed to opions, but I'll take both.
ReplyDeleteGovernor Bush saving FAMU???
ReplyDeleteby Scruggs
January 26, 2006
Recently (January 2006), an ex FAMU Board of Trustee member said, "When Jeb Bush, our Board of Trustees and Interim President is finished, FAMU will never be the same!" What does this really mean?
Word on the street it is that FAMU will be either one of two things, 1) The South Campus of FSU or 2) Tallahassee University of Four year Degrees (The combination of TCC and FAMU Curriculum and student body)! Why is Governor Bush so interested in this Land Grant Traditionally Black University? Nothing was ever so bazaar as to see Governor Bush back on FAMU’s campus (of all [laces) giving a speech on how he is increasing Minority enrollment in Florida's Universities. Consider the brief history of this relationship of the Governor with FAMU.
In 2000 the Governor was caught on TV saying to two Black FAMU graduates and Florida Legislators, "Get their Black a_ _ es out of his office."
· In 2000 the Governor was caught on TV saying to some FAMU students, who were demonstrating on the capital grounds against the G. W. presidential election, "Get their Black A_ _ es off the capital rounds"
· In 2001 the Governor was alleged to have said that he would not forget FAMU for their activities doing the election 2000.
In 2001 then Humphries, president of FAMU was forced to resign
In 2002 the FAMU student body refused to allow governor Bush to come to speak at an event on campus.
In 2004 the Governor was reported by The St. Petersburg Times, The Tallahassee Democrat, Palm Beach Post, Orlando Sentinel, etc. to have "Hand Picked" the present interim President as acting until January 2006. (The question here is why her and for what reason??)
· The present interim president has replaced most all of FAMU’s existing leadership, many subordinate staff at times using a personal sole appointment procedure in neglect of normal procedures which normally include the participation of both faculty and Board.
· FAMU lost between 15 and 30% of its student enrollment along with the $13,720 per student that they would have brought the University is income.
Inquiring, loyal, and patriotic FAMUans and citizens have the right to ask what is going on at FAMU? The critical power holders that made these decisions (e.g. Governor, Board of Trustees, and Leadership) should tell the public
Just google Jeb Bush FAMU if you really want to know.
BTW, T. Willard Fair, Castell Vaughn, Adam Herbert, James Corbin, Bernard Kinsey, and George Allen all are buddies and political appointees (except Kinsey) of Bush. They are what you would call the Bush's black inner circle in Florida politics.
Florida A&M students describe Republican attack on voting rights
ReplyDeleteBy Jerry White
6 December 2000
On November 9, two days after the US election, hundreds of students from Florida A&M University (FAMU) staged a sit-in at the state capitol in Tallahassee to protest the disenfranchisement of tens of thousands of Florida citizens. Many of the protesters had themselves been turned away from the polls on Election Day, after officials wrongly claimed they were not registered to vote.
Student leaders at the mostly black university collected more than 100 complaints from FAMU students, including dozens who were denied the right to vote or faced intimidating and confusing instructions from polling officials. Their complaints highlight the hostility of the Republican-controlled state apparatus toward the voting rights of working class people, particularly minority workers and youth.
The issue has evoked strong feelings from FAMU students because of the long struggle by blacks in Florida and other southern states to attain voting rights against the violent resistance of Jim Crow segregationists, who resorted to poll taxes, literacy tests, property requirements and deadly repression to disenfranchise African-Americans.
Florida A&M (Agricultural and Mechanical) University, founded in 1887, is located on the one-time site of the slave plantation of Florida Governor W.P. Duval. Its students, who at the time of the university's founding were banned from Tallahassee's all-white Florida State University, played a prominent role in civil rights struggles, including the 1956 Tallahassee bus boycott.
In the months prior to the November 7 election, student organizations, the NAACP and other groups signed up nearly 5,000 first-time voters on the campus, out of a student body of 12,000. Opposition to George W. Bush was particularly sharp because of the record of his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush. Earlier in the year thousands of FAMU students marched in opposition to the Florida governor's move to dismantle affirmative action programs.
“When Jeb was elected it was a wake-up call,” said Anthony Harris, the 20-year-old president pro tem of the student senate. “We knew George W wanted to get rid of affirmative action without proposing any alternative to help minority students. His opposition to a woman's right to an abortion and his environmental record also fueled concern. On Election Day our campus had the highest minority turnout in Tallahassee, with 85 to 90 percent of the registered students voting.
“Because of our initiative we encountered problems with the procedures at several polling places. Students were turned away because they couldn't furnish a registration card or drivers license, although they would have been permitted to vote if they had signed an affidavit swearing they had not already voted. But they were never told that. In addition, many went to vote but the county had them listed as having to vote elsewhere, and had given the students no prior notice.”
Harris said students also had difficulty getting their registration cards sent back from the Secretary of State's office, even though they had mailed their requests well in advance, in some cases months before the deadline. One student, he said, had registered on campus four times and never received a voter's card.
“The student government began the registration drive in July and August, and completed it by the cut-off day just prior to the election,” Harris said. “We took hundreds of registrations to the county court house, but many students never received their cards in the mail. When students got to the polling places they were told their names weren't on the list. Others, who had no way of knowing where to vote because they had no card, arrived at the polling station, only to be told to go somewhere else.”
Hillery Kelly, a 21-year-old junior, described what happened when students made an error and requested another ballot. “People realized that they had just made a mistake and punched the wrong hole. When they went up for another ballot they were refused. Instead the polling officials told them to punch the same ballot again. By law a person can get up to three ballots, but they were refused.”
Ms. Kelly, continued, “At the courthouse they told us to register the students again. Many people who had signed up a month or two in advance never got their cards. One student got two cards, each with a different location to vote. We had had workshops to show people how to correctly register to vote.
“Because we are students we also change addresses often. Some students went to their new precinct and were told they were registered in their old one. One student who registered here was told her registration was sent to Clearwater.
“Many out-of-state students never received their absentee ballots. I'm from Georgia, just north of here. Things are so fishy that my mother would not allow me to mail my absentee ballot to her. She insisted that I drive it up.”
Ms. Kelly explained that the suppression of voting rights was bound up with maintaining conditions of economic and political oppression that confront many blacks and working class people in the Deep South. “I live 50 miles away in Georgia, where poverty and other conditions make people feel they are being kept down,” she said. “Segregation continues to exist, in what we call ‘separation academies'—white-only schools that were set up after integration, using as a front the pretense that they were Christian schools or run by some academy. These schools pick the students they want and money is being channeled from public schools into these schools.”
Police blockades and intimidation of voters
The student leaders also said many black workers in Tallahassee had been turned away from the polls on the grounds that the polls were closed. Polling officials closed the locations while voters were still waiting in line, although the law says people must be allowed to vote if they are in line before closing time. The student leaders said one black worker complained of police intimidation near her polling location.
Contacted by the World Socialist Web Site, Roberta Tucker, a deputy clerk for the state of Florida, said, “The police had set up a road block, a Highway Patrol check point, about a mile from my voting precinct. The police asked me for my driver's license, looked at it and told me to go ahead. I found this suspicious. I've lived in the area for 10 years and there has never been a roadblock. They didn't check my registration or any other documents.
“I thought to myself, you're stopping black people on their way to vote—to intimidate first-time voters. Nothing was going on to warrant a roadblock. But this is a minority area and it's Election Day. I went ahead to vote and then I telephoned the NAACP and informed them of this. I asked them to investigate because it was suspicious to me.
“The Florida Highway Patrol chief later told the newspaper that the roadblock was not authorized and that he knew nothing about it. This was only a matter of four or five white highway patrol officers acting on their own? How could they not know about this—just a mile from the voting booths?
“My experience may have been light compared to some other cases of police intimidation around the state. At the time, I didn't know what other people were going through, I was only suspicious.”
Elan Thompson, a representative of the student government who collected dozens of complaints about voting irregularities, said, “We had a huge effort to get people out to vote. Now they're being told that their votes don't count. The US preaches about democracy to everybody, but we have to stand by those ideals.
“I'm from Kansas City, Missouri, where 900 votes in the metropolitan area were thrown out for irregularities. In Jacksonville, Florida, a city with a comparable population, 22,000 votes were thrown out. This goes beyond the factions fighting it out, it's about the right of people to vote.”
These concerns prompted Florida A&M students to organize their protest on November 9. Anthony Harris explained, “Reports the day after the election confirmed that voters were being disenfranchised around the state, not just on our campus. We held a town hall meeting and decided to hold a march.
“Almost 2,000 students, including white students from Florida State University, joined the march to the capitol and we filed into the rotunda. As we marched, people were clapping in the streets. We demanded to see Secretary of State Harris and we were prepared with pillows and blankets to stay all night.
“Ms. Harris spoke to me and some of the other student leaders. We asked her to address the students' concerns about voting irregularities and asked her what she intended to do if the canvassing boards tried to certify what were clearly incomplete vote tallies. She said that she was going to certify the votes. She blamed the voters for being confused in places like West Palm Beach, and said their votes would be thrown out. She refused to address the students in the rotunda and after five or seven minutes, her assistant said we had to leave because Harris was preparing for a press conference.”
Another leader of the protest, Student Senate President Andrew Gillum, said, “I'd like to see the attorneys for Gore raise the issue of the disenfranchising of blacks, but they haven't. These broken voting machines, some of which haven't been cleaned for 10 years, were predominantly in economically deprived and minority voting precincts.
“This was not an accident. It was a grand design to strip voting rights. There is a great history of the struggle of our people, our grandparents, to fight for the right to vote. This is similar to what people faced in Mississippi and Alabama that is more readily identified with the Deep South. Who would have thought we would be dealing with disenfranchisement in the twenty-first century? This reminds me of the issues surrounding the Civil War, like states' rights and the role of the federal government.
“The Voting Rights Act is being abridged, but the Democrats have not made this a central issue. They don't think it's popular, even though the turnout of blacks delivered what in reality was a winning margin for Gore. The Democrats may not think discrimination is a mainstream issue, but if you can take away the rights of blacks to vote, you can take away anybody's right.”
please note though that many of the students at famu or underqualified and have no business going to a 4 year institution. community college is a good first step. famu will adapt with the state. will it be predominately black forever? i doubt it. famu is part of the greater whole and will have to change with it.
ReplyDeleteat some point in time the two institutions will merge, budget constraints and dupliciy will force it.
11:21pm
ReplyDeleteAre you referring to a FAMU/TCC merger?
I've heard people say that HBCUs are a dying breed, but I just don't see it. If they can provide a quality education, which FAMU used to do, students will come. It's only now that FAMU has had such bad press headlines that enrollment is dropping.
11:14pm
ReplyDeleteFAMU would really have to go in the tanks, even more so than they have with Castell, for there to be any talks about making it FSU's south campus, and even then that seems highly unlikely.
And from what I can tell, TCC is a big feeder school for FSU. I don't think FSU would be for a merger of FAMU and TCC or TCC offering 4 year degrees.
Do the people on the "street" actually believe these to be realistic possibilities?
Henry Lewis III began his tenure as interim president on a good note. After receiving net checks on time, and seeing construction take place throughout campus, he seemed to be in everyone's good graces.
ReplyDeleteHowever, that has fluctuated as of late. Lewis and the FAMU administration are being held responsible for inviting Gov. Jeb Bush to speak at the FAMU commencement ceremony. In doing so, they have shown carelessness by not thinking of the students first.
Taken, Gov. Bush is invited to speak at most graduating ceremonies at universities throughout Florida. The history between Bush and this graduating class is not a pleasant one.
This same graduating class staged an all-night sit-in two years ago protesting Bush's "One Florida Initiative." The reward they received for their protest was Bush implementing the initiative anyway.
These are the students who went to Gov. Bush to demand better security after Michael Lombardi set of two bombs on FAMU's campus in the fall of 1999.
Also, this graduating class protested FAMU becoming a Tier 3 school.
FAMU being a Tier 3 may deny FAMU funding and means they may be less likely to recruit the top students in the country. Gov. Bush did not object to FAMU obtaining this deplorable title.
There is no love between the two entities.
Interim President Henry Lewis said in a prepared statement that, "FAMU has a history of inviting ranking political figures to speak at the spring commencement ceremonies. We thought it was time to invite the highest ranking political figure in the state of Florida."
Under normal circumstances, that would have been fine.
However, why would you invite this particular political figure to speak to this particular graduating class? Is it that he did not know about the existing tension?
Student Government Association president and graduating senior Andrew Gillum expressed his discontent with the situation.
"We would not want to ruin the dignity of this celebrated moment with protest signs, but if the governor does decide to speak at our commencement ceremony the students will turn their seats and their backs to him during the address."
The action seems to be befitting. The same man who showed no regard for these students in the spring of 2000 deserves little respect should he decide to speak to the same students.
This situation began with administration so they are the ones who deserve the blame.
They overlooked the student's point of view and best interest by inviting Gov. Bush.
Commencement exercises are set to take place on April 26th.
Obviously, Lewis will be speaking, with the possibility of Gov. Bush.
Because of the atmosphere, you might think of a boxing match on pay-per-view, Lewis and the students being the preliminary bout. No doubt the graduating class is upset being that Lewis was the one who made the call on the invitation.
Bush and the graduating class will be the main event. I believe that will be a front row seat worth paying for.
Bush Sucks
Jackie Maxie (who is Eva Wanton's daughter) is in fact married to whatever his name Maxie, the BOG's Lobbyist. That's a fact!
ReplyDeleteDr. Frederick S. Humphries is not to blame for FAMU's current financial problems.
ReplyDeleteHumphries left FAMU with:
-16 years of clean operational audit opinions from the State Auditor General's office;
-An Athletic Budget Surplus of $3M;
-An Operating Budget that was $3M cash positive;
-A Composite Cash Balance of $22M;
-A Foundation of more than $65M (after inheriting a foundation that had less than $6M);
-Nearly $90M in approved capital construction dollars;
-Over 12,000 students (after inheriting a student body that had less than 3,500).
Those are the facts. Dr. Humphries did not leave FAMU in a financial crisis.
FAMU's current financial issues go back to former board Chairman James Corbin. He pressured former President Fred Gainous to fire all the senior officers in the controller's office who had experience in preparing the financial statement and securing clean operational audit opinions.
Gainous and Castell Bryant gave big bucks to KPMG, which has turned out to be completely inept in managing the university's money.
Plus, Bryant cut the recruitment program: FAMU's largest revenue-generating unit.
It's time to stop blaming Humphries for problems he didn't create and start looking at the facts!
Word on the street is that Janie Greenleaf -- her main partner in crime -- got fired. "They" say that the two of them exchanged a few words. The stuff done hit the fan.
ReplyDeleteCan FAMU survive in the 21st century with all black leadership?
ReplyDeleteWhen faculty and leadership have a race constraint, you will never get the best people. You wind up with a lot of foreigners who look African-American, but are really just African (or middle eastern).
Half the faculty (I'll bet) barely speaks English.
Wouldn't it be better to hire the best PEOPLE you can find and not just the darkest people you can find?
FSU and the UF are predominately white institutions. FIU is a predominately Hispanic Institution. I respect all white or Hispanic institutions. Why can't FAMU and other HBCU's be given that same respect. I know that Castell has almost given away the hill and kitchen sink to FSU, however, we must demand respect from the Legislature and request that the auditor present the FSU and UF audit exceptions to the world. I am in complete agreement with investigating CVB and the rest of her crooks, but we need to demand that Dr. Ammons be given time to restore our FAMU back to its "Great Standing" among all institutions of higher learning. He should not have to come into this position with this kind of tradegy.
ReplyDelete10:57--I offer the confirmation: Maxey & Maxey are husband & wife. Whatever you may have "heard," I assure you on this date, at this hour, at this moment is, indeed, a fact. Bryant has hired the entire kit & kaboodle: Eva Wanton is Jackie Maxey's mother; Eva's other two daughter, Michelle Jones and Dwanna "Dee Dee" James, are employed at the university, and now Rick Maxey, who was fired from his state job a few years ago amidst, I am told, a sexual harrassment complaint against him, are all associated with the university. Rick may not be directly associated but his connection with the BOG is too close for comfort to say that he, too, is not a part of Bryant's inner circle of friends.
ReplyDeleteLots of folk in Castell's corner were getting paid to do little things that could have been engaged by her staff as part of their job. The shet gone hit the fan and, hopefully, we'll see who's been getting paid big $$ or little $$ to do virtually nothing.
ReplyDeleteCriminal activity has definitely been going on since Castell arrived at FAMU. I just hope the auditors take her and her circle of friends down.
ReplyDelete...andd Anonymous 10:13p SEND THE PAPERS....
what "papers" are we talking about here? like plenty other folks, i'm ready to get my
ReplyDeleteread-on.
My Dear 3/31/2007 9:49 AM,
ReplyDeleteR E S P E C T
is something you earn...
.. not something you demand.
FAMU has a lot of work to do to earn back its respect.
FSU and UF actively recruit all minorities. It wants the best and brightest of all color not just one.
ReplyDeleteFAMU is a one race school and does not recruit students other than black. FAMU is a school in the past, not recognizing that the future of education lies in diversity. The longer it waits to recruit people of all color the farther it falls behind. FAMU will not be able to survive on just being black.
The Attorney General will be stepping in with the FDLE next. FAMU has been stealing for years, and this started back with Humphries. FAMU needs to learn that Education is earned and not given. The school should be accountable and the taxpayers demand it.
ReplyDeleteHumphries was not guilty of any stealing and there is no evidence to support such allegations.
ReplyDeleteCastell and Corbin have been trying to find something to pin on Humphries for five years and have come up with nothing.
SEND THE PAPERS! WE NEED ALL THE AMMO WE CAN GET OUR HANDS ON!!!
ReplyDeleteThere is sufficient evidence that the problems began on Humphries watch. Have some of you done wso much crack that you can't remember those days???
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if any audits or investigations of the university's contract with KPMG are explored (specifically, if the university received an appropriate "bang" for the "bucks" that were paid to the consultant).
ReplyDeleteNow we know why the IG was fired!
ReplyDelete