Just like Jeb, George W., and Katherine Harris it seems University officials tried to influence the outcome of the NAA elections. Just short of stuffing the ballot box and throwing out votes, RN has learned that the VP for Compliance (former DC Chapter President) may have used University resources to actively campaign against NAA President Alvin Bryant. It seems that Alvin Bryant has become a thorn in the side of the Resident (ummm Interim President) Cast-hell and Board Chair Challis Lowe. Mr. Bryant has been expressing the wishes of many NAA members calling for fast tracking the search for a permanent University President. Naturally, this didn't sit too well with the current Resident (ummm Interim President), the occupier. Mr. Bryant has even refused to meet privately with James Corbin and Cast-hell at the Florida Regional meeting (see Corbin Tries to Broker Meeting).
RN has learned that the VP has used the FAMU email system and FAMU telephone system to actively campaign on behalf of his former DC chapter mate --- the choice of the interim resident. He has also campaigned on University time and at University expense. His activity became so onerous that it prompted a "cover your ass" unsigned memo from the interim executive director of the office of alumni affairs.
You missed my morning coffee.
ReplyDeleteGet another cup!
ReplyDeleteConsidering the insultingly paulty number of MF's who even bothered to take the time to fill out their ballots and vote in the NAA Election ... "WHO CARES?"
ReplyDeleteNow we know what Rufus has been working on...
ReplyDeleteummm...............
ReplyDeleteWho cares? Integrity matters, even if it's only two people voting in NAA elections.
ReplyDeleteGive em hell, RN!
Question: Did you vote?
ReplyDeleteIf not then its a moot point. Why debte something that you didn't participate in.
Do you all think Castell will get booed at the Florida Classic?
ReplyDeleteIf she talks yes?
ReplyDeleteDo you think she'll wear Orange & Green or get her hair done this year?
I could care less. I am going to the Classic to see a football game. Castell and her hair and what she wears are the least of my worries.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people didn't participate in Hurricane Katrina, yet they all seem to have an opinion.
ReplyDeleteAn injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.
Do we know this is true or not? I heard Castell Bryant favored Bob Porter over all of the candidates.
ReplyDeleteI can come up another scenario that makes just as much sense as this one . . .
ReplyDeleteFact: The Board of Trustees and Castell are in cahoots.
Fact: The BOT designee to the NAA is Demetral Wester
Fact: Demetral Wester who is a firm supporter of Alvin Bryant and is Chair of the Elections Committee.
Therefore the BOT and Castell must support Alvin Bryant. Maybe all of this is a sham.
Give me the red pill!!!!
Your logic is illogical.
ReplyDeleteDo we know this is true or not? I heard Castell Bryant favored Bob Porter over all of the candidates.
ReplyDelete11/14/2006 5:03 PM
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Castell can't stand Porter. However, Dick Blake has been known to escort her to functions across the state when her other friend is tied up.
Who she really likes is Carolyn Jones because they both HATE Alvin Bryant with a passion. So much so, that they have even joined forces. Their mantra was anybody but Alvin.
Hurricane Katrina was an act of nature. Your analogy is way off base. Try comparing apples to apples and not oranges.
ReplyDeleteI hope there is not a voting controversy this year.
ReplyDeleteI hate to bring this up, but they kind of set themselves up for one by making the postmark deadline fall on Sunday October 15th. That effectively makes the postmark deadline October 14th, although I could see someone arguing that the deadline should be the 16th, since a ballot could have been put in the mail on the 14th but not get a postmark until the 16th. I don't know if there is a significant number of "late" ballots, but just imagine if there are?
BrotherBrown yes there is indeed a possibility of controversy. Ballots were mailed bulk mail and it was taking members outside of the state of Florida 4 weeks to receive ballots. Some never received ballots. When it was reported, alternate ballots were not received until Saturday, October 14. Although non-receipt of ballots were being reported all along, all of them received them on the same day. If they received them on the 14th in their evening mail, how could they be postmarked on the 15th as you pointed out. Were these ballots even counted?
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, ineligible people received ballots. Life members have a stipulation in the NAA Constitution that if they reside near a local chapter they must also be financial on the local level to vote. Whether you agree or disagree that is by NAA Constitution. All Life Members received ballot.
RN -- you've been so good at posting other stuff, where is this memo?
ReplyDeleteFor your information blog readers
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
As you all are aware the NAA had elections this past October. The preliminary results indicate a
runoff election for the position of President between the incumbent Dr.Alvin Bryant and Challenger
Dr.Carolyn Jones. I would encourage you all to vote for change and new leadership in the runoff election.
I believe in this time of change at the University we should seek change for the major support organization also.
The current prez (Dr. Alvin Bryant) of the NAA is, and has been doing, a great job since he took the helm an organization that was gong down in flames. Rewind the tape and see for yourselves.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I will say this... under his leadership, NONE of the organization's funds will be used to pay off personal legal expenses incurred when the former NAA prez sought to sue the NAA and lost. Nor will the NAA engage in setting up meetings in places where close to NONE of our alumni live (Las Vegas comes to mind), wasting funds on lavish hotels and expenses. And those in his administration WILL be held accountable to do the job that they've been charged to do.
In addition, Dr. Bryant is the ONLY FAMU NAA prez that I've known to use his own personal funds to set up and supply FAMU NAA hospitality rooms in various city that the university has functions/events in.
Those of you seeking change for the sake of change (because I didn't see anywhere you all said "change for the better"), obviously have motives other than the good of FAMU and the FAMU NAA working here.
Under Dr. Bryant's leadership, the NAA has become a viable, accountable, and responsible DSO for FAMU, and I'd personally like to see it continue to be just that.
Change for the worst is no option. Carolyn Jones and Rufus Little are more of the problem than the solution.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn and Rufus (defunct DC Chapter president) have caused destruction and a rife in the DC chapter. Many members of the DC Chapter executive board have resigned due to this.
As with these crooks, the problem dealt with misappropriation and unauthorized use of funds.
The misuse of DC chapter funds in the guise of promoting alumni interest proved to be a vice - and that vice was trying to get votes for Carolyn Jones which obviously backfired.
In addition, Dr. Bryant is the ONLY FAMU NAA prez that I've known to use his own personal funds to set up and supply FAMU NAA hospitality rooms in various city that the university has functions/events in.
ReplyDelete=====
Where was this done? All ALUMNI Chapters host the hospitality suites in the cities where there are university functions, not Alvin Bryant.
Why don't ya'll prosecute the crooks instead of talking about what they supposed have done on a blog?
ReplyDeleteThe former NAA Pres fought the university and won.
ReplyDeleteDr. Bryant was on the Board of the NAA when the decision was made to have a meeting in Las Vegas. If you have been to Las Vegas, you would know that the host hotel - The Imperial - is on the lower end of the scale.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteIn addition, Dr. Bryant is the ONLY FAMU NAA prez that I've known to use his own personal funds to set up and supply FAMU NAA hospitality rooms in various city that the university has functions/events in.
=====
Where was this done? All ALUMNI Chapters host the hospitality suites in the cities where there are university functions, not Alvin Bryant. 11/17/2006 9:09 AM
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How about the homecoming games for the last two years at the Holiday Inn Round and the Ramada Inn this past homecoming.
Please do not post misinformation.
How many alumni chapters are there in Las Vegas, the State of Nevada or that far west of Florida any how?
ReplyDeleteThe former NAA presy pretty much travelled and lived off the NAA for much of her presidency. What can you show that says otherwise?
As far as that lawsuit, not one board member approved that silly move. She did that on her own and yeah Rufus and Carolyn contributed personal funds to make it happen. The problem is they wanted the NAA to reimburse them after they did not win the election. Check out the Jan '05 Winter Meeting minutes when the general membership upheld the executive board motion not to pay these folks.
It was never about the NAA and FAMU. It was all about the former presy winning by any means necessary.
I do not want my membership dues paying for this type (lawsuits, excessive travel, food, wine, and hotel rooms) of foolishness!!!!!
Poster at 11/17/2006 9:09 AM
ReplyDelete^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I don't think the poster indicated all events, but I personally have been to one of these hospitality suites in Tally-Ho and the food and fellowship have been great!
Lies, lies and more lies. First of all the information about the DC Chapter has been made up by someone who is not a member of the chapter and knows nothing regarding our operations. First of all, no one has resigned due to problems in the chapter. Mr. Little has resigned because he now works in Tallahassee. He did not immediately resign upon being named to his university position, because our chapter believes in succession planning and smooth transitions. We spent the last year identifying and training more people to lead in our organixation. We have lost one of our E-Board members to relocation and one person upon election never served.
ReplyDeleteOur chapter is strong and changes in leadership have nothing to do with the nonsense discussed. Please do not THINK you know what is going on in our chapter and please do not DRAG us into your foolish rantings and lies.
In regards to the policies of the alumni association and its operations---The alumni asociation has always rotated its meetings to a different region of the country. The purpose is outreach to FAMUANS around the country. Many of our alumni have not been back to Tallahassee in years. However, many when the alumni meeting is in their area, will come out for a portion of the event and enjoy the opportunity to fraternize wth the FAMU family.
ReplyDeleteBy rotating the meeting around the country it also helps in public relations for the university by introducing people to FAMU and its graduates.
Lastly, most of us who belong to professional national organizations are accustomed to this concept of rotating national meetings as outreach and PR to various communities.
There are FAMUans on the West Coast. Why should they always have to fly across the continent to support the university and alumni association? As elected officials, you should try to meet your constituents and support your chapters around the country. Many times in areas where there is no chapter, having the national meeting and reconnecting to FAMU energizes our alumni to start chapters or at least pay dues.
I applaud the alumni association for rotating meetings. As far as the meeting in Las Vegas. I wish it were in a lavish hotel. The Imperial Hotel is a very low budget hotel so it was not extravangant.
Many of us that read this site recognize several of you support Dr. Alvin Bryant. Those of us who have worked with him know him to be an autocratic leader with no respect for ideas and opinions other than his own.
Those of you who think he hs doing a good job know nothing about all the decisions and actions he has taken without ANY approval from the people the alumni have elected to represent them (chapter presidents, regional vice presidents, and other National Officers). We talk alot about morale at the university; morale is also low in the alumni association because of the lack of democracy in the organixation and lack of new ideas and recent graduate involvement.
Lastly, as we discuss chapter performance. What is going on? The Hampton Roads Chapter, Dr. Alvin Bryant's home chapter is in disarray. Many of his own chapter members do not support his candidacy because of how divisive he was on the local level.
Don't believe the hype. All is not well in the FAMU NAA. Ask your chapter president what is truly going on. Ask your chapter president the last time they have received communication about anything from the NAA. Ask people who are truly active and not people who have agendas and something personal to gain from the reelection of Alvin Bryant.
It's interesting how you discuss the lawsuit. The premise was that the alumni association is an entity separate from the university. The alumni association exists solely to support the university. Many people who participated in the lawsuit believed that the alumni association should be responsible for its own day-to-day operations. Where to have its meetings, when and how to conduct its elections, what programs it will implement to support the unversity, etc. When Dr. Gainous decided to put Dr Bryant in office after the leadership present in Las Vegas (chapter presidents, Excutive Board members) decided the elections needed to be redone because of problems with the election, many of Dr. Bryant's supporters were upset and beleved it was personal. It was not...
ReplyDeleteSome members did not receive ballots, some members received 2 and 3 ballots, some life members who were not eligible to vote received ballots, there was no documentation that the candidates had been qualified for office according to the NAA Consitution. These were some of the issues discussed during the hearing. As a result of all of this the leadership present made a decision to re-do the elections.
Several Florida Chapter Presidents (who also supported Alvin Bryant) chose not to come to the meeting in protest of the meeting being held in Las Vegas. When you as a president choose to be absent, you disenfranchise all of your members. Those people who were absent could have swung the vote a different way.
When they heard what had happened they asked the president to get involved. Many alumni felt it was not appropriate for Dr. Gainous to get involved after the leadership via a hearing with the Election Committee Chair and through a vote decided to re-do the election.
Now after the lawsuit which established the pseudo-independence of the alumni association, Dr. Bryant is using scare tactics in the NAA talking about the university is trying to shut the alumni association down.
Three years before Dr. Bryant invited the University involvement when it worked in his favor. Now that he is president, there is no need for university oversight of the NAA. Go figure
There has been no misuse of DC Chapter funds for anything. The chapter reports its financials monthly in great detail. Every income and expense is cited by our treasurer and financial secretary. Any questions about entries are asked and discussed within the meeting. Someone needs to stop making up lies.
ReplyDeleteIf you have knowledge that I do not have as a member of the DC chapter that attends meetings, please state what it is. What you are saying is libelous and I dare you to state who you are and what you supposedly know about misappropriation of funds in the DC Chapter. Again, do not lie on our chapter and bring us into your crazy mess.
If you chose to support Alvin Bryant please do so. However, do not make up nonsense to try to discredit our chapter nor our exemplary performance as a supporter of the alumni association and the university. When you make up these lies, not only are you discrediting the people you are hoping to attack (Rufus and Carolyn) but the 180 other members in the DC Chapter. We will not stand for your lies!!!!
Hey,
ReplyDeleteFor those of you out there, I attended my first NAA meeting in Jan '05 as a recent graduate.
I was dismayed that the NAA secretary was not there to take the
minutes, and did not notify the NAA president beforehand. I was also dismayed that a motion had been made to get rid of her ass because she refused to do the duties assigned to this position, one of which was to desiminate information to the membership through the chapter presidents.
Even though, the constitution stipulates that she is responsible for doing this (sending out minutes, info and such) and the NAA president informed the membership that he was having difficulty in getting her to cooperate. The majority of the people voted to keep her in this position.
It is no secret that some of these people have held office for years and have done absolutely nothing, but folks continue to vote for them.
Many are complete zeroes!
If you have not paid your dues and you do not actively participate in the process, then you have no voice and that's the way it should be.
I often wonder, why people can't pay the measily $35 for national dues. Many of us spend this much on a movie date and concessions, yet we won't even support our association.
We are pitiful when it comes to putting our money where our mouth is.
Also, attending some of these meetings and executive board meetings are very informative. You begin to see who doesn't provide a written report, who's not on top of their position duties and who's just flying by the cuff of their pants.
I am amazed that any president can get anything done with all of the backstabbing, subterfuge and unwillingness to cooperate.
We don't have to worry about the enemies outside because the strongest enemies are within.