The FAMU audit committee meet today via telephone conference call and among some of the recommenendations it decided was to move to decertify the FAMU National Alumni Association.The FAMU-NAA has been given a deadline of March 15 to respond to the audit committee's mandate and come into compliance with its guidelines.
"We need to send a message to the Alvin Bryant," said BOT Audit Committee Chair George Allen, "FAMU is in control of FAMU and not the other way around. I think we need to start the decertification process and not allow them to use our name."
Those on the call included: W. George Allen, Chair, BOT Chair Challis, Lowe, Nelson Townsend, Grace Ali, Jesse Tyson,Rufus Little,Castell Bryant, Altha Manning
and Liz McBride.
Pending university audits included:
NSF
Research and Development
Operational Audit
Financial Aid
Financial Statements
Department of Labor
The BOT's rules permit the audit committee to recommend decertification, but the committee can unilaterally make that decision.
ReplyDeleteIf George Allen thinks he and his little gang can make this decision without the consent of the full BOT, then he is woefully mistaken. It's quite alarming that a bar-certified attorney wouldn't know such basic information about the BOT's rules.
This whole issues seems like payback against the NAA for lobbying so vigorously for Dr. Ammons. Allen stated publicly that he had a serious problem with NAA members bombarding him with phone calls, emails, and letters asking him to support Dr. Ammons' candidacy.
Allen needs to grow up and stop bringing his petty grudges into BOT meetings.
Allen was the absolute worst black history convocation speaker EVER!
ReplyDeleteAre his eyebrows arched in the photo?
ReplyDeleteUh, oh. You know what arched eyebrows mean...
ReplyDeleteThis picture is not complimentary. Not only does his eyebrows seemed waxed or arched, but he looks like he has on that doo doo color lipstick.
ReplyDeleteHomeboy needs to take another picture.
can anyone give us an overview of the convocation speech allen gave. was it politically motivated, was he trying to appear that he and cvb has famu's best interest at hear, or was it a stream line speech about civil rights movement?
ReplyDeleteto tell ya the truth, i only remember some poetry he recited to castell and in the mist of that i was too sick to the stomach i left.
ReplyDeletewho comes up with these convocation speakers of lately. they have been horrible to say the least.
Dude look kinda sweet...
ReplyDeleteSweet like a honey bun rolled around in cookie dough and dipped in syrup.
ReplyDeleteThe administration - Cast-Hell and company - have been selecting the speakers. 1+1 still = 2
ReplyDeleteDuring his speech, he went above and beyond in his efforts to declare that Dr. Bryant was the "President" in the interim and not the interim-president. Dr. Bryant has been known to declare herself as more than just the interim-president.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why she so desperate about this declaration. I think it speaks to the arrogance and self-rightousness of her character and her administration.
This is their final effort to distroy this university. Throw the cards because they lost the game. I am one of the first to say that NAA needs to refocus, yet I see no good in decertifing FAMU-NAA, Your talking about a strike and a public relations fiasco.
It's clear that this is revenge. We have selected a new president. Decisions of this magnitude should be left up to the incoming president. If the incoming president sees grounds for decertification, than let's consider the evidence.
These jive "niggas" have a motive and now their getting personal.
well if this dude is sweet then im the least bit surprised.
ReplyDeletegay people stick together.
Ive heard stories about the doyenne of this (no excellence and uncaring) administration leaving her husband for a woman.
RN and all true Rattlers should stand behind Dr. Alvin Bryant and the NAA! He did what needed to be done to get the ball rolling to bring Dr. Ammons home. We should strongly rally behind him and the NAA. Out with Mr. Arched Eyebrows! He should join Challis is Low; Laura "I know I should resign" Branker and Jesse "I'm no dummy, I'm an Alpha" Tyson in vacating this board ASAP! And if they don't want to go the RN should INSIST that they GO!
ReplyDeleteIf it weren't for the NAA, FAMU would have no presence in California, but because we have alumni who are devoted to FAMU, students are still interested in the hill.
ReplyDeleteThe BOT needs to abandon the idea that only it cares about FAMU.
As a proud member of the NAA, I applaud George Allen for his stance. The work of the chapters around the country is commendable; however as a whole we are jeopardizing our 501 C3 designation.
ReplyDeleteThe IRS has raised the bar for not-for-profit corporations and FAMU NAA the way it is run will not cut the mustard. It violates its documents daily.
Here are some examples:
All chapters are asked to file a form 990 with the National. No one really looks at those documents and interprets them. No one looks at the documentation of financial status that chapters generate. There are some well run chapters in the organization and there are some that are....
Chapters having fundraisers with no accountability to its membership (ie no financial reports, no after action reports). Chapters not providing charitable gift letters to donors.
The NAA under Dr. Alvin Bryant has made unilateral decisions with no input from its Board over and over again. This is a violation of its documents as it relates to how it is governed.
Not-for profit organizations are expected to fulfill the mission of the organization. The mission of the FAMU NAA is to support FAMU. We do this in a very rag tag fashion. The FAMU NAA has 3000 paid members. Annually FAMU is graduating over 2000 students. We have over 60,000 alumni and only 3000 pay dues to the organization. Guess what, that is not progress.
The FAMU NAA had a million dollar campaign. Many alumni thought they were giving to the NAA who would then in turn give to the university. The FAMU NAA raised over $150,000 dollars for this campaign. Many of you saw them on the field with the big check. You want to know where the money is....still in the NAA accounts.
The NAA created an NAA Endowment which was not approved by the general members (please provide the minutes Dedra that showed that the members of the organization agreed to establsh an endowment, rather than give it to the university for immediate needs). The money was not given to the university TO SUPPORT its operations.
An endowment ties up money in perpetuity. It preserves the principal and all you can spend is the interest which is 4.5%. The university has immediate needs and the NAA ties up $150,000 that will only yield $7000 a year that can be actually spent. Here was some money that could help the university recruit students and athletes. Here was some money to keep students in school this year. Here was some money to help the Baby Rattlers go to the playoffs. The list goes on and on.
The University needs some unrestricted dollars to spend on items that the state will not pay for. Instead the smart alumni at FAMU are tying money up at a time where the university desperately need an infusion of dollars.
Last year, the NAA gave to the university only $13,000. This money was given to students who were recipient of NAA scholarships. The NAA gave nothing to the university. The FAMU NAA has net assets in excess of $1.2M and all they gave the university was $13,000 in scholarships.
The wool has been pulled over alot of folks eyes. Dedra and Dr. Bryant won't tell you this. The smoke screen is that they want to run the university rather than run their own organization. They want people to believe this action from George Allen is about Ammons. It is not.
George Allen put the NAA on alert last year at the Winter Meeting in Miami that there were concerns with the operations of the organization. The DSO Committee did not initially approve the budget of the NAA, because they did not agree with how the money was spent and dollars were not being given to the university. Again, those of us in the know, know this has been brewing for over a year and a half. The NAA had time to turn this around, but because of the arrogance of our leader, we are now in jeopardy of losing our organization.
This is the reason why many of us in the know did not want Alvin Bryant back in as president because those of us on conference calls with the NAa and who attend meetings know the National Organization is in shambles.
I speak as a person who has been very actively involved with the FAMU NAA for the last few years and has attended over 90% of National meetings and studied many of those reports and followed the money. Furthermore, I have been a part of the leadership in the organization and many of us were fighting to save our organization because we knew what was on the horizon.
The poster above must be one of the sore losers. If you don't believe the funds are in the foundatin, please contact the FAMU Foundation or verify with the past treasurer that a check was written in the amount of $150,000.
ReplyDeleteOver two-thirds of the paid members voted for Dr. Alvin Byrant not once but twice. The vote speaks for itself.
The problem is that some on the BOT have been overstepping and overreaching for such a long time that it has become part of their behavior so, this revelation is not so shocking afterall. Anyone who would side with Cast-hell is either power hungry and insecure like her or just plain evil. Judging from his picture; he's got some venom going on in a bad way.
ReplyDeleteif it wasn't for the prez search, Dr. Al Bryant probably would not have been voted back in.
ReplyDeletePutting the $150K in an endowment was smart. That money can grow and we can always add to it over the years so that it gets more money to the school.
However, also as a member and very active participant in the NAA, the NAA and the Alumni Affairs office have been, correction, ARE run like a ghetto sandwich shop. The NAA as a whole is just not engaging alums to give back: they have this notion that people will naturally donate without any prompting or reward. Can we at least get a Thank You card? Pick up the phone and ask for a donation from time to time. At least TRY to publicize your website.
Don't get us started on anything even remotely related to documentation and financial accountability. If RN focused on the NAA like they did the idiots running FAMU, you all would know the deal. Maybe that should be the next target.
Only the galvanizing issue of the Casthell Bryant and the new president search have kept Alvin Bryant in power. Before this stuff started coming out, Alvin was working toward getting put on a midnight train to Georgia just like the Sith. Now can you dig THAT, SUCKAAAAAAAAAAA.
As I mentioned, FAMU-NAA has some serious problems and they need to be addressed. I was shocked to find out that Dr. Al Bryant won. Less than 2500 paid members is hidious for a community of size of FAMU graduates. FAMU-NAA is in sad shape but I just don't think that decerficiation is the answer and this action is more politically motivated than performance motivated.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore two-thirds of the total votes is not the same as two-thirds of all paid members.
Finally, 2/26/2007 10:20 AM post was just calling a spade a spade. those comments were very insightful and if accurate, Dr. Bryant, just like Dr. Bryant should account.
The leadership of FAMU-NAA needs to worry more about running FAMU-NAA and less about how FAMU is ran. Sure they are related but FAMU's mess is no excuse to neglect the operational affairs FAMU-NAA.
The way FAMU is run is the FAMU NAA's business. It is the business of all alumni.
ReplyDeleteWhen Castell Bryant demonstrates gross incomptence by racking up a $10M deficit, shutting down the recruitment program, gutting the research division, publicly missrepresenting SACS faculty credentialing standards, and failing to pay 755 employees on time -- that hurts FAMU's reputation. It also diminishes the value of FAMU degrees.
George Allen is a hypocrite. He claims to be concerning about increasing accountability at FAMU, but has not lifted a finger to hold Castell responsible for the bad audits, revenue losses, or payroll crisis. Instead, he wants to seek revenge against the FAMU NAA for its successful lobbying efforts in James Ammons' favor.
Allen is an ignorant, arched eyebrow, thick-headed, double-talking, scoundrel. FAMU's NAA has a duty and responsibility to challenge deficient trustees like him.
It's funny how all ya'll sofa corches are saying this Bryant shoulda've done that or that Bryant dere shoulda've done.
ReplyDeleteGet up off your lazy tookus and start recruiting some damn members and help out your NAA.
Ain't nothing but a bunch of crybabies on this damn board.
Go find a job.
The FAMU Foundation acts as a bank for the university. There are several organizations that have accounts there. Even though the FAMU NAA has an endowment account in the foundation it does not count towards the assets of the university because the university does not have the authority to spend the money. The money is still on the books as belonging to the NAA and not belonging to the university. The university cannot spend the money nor was the university the one who decided to create an endowment. The FAMU NAA still controls outcome. If you control outcome, you have not given over any money.
ReplyDeleteEndowments in essence are good things, but that is not what we should be doing with the money today. FAMU desperately needs an infusion of dollars. Once we have funds coming in from all directions again, you can then establish an endowment.
The FAMU NAA should be giving in several ways to the university, scholarships, unrestricted dollars and an endowment if it chooses to. Unfortunately, we are giving small dollars for scholarships, no dollars that are unrestricted and can be used for immediate needs.
Child please! FAMU desparately needs to find the all of the money it has lost over the last few years. There are deficits everywhere and they only are multiplying.
ReplyDeleteThe NAA did the right thing not to throw more good money behind these incompetents and into another black hole.
If you want to give your money, then do so.
Over the past several years, the LA Chapter has issued at least $15k in scholarships a year to many students through our annual scholarship program. Quite frankly, I'm positive our kids will get their money if we drop the check in the mail, but I'm not so confident that if we sent a check for $15k and a list of students to the FAMU Foundation, the money would find itself to the proper students in a timely fashion. Our students (and their parents) are counting on us to live up to our obligations as they live up to theirs.
ReplyDelete"Audit Committee Chair George Allen, "FAMU is in control of FAMU and not the other way around."
ReplyDeleteWhat the HELL does that mean????
"Audit Committee Chair George Allen, "FAMU is in control of FAMU and not the other way around."
ReplyDeleteSounds like the same type of nonsense Corbin used to say on the board. I still remember his brilliant statement: "If you vote yes, that means you're for the motion. If you vote no, that means you're against it."
All I know is his eyebrows sho look arched to me!
ReplyDelete