Interim President Castell Bryant went before the Florida Legislature's Joint Legislative Auditing Committee today. The committeee intended to discuss outstanding audit issues, as identified by the Auditor General's Office, and the current payroll problem. However, the committee got bogged down in the payroll problem.Castell was accompanied by FAMU CFO Grace Ali, FAMU PR Coordinator Pam Bryant, FAMU General Counsel Liz McBride, FAMU Lobbyist Jackie Maxie, and Castell's (six figured) PR Consulant from Detroit (the skinny white dude who's name escapes me).
All in all, Castell stuck to her script of placing blame elsewhere. She suggested that this (payroll problem) was "a first time problem which emerged from an age old problem." She told legislators that she anad her leadership team have been working to resolve the problems along with an adhoc committee.
Rep. Storm asked if it were true that she has been signing off on all personnel contracts?
Mrs. Ali said that glitches in the computer system, which prevented them from going live with the PeopleSoft system were a root cause of the problems.
The JLAC was chaired, today, by Miami Sen. Gwen Margolis. Sen. Margolis admonished those with any knowledge of the situation to contact the Auditor General directly.
Margolis said, that the given the magnitude of the problems that this is very likely a preliminary hearing into FAMU's problems and there may be a need for further hearings.
Barbara A. Thompson, FAMU UFF President, suggested to the committee that FAMU administrators should not be paid until the payroll problems are all resolved.
Joint Legislative Audit Committee Calls Castell
Damn right it's a bigger problem. Drag Castell by her afro in front of the committee everyday of the week and twice on Sunday. The house of cards is falling down big time.
ReplyDeleteLooks as through FL Dept. of Labor is auditing FAMU. A four year audit of everyone, how much they got paid, how many hours they worked, etc. What's the back story?
ReplyDeleteI thought it was the USDOL Wage & Hour Division
ReplyDeleteIn faculty meeting today we learned that a former student (Sandy M. Thomas) will be the "Dean of Students".
ReplyDeleteA student who did not pass the bar the first time and just took it again this week.
As a student in my class she was always missing class, had a bad attitude most of the time and not very bright or sharpe.
It is a shame that the Registrar and the Admissions Director have to report to a recent graduate who does not like either of them. The Admissions Director and Registrar need to look for another job.
Witherspoon does not care about neither one of you so please don't sit around and think she is in your best interest. Find another job before accredition.
The university is not suppose to hire or fire anyone until the new President arrives. Witherspoon did not consider noone from inside the COL for the position.
So then what have Castell and Vincent done with the current Dean of Students, Henry Kirby?
ReplyDeleteAnd why has Vincent been permitted to remove the Director of Health Services and Dean of Students after Bryant placed a moratorium on hiring and firing?
They are talking about the Dean of Students at the College of Law.
ReplyDeleteDean (and Attorney) Henry Kirby is still on campus. June won't be firing him any time soon!
ReplyDeleteJune did fire Dr. Shetty, a medical doctor, and Director of Student Health Services, this past Friday. We're all trying to figure out why he would do this, since Cassie had the moratorium on hiring and firing.
Rumor had it that Dr. Shetty called June "on the carpet" about some of the money that he had taken from the budget (health fees paid by students). Instead of June having the guts to fire Dr. Shetty, who reported directly to him, he (June) gave that authority to evaluate Shetty and fire him to Associate Vice President Tim Wise, and June signed off on this. That way, Cassie would not have been involved. Once again, her name was not on a major firing. But! June's gonna have to explain this one to the Governor's Office.
Reportedly, June took $10,000 from Shetty's budget to pay for a consultant (someone he knew) to evaluate Dr. Shetty's shop, and refused to provide Shetty with a copy of the report. Shetty disagreed with the students' fees being used in this say. June used that report as the basis for Shetty's dismissal.
Sure wish I was an attorney right now. Dr. June... let me tell you right now that those in the medical profession are closely tied with their friends in the legal profession. YOU JUST DON'T DAMAGE A MEDICAL DOCTOR'S REPUTATION that easily.
People who worked with Dr. Shetty and in Foote-Hilyer are walking around with their mouths wide open! WOW!
It's been two years since Castell's budget promises to the legislature. This is a broken record...
ReplyDeleteBy DAVID KARP, Times Staff Writer
Published March 25, 2005
TAMPA - The bleak financial picture at Florida A&M University has led to a proposal calling for legislative accountants to take over the school's finances, interim FAMU president Castell Bryant said Thursday.
She said she opposes the plan, which calls for accountants from the Legislature's joint auditing committee to manage finances of the historically black college.
"It has never been done to a state institution," said Bryant. She said she can fix the school's problems if given time.
She said she hopes to balance the school's budget by the end of the fiscal year on June 30.
Bryant came out of retirement in January to run the school after trustees fired president Fred Gainous for not moving fast enough to straighten out FAMU's finances.
Bryant soon hired the auditing firm KPMG to evaluate the school's financial condition. The firm's report showed FAMU did not balance its books and did not track how it spent money.
This fiscal year, auditors said the university spent at least $51.1-million more than was budgeted. It paid staff $19.5-million less in salaries than state records said it should. KPMG could not explain the discrepancy.
Last week, two of FAMU's top financial officers resigned. Bryant said Thursday she has no idea who will replace them.
Bryant said she has been meeting with KPMG auditors daily and soon will get monthly financial reports. She asked the firm to recommend an action plan, which she said she will implement.
She said accountants from the Legislature, if they take over, planned to just adopt that plan.
"Now that I have a plan, they want to do something," she said.
Underlying the tension over a takeover is race.
FAMU, a predominantly black university, has always been the smaller school in Tallahassee, where Florida State University has broad support in the Legislature.
In 1965, the state closed FAMU's law school and soon opened one at FSU. The decision created years of resentment among FAMU alumni, who saw it as theft by a white institution of a coveted graduate school.
Race came up Thursday after the meeting when Bryant was asked why she did not want the Legislature's accountants to take control.
She said the question made the reporter who asked it look bad.
"Would you ask the University of Florida that?" she said.
"Would you ask Bernie Machen that?" she said, referring to UF's president, who is white.
Members of the Board of Governors offered Bryant their support Thursday, saying she had taken the right steps so far.
"She is very bright, aggressive person," said Sheila McDevitt. "They ought to give her a shot."
Board members also said they understood legislators' worries.
"They have the right to be concerned, and we are concerned too," said board chairwoman Carolyn Roberts.
[Last modified March 25, 2005, 01:00:17]
3/05/2007 7:40 PM,
ReplyDeleteIf what you say is true, then Vincent June has also violated Florida's whistle-blower law. The whistle-blower law specifically states than an employer cannot retaliate against an employee who launches a complaint.
Furthermore, the expenditure of student health fees is also regulated by Florida law. If the Bryant administration has been using those fees for purposes other than those permitted by the state statues, then it is in big trouble.
Talk about inviting another PR crisis! How can a university defend the misappropriation of money that's earmarked for student health!
Please make sure to email as much specific information as you can to RN's author.
I am shocked. Dr. Shetty has been at FAMU for a very long time. And yeah, what happned to the moratorium on hiring and firing. Was that a farce?
ReplyDeleteSomeone please ask Dr. Ammons to get here before June 15 ...
Can somebody verify if its true that Dr. Castell Bryant almost PEED in her pants when Senator Lawson walked in?
ReplyDelete3/05/2007 10:32 PM "when Senator Lawson walked in"
ReplyDeletehahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Big Al is still causing problems by "walking." Castell told him that he couldn't ride in his car in the parade because somehow his application had gotten misplaced, and he didn't meet the deadline. She refused to allow a state senator a place in the parade.
So what did he do?
HE WALKED IN THE PARADE WITHOUT HER PERMISSION.. hahahahzahahahahahahahahahahahha
And now, he's still "walking."
Castell and her people have walked all over people, but now, people with bigger shoes are going to....
(ya'll finish the rest, I'm laughing too hard).
10:32--how can someone "verify" this? Castell is the most mean, vicious and vindictive "professional" I've ever seen. How that woman sleeps at night is a doggone mystery to me. She has run over folks, talked down to folks, mistreated people who certianly did not deserve her venomous spitfire, and she has looked down on poor folks. How the woman continues to function every day as if she has no conscience is the most mystifying thing I've ever come across in my life.
ReplyDelete3/05/2007 5:02
ReplyDeleteDamn.
YOUR the professor?
Is it any wonder our students cannot wright corectly?
Damn.
^^^^^^
ReplyDelete"Write" not "wright" LOL
3/06/2007 12:40 AM
ReplyDeletehopefully "wright corectly" was a pun...
Well Castell just like all the rest of your clan you are finished you tried to destroy our University but GOD hands was all up in it, you of all people should know that, but what I want to know is how in the HELL do you sleep or even nap at night after what you have done to these people well the same thing is about to be done to you, all you have to do is dig that ditch just a little deeper and just jump.
ReplyDeleteLooks like if the staff was livid the nursing staff was not they are a big part of dismissal of Dr. Shetty. You girls should be slapped on the wrist when you can't have your way you complain to your VP what a bunch of babies you give ARNP's around the world a bad name. SHAME,SHAME SHAME ON YOU!
ReplyDeleteRemember "what one sow's one must receive". Why are student still having to wait for hours when the clinic is not that busy I came in last week saw two nurses siting at the computers while there were only three students in the lobby they were have so much fun that after waiting for an hour I left please junnie get a grip on the nursing staff Dr. Shetty must have really had a hard time with these nurses they must be from the bottom of the pit!!!!
Regarding the article from Tampa posted above.... WTF?????!!!
ReplyDeleteThe hell you say, "if given time." She has had 3 years! I thought she already came in and fixed everything. Wasn't that the basis of her bonus?
I support the Joint Audit Committee coming in to help straighten this mess out. The new president should be able to begin with a fresh start and reconciled books.
Forget about race and whether or not anyone would ask UF to do this. WGAS?! If their isht was as mucked up as Famu's then whomever the hell can fix the problem should be called in. We should be way past pride at this point.
Even Fred Gainous, as heinously atrocious as he was during his incompetent administration, was not called to account for his woefully poor performance by the WFIC. He was seriously deficient in his knowledge of higher education issues, and it showed profoundly, resulting in an outright firing (before a verbal firing squad), but he didn't have to explain that inexcusable and sorry administering to the WF during the legislative session. Castell has that distinction. She's a very bad girl. A Very, Very Bad Girl. (And I don't mean "bad" in a good way, either.)
ReplyDelete"Anonymous said... Looks like if the staff was livid the nursing staff was not they are a big part of dismissal of Dr. Shetty. You girls should be slapped on the wrist when you can't have your way you complain to your VP what a bunch of babies you give ARNP's around the world a bad name."
ReplyDeleteWriter..... DON'T BLAME ANY NURSES ON THIS FOOLISHNESS from Vincent. the Nurses DID NOT have anything to do with this.
I agree with the above blogger. The nurses don't have diddly to do with what happened to Dr. Shetty. That mess belongs to Vicent June, who, as we all know, belongs to Castell Bryant. The nurses are simply trying to make the best of, I would presume, a rather bad situation. So, it is certainly not appropriate or fair to cast them into JunieBug's hell.
ReplyDeleteThe name fits...Cast-Hell. Can we hurry up and get to AC...After Cast-Hell!
ReplyDeleteYour headline should have read, "Cast-Hell lies before the Legislative Audit Committee"
ReplyDeleteIn response to the anonymous comment on 3/05/2007, 5:02 PM, you might want to clean up your own dirt before you start throwing dirt at others. You have made it very clear who you are, not so anonymous are we?
ReplyDeleteYou were politely escorted from a prestigious law firm from Miami for the reason of?
You wheel and deal in collusive practices to steal property from the elderly in the Winter Park area for what reason again?
You seem a bit salty that you were not chosen for this position that a well deserving student was awarded. You also thought you were a prime candidate for other positions at the COL and we all see how that turned out right?
You have made it very clear that your professional manner in which you carry yourself is just as bad as your bedside manner...loose. You are the last person that should preach of what is "suppose" to go on at the COL. I thought that sexual relationships within the workplace was not condoned or encouraged but I guess you broke that rule twice with two different men. No need to worry because they have since left the COL…broken promises, broken promises.
I think Witherspoon's decision was one of distinction and well thought planning with a positive influence. Obviously, the choice to hire from within was considered but not entertained and after your comments I can clearly see why.
Maybe if you spent more time assisting students with educational curriculum and bar preparation rather than smear campaigns the FAMU COL students might be in a better position. It is very disheartening and sad that you claim to be a professional as well as a Christian.
Again I say, caution when throwing dirt. You are too old not to know how to use a spell check...kick your game up SISTA!
In response to the anonymous comment on 3/05/2007, 5:02 PM, you might want to clean up your own dirt before you start throwing dirt at others. You have made it very clear who you are, not so anonymous are we?
ReplyDeleteYou were politely escorted from a prestigious law firm from Miami for the reason of?
You wheel and deal in collusive practices to steal property from the elderly in the Winter Park area for what reason again?
You seem a bit salty that you were not chosen for this position that a well deserving student was awarded. You also thought you were a prime candidate for other positions at the COL and we all see how that turned out right?
You have made it very clear that your professional manner in which you carry yourself is just as bad as your bedside manner...loose. You are the last person that should preach of what is "suppose" to go on at the COL. I thought that sexual relationships within the workplace was not condoned or encouraged but I guess you broke that rule twice with two different men. No need to worry because they have since left the COL…broken promises, broken promises.
I think Witherspoon's decision was one of distinction and well thought planning with a positive influence. Obviously, the choice to hire from within was considered but not entertained and after your comments I can clearly see why.
Maybe if you spent more time assisting students with educational curriculum and bar preparation rather than smear campaigns the FAMU COL students might be in a better position. It is very disheartening and sad that you claim to be a professional as well as a Christian.
Again I say, caution when throwing dirt. You are too old not to know how to use a spell check...kick your game up SISTA!