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Witch from Hell: Castell's desperate attempt to maintain control

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  1. Gee, I can't wait for your objective perspective on Bryant. What did she do to you anyways? Were you one of the incompetent faculty she fired?

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  2. As you excorciate Bryant, I am finding myself asking what in the hell is your problem? Have you read this story? Is Bryant making an effort to address issues such as unpaid faculty? Are you saying she should just quit now and leave these problems for Ammons? My impression is that she is acting to solve FAMU's bigvgest problems before Ammons is here, so as to give him a chance to lead the institution? What are you saying? She should just quit now and leave issues like payroll for Ammons???? What I hear you saying is that you don't like the transparency she has brought to FAMU. Well, it's a glass house now and FAMU can no longer carry on as if no one is paying attention.


    Article published Apr 21, 2007
    Bryant delivers more bad financial news to FAMU trustees
    By Bill Cotterell
    Florida Capital Bureau Political Editor
    Florida A&M University President Castell Bryant told FAMU trustees today the financially troubled university has two more big payroll problems.

    Bryant - who plowed through over 600 payment demands for graduate assistants, adjunct instructors and some professors last February and March -said she found out Friday night about 159 new late-paycheck requests. The trustees approved a letter advising employees how they can resolve such problems.

    On another item in a four-hour board meeting, Bryant and FAMU general counsel Elizabeth McBride said they soon hope to answer U.S. Department of Labor questions about employee overtime and leave backlogs. Bryant said some employees claimed 2,000 hours in compensatory time, and she questioned how anyone could pile up so much in the two-year period covered by the federal inquiry.

    "You know what it is?" she said wearily after the meeting. "It's just another example of the kind of environment we're working in. That's all it is."

    Trustees vice-chairman Bill Jennings said the university needs accounting help and modernized computer systems. He said the administration will "take reasonable steps to address those people who are coming forward" with back-pay or "comp time" demands.

    The board adopted a form letter telling current employees to get their payment requests in promptly.

    "This effort is to officially and finally bring closure to all outstanding payment claims at the university," says the letter. "This is our good-faith effort to assure delayed accountability and responsibility."

    Bryant spent all day Friday with a Board of Governors task force created to examine FAMU finances after a blistering state audit last month. When she got back to her office in the evening, she said, there was an answer to her clean-up request for payroll backlogs.

    "The week before last, we sent out a call to the campus saying, 'If you have any person that has not been paid, please bring it in now.' This is the same call we made at the beginning of the term, but my involvement tells me we needed to say it one more time," said Bryant. "They told me that through Thursday and yesterday, they received 159 requests."

    Some employees had more than one claim, for different periods or assignments.

    Bryant, who yields the FAMU presidency to former Provost James Ammons on July 2, has appeared before the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee to answer questions about Auditor General Bill Monroe's 35 critical operational findings, personnel and technology woes on campus and chronic late payment of staff.

    She told the board the federal Department of Labor asked about overtime and accumulated leave time for "OPS" employees - temporary and part-time workers - and those in the University Support Personnel Service class, including laborers. She said "every time sheet for every employee" had to be individually checked and that FAMU expects to get information from the state on Monday about overtime that was paid.

    McBride said there were between 2,500 to 3,000 employees in the affected job classes. It is not known how many have filed comp-time claims but McBride said FAMU hopes to submit answers to the federal government by Tuesday.

    Bryant said FAMU is financially liable for legitimate time claims. She said she asked the staff for totals of accumulated leave and "there was one in there for 2,000 hours. That's a lot of dollars.

    "So I asked some questions ... and the people who were making the report said, 'Oh, no, we've got others in there like that.' So I said, 'OK, I'm not going to send that to DOL, saying I owe this person that. What you guys need to start doing is, you need to be prepared to go back to some point in time. I need to find out how someone was able to accumulate 2,000 hours.'

    "I doubt seriously it was ever in a two-year period," she said.

    Even her critics concede that poor management and lack of accountability were part of FAMU life long before Bryant's arrival as interim president 28 months ago.

    "For over 10 years, the same issues have been brought to the university's attention," said Ali, referring to some audit findings. "What we've been doing is treating the symptoms and not the illnesses of the university."

    Bryant said she has tried to fix bad events, but also to instill in management a desire to find out why they keep happening.

    "I just want to be remembered as having brought transparency to FAMU," she said. "All of the many times that this has come forward, I have not been able to find any data or anything that shows that anybody had done anything."

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  3. Hey RN, can we get any information on the rumors that EIT is primarily made up of consultants and contractors? I even heard that consultants were hired as Directors under some "temp to perm" contract even after the BOT said that folks couldn't be hired in a Director's position or higher. I've even heard that the consultant agreement that EIT has been operating under is almost three years out-of-date and an updated one has not been executed by the General Counsel's Office.

    Please tell me that this is just a rumor. Please tell me that FAMU employees aren't being sold out by their leadership for folks who have more loyalties to a dollar than to the betterment of FAMU.

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  4. For the first two respondents- that appear to support Bryant....Take your head our your...you know the rest.
    This BLOG is the best thing that could have happened to FAMU and it does provide OBJECTIVE information about Castell's screw ups! She is a screw up and now the Florida Legislature, Famu Alumni, Florida Media outlets, and other HBCUs know it period.
    We all know that you might quite possibly be Bryant or one of her very 'few special friends that have their noses so far up her...to be blinded by the truth. On a personal note, I think Bryant has been coming to this site and having a cow every time some one speaks the truth about her incompetent evil butt.
    Now that her girlfriend Lowe is gone.. she is next. (Come on Challis if that was you who left the message -fess up to it sista)She is a stain on everything FAMU and she will go down in history as the most incomptent witch to ever ride a broomstick on the hallowed grounds of FAMU.
    Witches gets burned by rigteousness and hurt dogs always yelp the loudest-as my grandma always used to say.
    She may have fired alot of faculty but the fact remains is that she did not and does not have enough experience to know if the fired faculty was incompetent or NOT.
    I happen to know that one of the first faculty she did terminate when she rode in on her broomstick was a man that fired her INCOMPETENT butt over twenty years ago DUE to HER FLAGRANT INCOMPETENCE.
    We should excorciate CASTELL because she defecated on anything and anyone who gave a rat's tail about FAMU you and now EVERYONE KNOWS it.
    One last piece of advise- Challis and Castell...stop posting footprints in places that people down want you in. Sit down and be quiet because everyone thinks you are fool and but posting anonymous highschool like messages on this blog -you prove the consensus about your bitter ghetto tactics.

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  5. hey does anyone know how to trace these anonymous messages? I think Castell or Lowe posted the first and third messages. How stupif can you be? Oh yeah, you can be as stupid as Castell! Damn that is pretty damn dumb.

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  6. If Branyt cannot earn any respect you guys cannot expect Ammons to earn even less. Expect the shit top hit the fan as soon as he makes his first decision. His goodwill will quickly disappear. If you are so negati9ve abvout Bryant, who should Ammons get the benefit of the doubt. Every decision he makes will be watched closely and a year frm now we will all be criticizing him. That;'s the FAMU way. One day a savior. The next, the devil. Or, if you happen to be a black woman, a witch.

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  7. Oh get over yourself who ever you are (sounds like Bryant is up late on a Saturday night answering her opponents). Spellcheck would hurt you either, "Dr" Bryant.
    Anyway, sounds like the same BS excuse she used or hid before. There would be no cause to call her a witch if she was not one and she is a DISGRACE to every professional woman on earth.
    Castell is proof positive that even a woman can *uck up and she needs to be held accountable for that. If a man had made the same mistakes YES- he would be criticized also.
    There are plenty of REAL women making REAL progess for women's rights (Shirley Franklin, Dr. Johnetta B Cole, Hillary Clinton-to name a few) .
    The fact remains that when you're a pioneer- you can't afford to *uck up the way Bryant did. She would be criticized even if she was a man. So , don't dishonor the GREAT women of history by putting BS excuses and smoke screens of imaginary sexism. That woman is incompetent and she probably will always be because she refuses to take a long hard look at myself in the mirror. She would rather blame the world for her own crap.
    If she had a tenth of the talent of Humphries or Ammons, the school wouldn't be in the mess it is in now.
    Sadly I think that the lawsuits that the incompetent McBride has been intentionally ignoring and postponing will ultimately bring the school to its knees financially and that IS INDEED that WITCHES FAULT!! GET A LIFE and WAKE UP AND smell the WITCHES BREW.

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  8. 11:04--you've said a mouthful on this blog. Are there any truths to anything you've posted? Also, it is so unnecessary to use the metaphors and inferences and deragotoryinsults that you have hurled. Write intelligent commentary, or just stay off the site. There's enough ugly talk without you adding these lengthy remarks. Also, I doubt very seriously that Challis Lowe is taking the time to sit and address and/or comment on anything written here. Are you kidding me? You think Challis Lowe gives jack about what's posted here??? The woman is no longer on the board, so what folk say (or not say, for that matter) makes any difference to her one way or the other. Surely, you don't think that Challis Lowe cares anything about this site enough to post a comment here. We realize that the venomous commentary here about her leadership as the board chair, along with the calls for her ouster from FAMU's board, may have contributed to her "decision" (yeah, right) to not seek another term on the board, but the woman sees this board as just some ol' Internet site. Nothing more. Nothing less. You must remember that Challis Lowe did not see herself as a FAMUan, but as a person who occupied a seat on a board (of which she has sat on many). It was not big deal for her.

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  9. 8:50 AM- Whoever posted that last comment obviously has their head up their gluteus maximus (is that scholarly enough for you?)
    If the position was not so important to her, why did she lobby the Florida Legislature so hard to keep her position? Why did she stay on after not being reaffirmed last year? Why did Castell lobby so hard to keep her on the BOT?
    There's something to be said about a person that stays on where they are NOT wanted. Apparently both Castell and Lowe thought a little bit too much of themselves.
    Whoever wrote the comments in support of those two incomptent witches from Eastwyck -can write all the accolades and kudos they want to about those two women until kingdom comes. The fact remains that their reign of terror has come to an end and this fact cannot be changed. It's over.
    It's better to be thought of as a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt. In short, sit down and be quiet!

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  10. "It's better to be thought of as a fool then to open your mouth and remove all doubt."

    I Like that!! :)

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  11. Peace peace PEACE to all the respondents. it is completely obvioulsy that we all love FAMU. It just appears as though everyone has dug in to their stance on Castell/Lowe.
    The pair has had more than two years to prove themselves but failed. Now it is time for us to move on y'all.
    Negro Negativity is happens when we don't know how to sit down and respect each others viewpoint. A immature arguement will alway regress to ad hominem attacks.
    Luckily for us, this blog owner has inside knowledge and has been forthcoming with it all. People are entitled to their opinion and I am sure that most Famuans and lovers of FAMU would agree that this past two years have been an embarrassment to all HBCUs.

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  12. Castell Bryant is to blame for the FAMU law school's failures. If she weren't around, we would be having 80 or 90% of our students pass. She brings us down!!!! She holds down black folk!!! Ammons is our salvation. He'll get the bar passage rate up so FAMU can be competitive with NCCU.

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  13. I loves Ammons. God knows I do. But i be doggone if he is my saviour. He's a regular, smart man, who came back from NCCU right when FAMU needed him.

    God has indeed had his hand in this, but let's not elevate Ammons to this Christ-like status. That is not fair.

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  14. I am saving a copy of this blog to post when its leader, RW, has to have people apologize for his support of Ammons as he did when it was learned that he was a primary supporter of Castell unitl he was not included in the power circle. RW should stick with the profitless tabloid he sells for quarter. Twenty-five cents above its value.
    Given the culture at FAMU, Ammons will only be a savior if he comes in and continue to clean house. As a manager, I would fire on the spot a person under me who would allow someone to run up a tab of 2000 hours of ot without a justification of how the university would benefit. Any overtime that people work under my charge has to be approved by me and then justified to upper management. I pity the fool who allowed such without getting the neccesary approval. Maybe someone should pose this question to Ammons. What would you do?
    If he is to survive, he would make the idiots of this blog angry when a news release comes out that Dr. xxx was fired with no warning.
    Finally, you idiots fool yourselves when you think that Callis or even Castell would not rather be doing doing anything else that spending time of mess, particularily *iggar mess.

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  15. Anonymous
    Are you say Roosevelt Wilson (RW) was an initial supporter of Castell?

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  16. Just ask him -- ask RN to respond. She was his girl Friday until she left to be more.

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  17. This goes to credibility -- RN -- RW -- what say ye?

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  18. 9:11, I agree with you one-thousand percent. I concur that James Ammons is a smart fellow, personable, charismatic, sharp, insightful and all that, but the man isn't God. He has faults and weaknesses like everyone else. And he's going to make some mistakes, for sure. Everyone is pinning every fiber of hope on Ammons coming back and saving the university. He's good at what he's been doing, so far, but let us not attach all our stars to the halo that so many have placed over his head. He might be able to maneuver this ocean of confusion and mass mayhem, but still, the man does not walk on water. And I fear that the moment he makes an administrative move that not everyone agrees should have been made, the tide will turn, and we will be ready to run the man back up the road to North Carolina.

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  19. 9:01, you have completely missed my point. I NEVER said (or even inferred) that the CL didn't care about power or being in control. My response to a poster was in reference to Lowe's simply not caring about who said what on this board about her and her not taking the time to sit and comment on what was being said about her. The woman was interested in maintaining power and control. It had nothing to do with her desire for what was best for the university. One can be in control of a situation, or board--as in this case--and not care two flips about the insitution--business or otherwise (as in this case, our academic institution. But apparently you must think that a person has to actually CARE about an institution to sit and make decisions about it. No, dear, in case you don't know this, caring has nothing to do with power, which is what I said. If you have misinterpreted my commentary, this one and the previous one, perhaps you need to remove your head from your own gluteus maximus. Perhaps then you can think straight and not be imperiled by your own lack of basic logic. (Is this too scholarly for you?)

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  20. 9:01---If you're going to throw adages out, make sure you've got your quoted words right. "It's better to be thought a fool than (NOT "then") to open your mouth and remove all doubt." Of course, now, I don't expect you to understand the difference between "than" and "then" anyway.

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  21. If the BOT gets out of the way, as Ludacris says, and lets Ammons assemble and bring in his team when he starts on July 2nd we will begin to see a difference. I understand he's asked for all VP's, and some director's resignation, but Cast-Hell told them if they resigned she would fire them before Ammons had a chance to. What kind of stuff is that? Past time for her to go! Who does this woman think she is?

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  22. I never knew Ammons when I was a student at FAMU, but I hope he comes in and does what everyone is praising and indicating he will. If he doesn't, he'll get black balled just as Gainous and Bryant has. What FAMU needs to do is get rid of all the crooks and quit recycling employees. If you get fired from one department you shouldn't be placed in another one. Quit hiring your under qualified friends and family members. FAMU is a business. Restructure the HR department, financial aid dept and hire folks that WANT to work at FAMU. There are plenty of folks in the unemployment line...if you hate FAMU so much QUIT!!! Folks constantly complain about how much they hate working here, but won't do the institution a great favor and quit. Pay employees a comparable rate instead of paying these VP's over $100,000 to attend meeting after meeting discussing the same shit just on different days. What does a VP do anyway???? The real employees are the ones that deal with the students every day. The VP's aren't the ones that have to console a crying student, crying parent, an irate student, or an irate parent. Hire people that want to help the University versus destroy it. Its 50/50, students and employees need to take responsiblilty.

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