Upon the "abrupt" resignation of our embattled interim president Castell Bryant late Friday, FAMU trustees will meet this afternoon to someone to hold the fort down until James Ammons takes over on July 2.
The public is invited to attend the meeting, which will be at 4 p.m. in Lee Hall's fourth-floor conference room.
Members of the public can also call in to hear the meeting by dialing (866) 356-6464. Conference ID # is: FAMU
God still answers prayer's. And he'll put someone there to run FAMU until President Ammons time to come. Have the faith of that MUSTARD SEED and a lot can happen, but you got to believe.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't Debra Austin take over that interim slot??????
ReplyDeleteDidn't we already have an excellent interim in Henry Lewis? And isn't he still around?
ReplyDeleteSince 2001:
ReplyDeleteHump
Lewis
Gainous
Bryant
perahps Austin
Ammons
That's an average of a new president every year. Not even Texas Southern can match that
Debra Austin resigned as well. I believe that Dr. Lewis should take the reigns until Dr. Ammons arrives. Dr. Lewis did an EXCELLENT job of "holding the fort down!"
ReplyDeleteWhat's the "emergency"????? CastHell's gone. Ammons is coming to town. Let Ammons pick the interim. He needs one of his guys at the helm, not some Castell carryover.
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck is this about???? Looks as if they are expected something nasty to come from all of this!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tallahassee.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070514/BREAKINGNEWS/70514008
A FAMU release stated: "Any person who wishes to appeal a decision made by the Board of Trustees with respect to any matter considered at this public meeting will need a record of the proceedings, and for such purpose, he or she may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made, which record includes the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is based."
Dr. Lewis did a mediocre job as interim. He only does things that look good on paper, but have no substance. There's a reason he hasn't been put back as Dean of College of Pharmacy. The current Dean is interim and has been since Gainous.
ReplyDeleteAmmons can't choose an interim, he is not currently the president. He can't make any major administrative decisions until he officially reports to work.
ReplyDeletehere's the question, will Castell give any parting shots before she dips? I think she HONESTLY believes what she is doing is right, and she will take action a la Dubya Bush.
ReplyDeleteWe saw the Airport thing. Will their be anything she will nix in the 16 days left in her admin?
The BOT should reject CVB's resignation or demand that she repay the university the bonus and salary raise she received.
ReplyDeleteWhile many alumni are hopeful we must anticipate something nasty. There are many skeletons to be unearthed in the FAMU mess.
ReplyDeleteFAMU ought to start by giving the Tallahassee Democrat what it is entited to under law. For God sakes, do we want the state attorney general and the Democrat to sue us. I hope that the BOT is paying attention to this FLAGRANT vioilation of Florida's Public Records Law by Casthell's administration.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tallahassee.com/special/blogs/bgabordi/2007/05/famu-gets-6025-we-get-frustrated.html
Monday, May 14, 2007
FAMU gets $60.25, we get frustrated
After nearly a month, Florida A&M officials finally delivered to the newspaper records requested under the state’s open-records laws. Well, almost.
To get the records, mind you, we had to pay $60.25. Cash in advance.
I must point out that there is some irony in FAMU's asking us for cash in advance. Just last week, someone in our circulation department asked me -- in frustration -- whom to contact about collecting thousands of dollars in payments owed to us. That is another story, but their insistence on getting our cash in advance of turning over the records was sadly funny.
We wanted the records, specifically FAMU inspector general reports R-05-312 and R-05-312A, which are cited in the state Auditor General’s operational audit of the university. We had first made the request April 11.
Reporter Jennifer Portman says the first reaction from FAMU to her request was “no problem.”
Two weeks went by and Portman was told the reports would be sent to her.
When the reports never showed up, she called again and was told, well, now there was, maybe, a problem. Someone at the university wasn’t sure the records were open.
We asked for FAMU to tell us in writing under what provisions of the open-records law these reports were being excluded, as required by the law.
That never happened, either.
Finally, last week, frustrated and out of patience, we contacted our attorney, who contacted the university attorney, who said that she was unaware of any problem and that the records were being prepared for us, including the redacting of private information not subject to release under the law. That was Wednesday. We would have the records Friday, we were told.
Very late in the day Friday, we got the call: The reports were ready, send someone over with the cash. We did. And guess what?
FAMU sent us the wrong records. In fact, for $60.25, FAMU released to us supporting documentation that was nearly all rejected by state auditors as not enough to change their troubling findings.
So here we are, more than one month after we requested records we believe are clearly in the public domain, but FAMU apparently does not want us to have.
We have wasted countless hours of staff reporting, editing and clerical time on what should have been an easy thing. Not to mention that the meter is now running at our attorney’s office, too.
We do not have the requested records, but FAMU has our $60.25.
How beautiful is that?
Bob Gabordi is executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com. He can be reached by clicking on the comments button below, via e-mail at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, or by calling (850) 599-2177.
posted by Bob Gabordi at 7:15 AM
11 Comments:
Anonymous said...
Wow, how frustrating is that!? Please keep at it, Mr. Gabordi. I think it is definitely in the public's interest to see what FAMU obviously does not want us to see.
It is beyond comprehension that a publically-funded institution can behave in this manner, but from all indications this is just business as usual at FAMU.
Thank you for at least trying to do your job in a professional manner.
With all respect,
David C.
10:16 AM
Anonymous said...
I'd say Bob, that is par for the course in this town.
Now, at the Leon County Sheriff's Office it takes about a month to get something like "the records you requested have been destroyed".
The Leon County Administration has a much faster turn-around-time. They give you "zilch" in record time. I believe they think a big formal letter that says nothing somehow satisfies a request for public records.
The best thing you can do Bob, is expose them...expose them all, Bob!
10:19 AM
Anonymous said...
Dear Bob,
You probably feel that the problems you are having with the FAMU administration result from them trying to stop you from seeing the public records you desire. I think it is more likely that it results from the administration that Bryant has created at FAMU. She keeps saying FAMU resisted her changes. The only changes I see is a change from poor administration to absolute chaos. Nothing works at FAMU--the administration is a complete and total mess.
10:24 AM
Anonymous said...
Hey, Bob...how many times and in how many ways can we say, "WELCOME TO TALLAHASSEE!"
You are now BEGINNING to feel SOME of the frustration many of us have had living "a la Dukes of Hazzard," in this town.
The good news is, if you wanted to do some investigative reporting, you couldn't have picked a town with a more "target rich" environment!
TALLY HO!!!
10:25 AM
Anonymous said...
No wonder those at FAMU aren't getting paid, they do no work!
10:30 AM
Anonymous said...
So OK, you got screwed out of $60...well the Democrat did. However, those of us in Leon County are getting screwed on a daily basis.
Our infamous County Administrator is getting paid $284,000, or to put it another way, $1.05 from every man, woman and child in Leon County. His pay translates to 1.2% of the total County budget. Why not, he does have one whole city to deal with.
Conversely, the County Administrator for Miami-Dade County gets paid $320,683 or .0000465% of the County's total budget. 14 cents for every resident of the County. But I guess his job must be easier since he only has to deal with the cities of:
Aventura
Bal Harbour
Bay Harbor Islands
Biscayne Park
Coral Gables
Doral
El Portal
Florida City
Golden Beach
Hialeah
Hialeah Gardens
Homestead
Indian Creek Village
Islandia
Key Biscayne
Medley
Miami
Miami Beach
Miami Gardens
Miami Shores Village
Miami Springs
North Bay Village
North Miami
North Miami Beach
Opa-Locka
Pinecrest
South Miami
Sunny Isles Beach
Surfside
Sweetwater
Virginia Gardens
West Miami
I think we're getting screwed more than the Democrat!
10:48 AM
Anonymous said...
Not surprising at all...FAMU is a cesspool of incompetence...always has been.
Someone please tell me why the taxpayers must continue to throw their money down that toilet. There are enough well run universities in this State (including one in this city - FSU) that we do not need FAMU any longer.
We should allow FSU to annex the FAMU buildings to let them expand their academic programs, rather than spend any more time and money on FAMU's incompetence.
11:03 AM
mak said...
There are a few problems here. The public should be able to get information accurately and timely from a public institution. Bob is correct in being frustrated. However…the assumption that FAMU obviously doesn’t want you to see something…is a little over the top. More likely the workers at FAMU are either incompetent or just don’t care about your request. If FAMU doesn’t have the organizational ability to pay employees, how in the world do they have the ability to micromanage and monitor all outgoing information?
I love the “welcome to Tallahassee” and “Dukes of Hazard” bloggers with their conspiracy theories; they are entertaining but remind me of Dale Gribble from King of the Hill.
Bob, please don’t fall victim to the ways of the conspiracy theorists in Tallahassee, although this blog makes it appear you have taken a step in that direction.
11:47 AM
Anonymous said...
EVERYONE HAVE THEIR PROBLEMS, I THINK ALL OF YALL NEED TO GROW UP.
11:53 AM
Bob Gabordi said...
Mak,
I'm not into conspiracies either. FAMU has said to us that it would not be "prudent" for them to release the information we have requested. They have not said, in writing or verbally, under what provisions of the law that falls. I think they simply do not want to release the information. But I will allow for the possibility that you are right. Their behavior has followed classic passive aggressive approaches: act like you are trying to help, but we still do not have the records we asked for.
11:56 AM
Anonymous said...
How can you love Tallahassee and want such a significant part of her to perish? I grew up here, and went to FSU for college, but it breaks my heart to see members of this community applaud the rough times experienced by our Historically Black University.
Tallahassee is lucky to have the state's largest HBCU, which also happens to be the 2nd largest in the nation. Even when my beloved FSU couldn't make the Men's NCAA, Tallahassee was still represented by Florida A&M. In the past year this same Univeristy has represented this community well at both the most recent Superbowl, and the Grammy awards show (or something like that). It has been named the best University for America's black students in the past year, and has even inspired one of the year's most popular films -- Stomp the Yard.
YET, some of us locals find so much falut with it. We don't want it to share "FSU's college of Engineering" we don't want it to share Tallahassee. Why not let FSU take over?? --- Very Bad Idea!
Every university has its struggles, companies, and other government entities have also been known to fail. It's one thing to demand sharp reform, its another to want the institution closed - and/or taken over.
Have more pride Tallahassee. FAMU is an asset to this community, and it will rise from the troubles it now faces.
I might be an FSU grad, but I was a Tallahasseean first!
12:26 PM
Post a Comment
1:33--Castell has already dipped. Right about now, girlF oughts to be stretched out on the sofa catching a run of Raw Hide pr The Rifleman.
ReplyDeleteNEWSFLASH--4:08 pm, 5/14/07)-- Dr. Larry Robinson, former provost under Fred Gainous, has been named Chief Financial Officer (instead of Interim President) at FAMU, until Dr. Ammons comes aboard on July 2, 2007. Members of the BOT (on conference call) voted unanimously for Robinson, who was asked and accepted. Dr. Debra Austin had been asked to served in that position, but declined, in view of the fact that her resignation will take effect on May 31, 2007. She spoke during the conference call today, 5/14/07, in thanking the BOT for asking her to serve in that capacity, saying it was an honor, but that she will indeed no longer serve the university after May 31, 2007. I dialed in the conference call number and heard it front and center. Are we in a state of upheavel or what?
ReplyDeletewow started at 4pm and over before 425pm can someone say BullSHYT!!!
ReplyDeleteIt started at 4 pm and was over at 4:08 pm. The NEWSFLASH post is mine. Had I not tuned in when I did, which was around 4:05, I would've missed the entire thing. They moved quickly and did not waste a second.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should've made a motion for Castell to give that bonus money back. Those are some gutless Trustees!! They all need to be removed!!
ReplyDeleteDoes this mean that the VP's have to go through Larry, or will Castell have power? Okay, then, why keep her until May 31st. Seems like payback from the Larry Henderso viasco. What goes around comes around. Look who is embarrassed now.
ReplyDeleteI bet ol' Cassie's face is tougher than the leather it looks like. I mean, what's the deal with the stretch skin? GirlF needs some serious moisturizer. With all that ill-gotten bonus money the BOT gave her, she could probably purchase a million stocks in Dove stock. Hey, Cassie, it's not too late to de-leatherize the face.
ReplyDeleteMJ said...
ReplyDeleteDebra Austin resigned as well. I believe that Dr. Lewis should take the reigns until Dr. Ammons arrives. Dr. Lewis did an EXCELLENT job of "holding the fort down!"
5/14/2007 11:49 AM
I was a student at FAMU when he was the Interim. I thought he did an awesome job.