After a one year hiatus, Castell Bryant has reemerged on Florida's academic scene as interim VP of Academic Affairs at Bethune-Cookman University. Bryant has built her career in higher education as a "professional interim", having served as interim president of Florida Memorial, interim president of FAMU, and now an interim at BCU.Mrs. Bryant's lack of tact and management skills made her easily one of the most controversial figures in FAMU history, When interim president Castell Bryant left not only did she demoralize the the student body and faculty, but she left FAMU in pretty bad shape.
Not surprisingly, Castell V. Bryant quit less than two months before our 10th president, James Ammons, was to arrive. That move was incomprehensible - how do you weather the storm for 2 years and quit right before your time expires anyway?
Castell's parting shots
Unsurprisingly, a bitter Bryant went on the attack by putting her alma mater on blast in the an in St. Petersburg Times.
"I'll give FAMU students a 2," she said. (On a scale of 1-4, with 4 being the best) "But that's awful because we accept them and we could help more be successful."
"Bryant lacked the appropriate skills and abilities to lead a four-year university. No where else in the state would the Board of Governors have allowed such an under skilled and underdeveloped academician to take the reigns of a university like Florida A&M, unless the ultimate goal was certain destruction," said Monique Gillum, former SGA President.
“Her day has come and gone," Gillum added.
New job at Bethune
Apparently, Mrs. Bryant ran out of westerns or Trudie Kibbie Reed needs a heartless scapegoat to run off some folks from B-CU.
For this hire, we're gonna refer Trudie Reed one of my favorite websites for some guidance.
Also see: Millions withheld from FAMU Law
FAMU still paying for Bryant's sins
Bryant's surprise leaves FAMU with $4.3m tab
November 25, 2008 will go down in infamy as the day that Bethune-Cookman University met its demise!!!! .......Oh well, long live FAMU!
ReplyDeleteNext thing you know BCU will hire Grace Ali and Liz McBride too!
ReplyDeleteGrace Ali- Miami-Dade School board finances going south.
ReplyDeletesome folks at BCU had better get to shopping for luggage AND jobs, 'cause cvb will soon do Kibbe Reed's job and fire a whole buncha folk. But do not let that worry us. cvb will get hers. you can believe that! karma is a mother.
ReplyDeleteIf she has a similar track record at BCU that she had at FAMU, then whomever hired her should promptly be shown the door with her at BCU. You have to be a complete (fill in the blank) to hire her. If she would talk that way about her own alma mater, what would she do and say about the students of another school? BCU must not value their credibility.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Debra Austin.
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! I would not wish this on any HBCU. We will not know the story behind the story in a couple of years. Can you sense that something dirty is about to happen? I CAN!!!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Edward Waters would work as a fill in for the FLA Classic? Maybe FIU or even one of our bigger FBS schools would be willing to play us in Orlando. I think we can safely say that BCU will no longer exist in a couple years.
ReplyDeleteLord please help BCU as they know not what they have done. The Devil herself is employed again!
ReplyDeleteIt appears that most of you possess the innate ability to continue to blacken the name of Dr. Bryant. Is this something you were born predispositioned to or you simply cannot or will not help yourselves?
ReplyDeleteFlorida A & M has "supposedly" moved on, however, due to the blatant, negative comments, it appears that YOU have not. Why should you care what happens at BCC? You wanted her gone and she has, so move on already. There is still enough **** going on at FAMU to deal with for the next 100 years.
What is the past leader of the Institute on Urban Policy doing these days? Has she been sentenced?
To 11/28/2008 12:54 PM
ReplyDeleteCassie, we knew that you still read the blog to keep in touch. LOL
lol@4:27p....heyyy Cassie *waving*
ReplyDeleteIt appears that most of you possess the innate ability to continue to blacken the name of Dr. Bryant.
ReplyDeleteBryant blackened her own name. Just look at how she left FAMU on SACS probation. But now, she's been hired to supervise Cookman's academic programs? That makes absolutely NO SENSE.
Why should you care what happens at BCC?
First it's not BCC, it's Bethune Cookman University now.
Since you can't even get B-CU's name right, I guess you probably don't know how to use Google to get the facts about what Bryant did to FAMU.
We care about B-CU because it is part of the HBCU family and deserves to survive.
Bryant almost killed FAMU. We don't want her to do the same to another important university that's done so much for thousands of men and women.
What is the past leader of the Institute on Urban Policy doing these days? Has she been sentenced?
Answer this question first: Where is the $8M surplus that Bryant reported in 2005?
I guess you told me, huh? I think that the history of FAMU speaks for itself. This is not the first time that one of its' leaders has been in the spotlight for questionable policies, decisions and the ability to move FAMU forward. I think that the greater picture at hand is for the future of FAMU and not what happened under Dr. Bryant's administration.
ReplyDeleteFAMU, this year ,finally came off of probation after 8 years. Where was the uproar about this? I think that many times we are too emotional and miss the greater point at hand.
Personally, I don't care what Dr. Bryant does from here on out but it does matter that we as a community at FAMU still choose to carry on this counter productive mentality that, "we hate her and so should everyone else."
Yes, BCU has hired her, what does that have to do with FAMU? We need to stop these "educational lynch mobs" waiting to hang the first person we did not like or did not agree with the policies or decisions made. She is not the first president (interim or not) to make questionable decisions. I know this firsthandedly since the Walter Smith era.
Be a true rattler, and move on to greener pastures, use your talents and gifts of gab for something better and useful like mentoring children or writing a book about who HBCU's should not hire. Many on this blog would buy your book.
FAMU, this year ,finally came off of probation after 8 years.
ReplyDeleteIs that what Castell is telling you all down in Daytona? If so, she's wrong as usual.
FAMU was on probation for only ONE YEAR after Castell got the worst state audits in the university's history. Ammons came in and cleaned up the mess to SACS' satisfaction.
She is not the first president (interim or not) to make questionable decisions. I know this firsthandedly since the Walter Smith era.
But Castell was the first and only president to ever receive qualified state audits. That's what landed FAMU on the ONE YEAR probation with SACS. SACS lifted the probation after Ammons fixed the books well enough to earn an unqualified audit.
"we hate her and so should everyone else."
No. We hate mismanagement that leads to SACS probation - and so should everyone else.
Why is this year's audit late? RN please find out where the audit is if you are willing to. I wonder if it was bad.
ReplyDeleteHere go the Castell supporters, again.
ReplyDeleteFAMU's FYE 6/30/07 financial statement audit was actually completed early at Dr. Ammons' request.
The Florida Auditor General has not released the FYE 6/30/08 financial statement audit for ANY of Florida's public universities.
http://www.myflorida.com/audgen/pages/subjects/university.htm
It's sad that people feel the need to come on here without any facts.
To 12:55 ---
ReplyDeleteIf you wrote a book no one would buy it, because it would be filled with so many grammatical and structural errors.
1. There's no such word as "firsthandedly." The word is "firsthand."
2. The term is "gift for gab," not "gifts of gab."
3. It's "uproar over," not "uproar about."
4. The third line of your post includes "its'." "Its'" is not a word. The correct word you want to use is "its" -- without the apostrophe -- and certainly not stuck on the end of the word.(possessive).
There are quite a number of other infractions, but my wrists and fingers are tired. And plus, I don't think you'll "get it."
Now, do this one thing for me:
1. Re-read the first sentence of your post. Now, read the last sentence of your post.
2. A response to line one is: I'm telling you.
3. A response to the last statement is: Don't YOU go trying to write a book until you clean up your own writing, Ms Smarty Pants.
Last but not least: We don't care a thing about Castell Bryant. But we do care about the welfare of our sisters and brothers at Bethune C U. You've got it all wrong if you thought we gave jack (or Jill) about CVB.
You GOTTA be kidding me.
ReplyDeleteBCU, have some pride!!!
12/01/2008, 4:55pm it's not on there, 07 still would have been a Castell Audit. I'm not a supporter of a person but of our institution. I just want to know where it is and why it's late. Accountability is accountability and I don't care who is the president they must still be accountable. Faculty still aren't getting paid, the students are still getting checks late and employees are still unhappy. We just like Ammons for now and we are not out to get him yet. Any person who would be our president is nuts, we are worthless some timey supporters who believe all propaganda presented to us. By the way our beloved president's first audit under his watch audit started on July 1, 2007 and ended June 30, 2008. Again if someone can tell me how to view our audit and why our press shop hasn't let us know the findings I would appreciate that. They tell us when piss is purple so they should have told us about the audit.
ReplyDelete07 still would have been a Castell Audit.
ReplyDeleteAmmons started work on July 1, 2007 and began cleaning up Castell's mess.
The FYE 6/30/07 was released on 12/07/2007, after Ammons and his team had spent half a year fixing the books that Castell left in disarray. They requested that audit to be completed early so it could be turned in to SACS.
That audit marked the end of FAMU's qualified audits.
Again if someone can tell me how to view our audit and why our press shop hasn't let us know the findings I would appreciate that.
The press shop can't share audit results that don't yet exist.
FAMU's audit for FYE 6/30/08 is not late because that audit hasn't been released for ANY of Florida's universities.