Graham blasts FAMU administrators for nearly causing university to lose $2.3M

At the Thursday meeting of the FAMU Board of Trustees (BOT), Student Body President Tonnette S. Graham criticized administration officials for nearly causing the university to lose its ability to spend $2.3M in student fees.

“Why did we almost lose $2.3M in CITF funds last month?” she asked during the BOT discussion of facilities.

The Capital Improvement Trust Fund (CITF) comes from student fees under Florida Statutes 1009.24. It states that: “An increase in the fee may occur only once each fiscal year and must be implemented beginning with the fall term. The Board of Governors shall adopt regulations and timetables to implement the fee.”

CITF money is used for campus facilities projects.

Sameer Kapileshwari, associate vice president of facilities, planning, construction & safety, answered by assuring the BOT that FAMU had succeeded in retaining the funds.

“Right now the funds are safe,” he said.

That answer didn’t satisfy Graham.

“I was wondering what happened on the admin side?” Graham asked.

Graham said FAMU didn’t meet a deadline for submitting information that was required to permit the university to use its CITF money.

“We were in jeopardy of losing these funds,” she stated. Graham said this was because FAMU’s information was late and “hadn’t been processed.”

Graham, a member of the Florida Board of Governors (BOG), explained that she worked with other BOG members to help FAMU finally obtain the okay to spend the CITF funds. But she said she was embarrassed to have to get things done that way.

“We shouldn’t have to use buddy passes like this,” she said. “And it just kind of looks silly on our part.”

“Where was the ball dropped?” Graham asked.

Kapileshwari and other members of his staff said that the late submission was an error they regretted and that they were taking steps to fix the oversights that led to the problem.

Trustee Matt Carter, a former member of the BOG, said it was important to prevent these types of problems from taking place in the future.

“We should not let this happen again,” he said.

Trustees Thomas Dortch and Kelvin Lawson asked Facilities, Planning, Construction & Safety to provide the BOT with a written report of what it is doing to correct the issue.