Three Key Takeaways
- Board members are challenging Polk’s handling of financial concerns: Treasurer Pierre Rutledge says 19 members voted to proceed with a special meeting addressing concerns involving Polk and her spending.
- Polk has ordered the meeting canceled: She argues the meeting was not properly authorized and that the email vote used to approve it violated Florida’s Sunshine Law.
- The dispute has exposed deeper governance questions: The two sides disagree over the association’s bylaws, notice requirements, the validity of the vote and who should preside over a meeting involving the president.
A growing dispute inside FAMU’s National Alumni Association has put embattled NAA President Artisha Polk at odds with members of her executive board over audit findings, spending and the organization’s governance.
The conflict escalated this week when members called a special Executive Board meeting for tonight, Sept. 30, to address concerns involving Polk. Polk subsequently directed the association’s corresponding secretaries to notify members that the meeting was canceled.
In a letter to the board, obtained by Rattler Nation, Polk said the NAA bylaws require a majority of the Executive Board to approve a special meeting and at least five days’ written notice to all board members.
She also cited advice from the NAA’s general counsel that the email ballot used to authorize the meeting did not comply with Florida’s Sunshine Law.
“The process that was carried out is not permitted,” Polk wrote.
Polk questioned whether the vote could be independently verified, saying the association’s records did not establish who was asked to vote, who participated or whether the official voting record had been properly maintained.
He said notice of the meeting had been sent to the Executive Board the previous Friday and argued that it met the law’s requirements for reasonable notice and an open meeting.
Rutledge also pointed to previous instances in which, he said, Polk had scheduled special meetings with less than three days’ notice.
He said 19 members voted in favor of moving forward with today's meeting and that the names and votes were attached to his response.
The number is significant because the NAA’s bylaws require approval by a majority of the Executive Board to convene a special meeting.
Rutledge also said the 19 members voted for the First Vice President to preside because the matters under discussion involve concerns about Polk’s conduct.
“Were you to preside over this meeting, a clear conflict of interest would exist,” Rutledge wrote.
He asked that the meeting not be canceled and requested that the Zoom information be distributed to board members.
Polk has not said the matters should be ignored. She proposed referring issues within the jurisdiction of existing committees for review, with their findings and recommendations brought back to the Executive Board.
She said any matter ultimately requiring action could then be considered at a properly convened board meeting.
The correspondence does not detail all of the audit findings, and the documents reviewed do not accuse Polk of criminal wrongdoing. The dispute centers on financial oversight, board authority and the process for addressing concerns about the president.
Polk cited the bylaws provision giving the president responsibility for presiding over Executive Board meetings, with the first vice president presiding in the president’s absence.
Rutledge contends that the First Vice President should preside over tonight's meeting because the subject matter involves the president.
The competing positions have left the NAA divided over the rules governing its own board proceedings.
The dispute comes little more than a year after Polk became president of the National Alumni Association, which supports FAMU through fundraising, scholarships and other initiatives.
For the moment, the immediate question is whether the tonight's meeting will take place despite Polk’s directive to cancel it.
The larger issue is whether the association can resolve the financial and governance concerns raised by board members through a process that both sides recognize as valid.
UPDATE: The special meeting of the FAMU National Alumni Association Executive Board scheduled for tonight, Sept. 30, at 8 p.m. has been canceled. In a brief message to members, the association emailed at around 7pm, the NAA said a new meeting date will be announced soon, providing no additional details about the reason for the cancellation.