{"id":133891,"date":"2024-05-20T09:55:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T13:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=133891"},"modified":"2024-05-20T09:55:52","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T13:55:52","slug":"famu-president-dr-larry-robinson-pauses-237m-donation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/?p=133891","title":{"rendered":"FAMU President Dr. Larry Robinson Pauses $237M Donation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

PRESIDENT LARRY ROBINSON, Ph.D.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

KRISTIN HARPER<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2026Chairman, FAMU Board of Trustees<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just days after the announcement of FAMU receiving the largest donation in school history, FAMU President\u00a0Larry Robinson<\/strong>\u00a0announced Thursday (May 9) that the university would \u201cpause\u201d a historic $237 million donation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWith regards to the gift and the processing of it \u2026 We\u2019ve already decided that it is in our best interest to put that on pause,\u201d Robinson <\/strong>said, the\u00a0Tallahassee Democra<\/em>t<\/a>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We reported earlier that Florida A&M University (FAMU) received a staggering $237.75 million contribution from the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust. Gregory Gerami,<\/strong> CEO of Batterson Farms Corp, presented the generous donation to FAMU during Saturday\u2019s (May 4th<\/sup>) commencement ceremony at the Al Lawson Center.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This record-breaking donation is earmarked to bolster student success programs and enhance athletics at the esteemed institution.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 However,\u00a0following an emergency FAMU Foundation Board meeting on Thursday, Robinson <\/strong>stated that the university would pause any further action until it could assess the value of the stock options contributed by Gerami,<\/strong> a trustee of the Isaac Batterson Family 7th Trust.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 FAMU Board of Trustees Chair, Kristin Harper<\/strong>, issued a statement on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201c\u2026Serious concerns have been raised regarding the validity of the gift, the adequacy of the due diligence process and whether the Foundatio0n Board and Board of Trustees have been provided ample oversight opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAs a result, the following actions have been taken:<\/p>\n

*The administration was directed to conduct briefings with each Trustee<\/p>\n

*A special Board of Trustees meeting will be convened on Wednesday, May 15, 2024 at 3 p. m. \u2026to seek truth and recommend any corrective actions necessary\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Chairman Harper<\/strong> asks for \u201cpatience and grace\u201d while they work to \u201cgather information, take action, and build a stronger Florida A&M University.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The donation to the university has elicited praise and skepticism from FAMU staffers and alumni. Some expressed concern about\u00a0Gerami\u2019s background and financial history<\/a><\/strong>, which cast doubt on his portrayal as a wealthy hemp farmer and entrepreneur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PRESIDENT LARRY ROBINSON, Ph.D. \u00a0 KRISTIN HARPER \u2026Chairman, FAMU Board of Trustees \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Just days after the announcement of FAMU receiving the largest donation in school history, FAMU President\u00a0Larry Robinson\u00a0announced Thursday (May 9) that the university would \u201cpause\u201d a historic $237 million donation. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWith regards to the gift and the processing of it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88889,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/88889"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133891"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":133893,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133891\/revisions\/133893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flsentinel.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}