A.G. Gancarski
One of Florida’s leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities looked to have new resources after a “transformational” gift from a Texas hemp farmer and entrepreneur.
But that doesn’t appear to be the case.
“With regards to the gift and the processing of it and so forth, in terms of future processing, we’ve already decided it’s in our best interest to put that on hold,” FAMU President Larry Robinson said during a meeting of the FAMU Foundation board, as reported by POLITICO.
It’s a disappointment to be sure.
Florida A&M University was slated to receive $237.75 million from the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust and Chief Executive Officer Gregory Gerami, as announced Saturday.
The quotes were sparkling at the time.
“This gift is breathtaking in its generosity and its scope. It changes the narrative about what is possible for FAMU. I cannot thank Gregory Gerami and the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust enough. Their names are now etched into the annals of Florida A&M University in perpetuity,” said FAMU President Larry Robinson, Ph.D.
But it turns out the whole thing may have been a sham.
Doubts about Gerami came to the fore in the last week, and what started as a triumph has turned into a tragedy.
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🌎 Florida A&M University (FAMU) Receives $237 Million Gift from the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust and CEO Gregory Gerami. #FAMU received a $237 million gift to support student success initiatives and athletics. Thank you Mr. Gerami for your generous donation. pic.twitter.com/dkdO0GnmTv
— Florida A&M University (@FAMU_1887) May 4, 2024
13 comments
rick whitaker
May 4, 2024 at 5:38 pm
i’m sure out of the respect for diversity, desantis will use this opportunity to make a matching gift to fam. what a wonderful gift
Impeach Biden
May 5, 2024 at 7:45 am
Absolutely not. Not a penny to any university of any taxpayer money to these indoctrination camps. You want to send them money? Be my guest.
rick whitaker
May 5, 2024 at 10:20 am
HOWLER MONKEY, ok, i will. one of my friends is a professor at fa&m. he doesn’t make enough there.
Impeach Biden
May 6, 2024 at 9:09 am
Good for you Mr. I don’t have an original thought in my pea brain head.
rick whitaker
May 7, 2024 at 1:04 am
HOWLER MONKEY, are you howling again?
None
May 4, 2024 at 9:27 pm
Research this donor’s pledged gift to Coastal Carolina University last year.
rick whitaker
May 4, 2024 at 9:39 pm
NONE, why don’t you just tell us.
None
May 5, 2024 at 9:13 am
In 2020, this same donor pledged $95 million to Coastal Carolina University.
Three years later, before any money was actually transferred to CCU, he cancelled the gift saying he felt “disrespected” by CCU staff.
A simple online search of the donor’s name reveals multiple news stories about the situation.
The media should really investigate this gift and report on the specifics. Does FAMU actually have the money? Has it already been transferred to the FAMU Foundation? I hope this gift is legitimate but the CCU incident makes me skeptical that FAMU is actually going to receive nearly a quarter-billion dollars from this individual.
rick whitaker
May 5, 2024 at 10:23 am
NONE, thanks for the info, i will be watching to see how this works out. i hope you are wrong about this, but i don’t know.
Trent
May 5, 2024 at 3:00 pm
This donor pulled back his efforts to give Coastal Carolina U money, prior to an actual donor agreement being formally signed and executed because he felt disrespected. FAMU says they have already received stock certificates signed over by this guy and this trust valued at $237million prior to the formal announcement.
None
May 5, 2024 at 3:45 pm
FAMU has to be completely transparent with the details of this gift, and quickly.
Has an independent financial expert certified the validity of these stock certificates?
What sort of background and due diligence checks did the University perform prior to entering into this agreement?
With just a preliminary search into the donor and his business, I found issues of significant concern.
First, the Batterson Farms Corporation lists a Gmail account on its website. For a company whose CEO is able to furnish such a large gift, the use of a free, commercially-available email address is unusual.
Also, the listed headquarters of Batterson Farms Corporation is a small single-family house in San Antonio, Texas. This too is concerning given the size of the pledged donation.
If this gift does not come to fruition then everyone involved with it-beginning with the President- must immediately resign.
rick whitaker
May 5, 2024 at 11:05 pm
NONE, wow, now that sounds so bad, that it might be too bad. thanks again for the info. i f you can, keep us posted, the truth is interesting to me.
MH/Duuuval
May 6, 2024 at 12:50 pm
A multi-millio-dollar was also pulled back by a disgruntled donor at FAU two years ago. These folks are touchy and need constant reinforcement about their greatness and generosity.