Florida A&M University Prez Resigns, Admits to Taking Millions in Gifts

The president of one of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) has resigned from his post, about two months after admitting that he played a role in mishandling a very large donation.

In early May, during commencement festivities at Florida A&M University, President Larry Robinson announced that a generous business executive was donating more than $237 million to the university.

Not long after that, though, The Tallahassee Democrat issued a report questioning whether the university properly vetted the source of that donation.

In the time since, the donor has put the donation on hold.

Robinson recently released an open letter announcing his resignation, and also issued a news release about it on July 12. In neither, though, did he provide a reason why he would no longer be serving as the college’s president.

At the same time, at a May 15 board of trustees meeting, Robinson apparently took full responsibility for “mishandling” that donation that was promised to the school.

The minutes log of that meeting also show that Robinson chose to “cease the engagement agreement” with that donor in question, according to a New York Times report.

According to the log:

“He apologized to all parties involved and acknowledged the missteps in the University’s approach.”

The gift was promised by Gregory Gerami, a business executive, as well as a family trust. As a result of the promised gift, the university invited Gerami to speak at commencement in May, which is when the donation was announced.

Robinson, Gerami and other officials from the school posed for a photograph in front of a large ceremonial check that was written out for $237.5 million.

Less than a week after that photo, though, Robinson notified the board of the university that he “received information suggesting the gift was not as it appeared,” the board meeting’s minutes showed.

When that happened Robinson and the school’s vice president, Shawnta Friday-Stroud, “contacted the donor to cease the engagement agreement.”

The meeting minutes also show that Friday-Stroud resigned from her vp position, returning to a full-time role as dean of the school of business and industry.

The board decided at that same May 15 meeting that it would hire an external firm to conduct a full investigation into what happened with the gift. The board never accused Gerami of wrongdoing, though.

The Associated Press has reported that the gift was supposed to be given as stock, with both Gerami and the university saying it has already been transferred. But, both sides are now gathering their independent evaluations of that stock.

Gerami didn’t respond to the Times’ comment request this week, but had previously told local media outlets he was fully cooperating with the investigation regarding the gift.

As he said:

“All I can do is be as transparent legally as I can and provide legal documentation that I’m legally allowed to provide and make myself available to anybody from the FAMU Foundation or Board of Trustees or even the Board of Governors for any questions.”