After a scandal involving a supposed historic gift of $237 million to Florida A&M University (FAMU) that turned out to be too good to be true, FAMU’s president Larry Robinson is resigning, reports the AP.
Robinson’s resignation was submitted last week. It comes at a time when GOP political influence is reshaping higher education in Florida, and FAMU is under scrutiny by state officials for underperforming programs, including its colleges of law and pharmacy.
FAMU, Florida’s only public HBCU, initially embraced the donation, which was announced at its 2024 commencement ceremony with much fanfare. As reported by NPR, a jumbo check emblazoned with the $237 million sum was presented while songs like the O’Jays’ “For the Love of Money” played over the stage’s loudspeakers.
The donor was Gregory Gerami, a little-known 30-year-old businessman and CEO of Batterson Farms Corporation, an industrial hemp company. The money was purportedly coming from 15 million shares in his company, which were valued at $15.85 a share.
However, a May 9th public board meeting revealed that no independent third party analyzed the valuation. When pressed on why this wasn’t done, Trustee Shawnta Friday Shroud said that the decision was made to delay the valuation until the university’s annual financial audit in the early summer.
The gift was also shrouded in secrecy, and only a few members of the FAMU Board of Trustees knew of the donation due to an NDA Gerami required them to sign in order to receive the funds.
“I keep hearing about this NDA that the university is hiding behind, but there are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Trustee Deveron Gibbons said in comments to the Tallahassee Democrat.
These are two of several red flags the university is currently investigating. Another is the fact that Gerami was also behind a failed donation to South Carolina’s Coastal Carolina University(CCU), details of which are widely available through a Google search. Friday, Stroud admitted that FAMU hadn’t contacted CCU before accepting Gerami’s donation, citing privacy concerns.
Robinson expressed regret for these missteps in a May 15th meeting, as reported by the Tallahassee Democrat. Robinson told FAMU’s Board of Trustees, “I wanted it to be real and ignored the warning signs along the way.” He continued, “The public announcement at commencement was premature at best, and I apologize to all who witnessed it and shared their joy and jubilation.”
Gerami, for his part, said he is saddened by Robinson’s resignation, telling the Tallahassee Democrat, “The president is a good man… He’s done a lot of great things for FAMU and for the community, and I’m sad to see him resign and leave FAMU. I’m sad this gift has gone sour the way it has and has caused, on both sides, a lot of bumps and hurts.” While he insists everything was done above board, Gerami is currently under investigation by an external firm hired by FAMU to unravel the details around the donation.
Multi-million dollar donations are rare for HBCUs. As Essence previously reported, Spelman University became the beneficiary of the largest single HBCU donation in history when billionaires Ronda Stryker and William Johnston gifted it $100 million in January. Billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott has also contributed $500 million to more than a dozen HBCUs (including a $45 million gift to N.C. A&T). These donations are vital as HBCUs are severely underfundedcompared to their PWI counterparts.
While Robinson will no longer be FAMU president, he will rejoin the school’s faculty after a year-long sabbatical as a professor at FAMU’s School of the Environment.
Robinson joins colleague Shawnta Friday Shroud, who also resigned as vice president for university advancement amid the fallout from the dubious donation but retained her post as dean of the School of Business and Industry.
FAMU will hold a meeting on July 23rd to set Robinson’s official departure date and begin discussions on hiring a new president.
