A historic weekend has turned into a week of skepticism surrounding Florida A&M’s historic near-quarter-billion dollar gift from Batterson Farms Corporation founder and CEO Gregory Gerami.
Tuesday afternoon, Gerami and the university responded to the claims and suspicion in a joint press conference.
“The stocks have been held by the university for over a month now, so I don’t know where the confusion or the skepticism would be since it’s already in a financial account with the university,” Gerami told the covered by the Tallahassee Democrat.
“This is a main example why I don’t have an internet presence, nor do I care to have one. People take things out of context. They run, and they damage and hurt people with information that’s incorrect and just not appropriate.”
The social media and external discussion surrounding Gerami’s historic gift — the $237million donation is the largest ever for any HBCU — picked up steam after a column from Jerell Blakely of Education News Flash surfaced wondering whether Florida A&M had been fooled by the sizable award.
Florida A&M pushed back on those claims, releasing a statement Sunday.
“We are fully aware of the skepticism that sometimes comes with such a large gift. “As expected, some individuals in the public are and will continue researching Mr. Gerami.”
The statement continues, “Please know that FAMU has done its due diligence when it comes to this matter. Additionally, Mr. Gerami has and continues to do his own due diligence on things that have been and are happening at FAMU.”
According to Florida A&M, the stock transfer was completed over a month ago and is in line with the standards and procedures of any gift the university has received.
FAMU hopes to sell the stock off before the end of the year, but any further information cannot be shared in honoring a non-disclosure agreement both the university and Gerami signed.
The attempt to refute criticism did not stop FAMU Board of Trustees vice chair Deveron Gibbons from requesting an emergency meeting that included school President Larry Robinson and board chair Kristin Harper to foster transparency.
“A donation of this nature requires the highest degree of transparency and inquiry, and to this point, that has not occurred,” Gibbons said in a Tuesday statement.
