'High level of accountability': FAMU trustees put Robinson on hot seat over recent turmoil

Florida A&M University’s trustees put President Larry Robinson on the hot seat Friday, making it crystal clear at their emergency meeting that they are holding him “at a heightened level of accountability” for addressing the turmoil in the university's athletics and housing departments.

“As trustees, we will hold you accountable to making sure that plans are implemented on a long-term basis because we need sustainability here,” Trustee Otis Cliatt II told Robinson during the meeting. “The alumni base, as well as the trustees, are really getting tired of hearing the cleanup work that's taking place at the university.”

Over 700 people attended the 28-minute-long virtual meeting.

Robinson, trustees Nicole Washington and SGA President Zachary Bell, Vice President of Student Affairs William E. Hudson Jr. tuned into the Zoom meeting from a conference room at Miami-Dade Community College as FAMU’s football team and fans get ready for the Orange Blossom Classic game Sunday.

The meeting’s tense atmosphere took a distinctly different tone compared to the highly praised evaluation trustees gave Robinson during their retreat last month, where he received above-average ratings. The trustees are expected to vote on the annual evaluation at their October meeting. They will decide on Robinson's annual contract renewal in December.

Athletics turmoil:

• Florida A&M trustees call 'emergency' meeting to hear from president on football team strife

• ‘Completely unacceptable’: FAMU football players tell president why they’re taking a knee

• 'We do care': FAMU president Robinson meets with football players amid unrest

But more urgent tasks are on the university’s to-do list, which Robinson addressed while keeping his comments limited throughout the meeting.

The plans include adding two academic advising positions and five compliance employees to the athletics department. So far, one candidate has accepted a post, and will start Sept. 19.

Staffing changes for advising will be complete by Sept. 30, and Robinson hopes for all the positions in the athletics compliance unit to be filled by December.

“We will provide advanced training and professional development for advisors to support student athletes,” Robinson said. “We've also had some additional implements, including increasing the number of available tutors and expanding communication and engagement with our academic programs.”

Robinson also plans to increase financial support for the summer, which was one of the requests made by football players in a recent letter they wrote to Robinson.

"While we have worked hard to make gains, I do want to emphasize that this is an ongoing and continuous process," Robinson told trustees at the meeting.

Chairman Kelvin Lawson said he would meet with Robinson one-on-one, every week on Thursdays, to review action steps around the plans.

“This board is a board of support, but we need to be firm and direct that where we are today, we will need to improve,” Lawson said.

Cliatt, who said he will be in Tallahassee next weekend, is also interested in speaking with Robinson soon in a more direct manner.

“As the leader, we need for you to express to your leadership team that everyone is being held accountable to manage their area and then manage up the information to you,” Cliatt said. “I need to make sure that message is very, very clear.”

Additional comments came from board members, including Trustee Michael Dubose, who started out by saying that his email and chat lines have been blowing up this past week with all the commotion about the university.

“Obviously, we had to know there were some issues going on,” Dubose said. “We can't say all of a sudden this thing blows up and we didn't see smoke before the fire got started.”

Dubose suggested having an audit of all FAMU athletic programs to make sure there are no issues moving forward.

“Let's try to get ahead of this, let's be mindful of what just happened and let's not let that happen again,” he added.

But growing concerns have not only been about FAMU’s athletics programs and housing.

Claimed concerns from FAMU's Marching 100 band

The treatment of the university’s Marching 100 band also appears to be a subject under review following a report by national journalist Roland Martin. He highlighted the band members’ claimed concerns after discussing the football team on his daily show, #RolandMartinUnfiltered.

Martin said Tuesday band members sent in complaints to him about their long bus ride to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for last Saturday's season-opener game, early practices, frequent performances, cold meals and having to change clothes in front of each other on buses, without having a chance to shower beforehand.

Dubose, who views the Marching 100 as the brand of the university, expressed how disturbed he was to hear about the claims.

“I mean, I wouldn't do that. So why are we asking our kids to do that?” Dubose said at the meeting. “Why can't they stay in a hotel? Why can't they take a shower? Why can't they have a hot meal? We're better than that, and I’d like to see us do better here.”

Baptised: FAMU faith tested, but football player baptisms at Bethel turn 'despair into destiny'

The most recent complaints reportedly from band members have not been publicly addressed by the administration, nor have band members gone public with their concerns as did the football team and students recently displaced from the residence halls. The Marching 100 also is headed to Miami in preparation for Sunday's classic against Jackson State University.

But, at the end of Dubose’s comments, Lawson said band members' concerns are included in the president’s action plan.

FAMU spokesperson Andrew Skerritt told the Democrat that the university is awaiting an official report from Band Director Shelby Chipman.

'Pushing a high level of accountability moving forward'

The virtual meeting came just days after Robinson met with Rattlers football players for over an hour to discuss their concerns about compliances and the department's academic staff shortage, which the team made clear in a five-page letter.

What struck a nerve for the players and prompted them to send Robinson the letter was the unexpected ineligibility of 26 players, according to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), right before the team's first game of the season against the University of North Carolina last Saturday.

The initial 26 uncertified football players are now down to 8 players after more of them recently got the all-clear from the NCAA.

Game day coming:

• Latest developments surrounding FAMU football ahead of Orange Blossom Classic

• 3 keys to success for FAMU football to avenge 2021 Jackson State Orange Blossom Classic loss

Some players were so distraught there was talk of not playing the game which guaranteed FAMU $450,000 and national television exposure. Ultimately, the players discussed pros and cons, heard from Robinson on speaker phone, prayed and voted to play the game. The Tar Heels beat the Rattlers in a well-fought game, 56-24.

At the same time, the university has been grappling with hundreds of students being relocated to hotels due to an infestation of roaches and spiders at the Palmetto Phase 3 Apartment and fire and water damage at Polkinghorne Village west.

Housing crunch:

• 'Pest infestation' leads FAMU to relocate Palmetto Phase 3 apartment residents to local hotels

• FAMU Palmetto residents write letter to President Robinson about 'nightmare' hotel shuffle

• More FAMU students relocated after fire and water damage at Polkinghorne Village West

• With hundreds on the waitlist, FAMU responds to freshman housing crunch with financial aid

“We had student residents in residence halls throughout the summer, and we were quite surprised to hear the reports of pest issues in 10 of the 72 apartments in our Phase 3 facilities,” Robinson said at the meeting.

Residents of both Palmetto and Polkinghorne began returning to their residence halls Friday.

“Steps will be taken to ensure that we have regular pest inspections on a perhaps more frequent basis,” Robinson added.

The pest infestation and fire were the latest blow to FAMU's housing department and fall semester move-in. The university continues to deal with an acute housing shortage that has frustrated parents and students who said they only found out at the zero hour that on-campus housing was not available.

“For staff, for those below the staff, Mr. President, we support each and every one of you," Lawson said during the end of the meeting Friday, "but we are pushing a high level of accountability moving forward."

Contact Tarah Jean at [email protected] or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FAMU trustees put president under pressure over housing, football