Florida A&M Vice President of Advancement Shawnta Friday-Stroud has resigned from her position amid the drama surrounding the institution following the alleged $237 million stock donation by Batterson Farms CEO Gregory Gerami. The story was initially reported by the Rattler Nation Blog, and it was shared on social media by Phillip Lewis, Deputy Editor at the Huffington Post.
The Rattler Nation Blog obtained a quote from University president Dr. Larry Robinson announcing the departure of Stroud, saying, “Earlier today, Dr. Shawnta Friday-Stroud tendered her resignation from her position as VP for Advancement. After careful consideration, I accepted her resignation. Dr. Friday-Stroud will return to serve as the Dean of the School of Business and Industry.”
The resignation also comes hours before a pivotal Board of Trustees meeting concerning the “donation’ and the process in which it occurred. Last week in an emergency meeting with the FAMU Foundation, Stroud spoke about the process of accepting Gerami’s donation. She detailed a months-long process that didn’t involve contacting Coastal Carolina and Miles College, who had dealings with Gerami before. Gerami was slated to donate $95 million to Coastal Carolina anonymously in 2020, per a report by The Sun News in June 2023, but talks fell through because Gerami felt disrespected.
“After having several conversations with Mr. Gerami, Ms. Simmons-Smith put together a proposal of certain programs that she thought he might be interested in supporting. She also had an initial screening done of him…From there, we decided on an initial amount based on what he was interested in supporting here at FAMU. After having conversations with those individuals, we came up with an amount,” Stroud
Gerami aimed to increase his “donation” after hearing that Spelman College received a $100 million donation from philanthropist Rhonda Stryker and her husband, William Johnston, Chairman of Greenleaf Trust, in mid-January. Stryker’s single donation was noted as the largest ever to an HBCU. Unlike Gerami, Stryker has a long-standing connection with Spelman. She has been a Spelman College Trustee since 1997, serving for 27 years.
In the same meeting, Robinson announced Florida A&M paused the alleged $237 million gift.
“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,” he said during the meeting.
Robinson reported that the school would pause progress until assessing the value of the stocks gifted by Gerami and the Isaac Batterson Family 7th Trust. He also announced that the institution would probe the circumstances surrounding Gerami’s announcement of the gift during the spring graduation ceremony.
Florida A&M’s Board of Trustees is set to meet on today at 3 PM EST, in which they are expected to fully access the alleged $237 million donation and the circumstances around it.
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