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After a little-known hemp farmer’s $237 million donation to Florida A&M University raised skepticism this week, the vice chair of the university’s board is calling for an emergency public meeting, The Tallahassee Democrat reported Tuesday.
“A donation of this nature requires the highest degree of transparency and inquiry, and to this point that has not occurred,” Deveron Gibbons said in a statement. “As Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, I have a responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the university I cherish, but I have deep concerns that this process is moving too quickly to embrace a gift without proper scrutiny.”
The donation—which is nearly double FAMU’s $121 million endowment—comes from Gregory Gerami, founder of the hemp company Batterson Farms Corp and CEO of the Issac Batterson 7th Family Trust, the signatory of the check to FAMU. University officials said in a statement that Gerami transferred the money to FAMU in the form of stocks last month and that they did their “due diligence” in vetting the legitimacy of the donation.
At a press conference Monday, Gerami, who had no previous ties to FAMU, said the stocks should be converted to cash by the end of the year, adding that a nondisclosure agreement prevented him from providing any more details about his net worth, investments or the trust that holds his assets.
In 2023, Gerami backed out of a $95 million donation he’d promised Coastal Carolina University, citing disrespect and racism by the university, which officials deny.
Within a day of Gerami announcing the donation to FAMU, some observers expressed skepticism after finding little information online about Gerami, Batterson Farms or his trust.
Gibbons wants the emergency meeting to make sense of it all.
“I keep hearing about this NDA that the university is hiding behind, but there are a lot of questions that need to be answered,” Gibbons told The Tallahassee Democrat. “I hope that it is a good donation and that it can be a transformative gift for the university, but I think we need to get out in front of this, have an emergency meeting and answer some questions.”
