Board of trustees emergency meeting addresses housing, compliance issue

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - An emergency meeting addressing twin crises in FAMU athletics and housing.

In the meeting that took place Friday afternoon, Dr. Robinson addressed housing emergencies that forced students out of two dorms, but he mainly focused on the student-athlete ineligibility issue that left 20 players unable to compete against North Carolina last Saturday.

In a letter from the football team players outlined understaffing in athletics compliance and several other issues they felt were not being addressed.

Dr.Robinson laid out his plan first to hire more staff in athletic compliance and academic advising. He also talked about additional financial aid for football students over the summer.

Trustees raised several questions with Dr.Robinson about what led to the compliance crisis, calling for answers and demanding a change.

“Obviously, we had to know there were some issues going on I mean we just can’t all of a sudden this thing blows up and we didn’t see smoke before the fire got started,” trustee Michael Dubose. " I would ask that we have an entire audit of all of our athletic programs, because if we have it here, will we have it in our basketball program? Will we have it in other areas?”

Lawson says the university’s vice president of the audit will be reviewing the recent issues and reporting back to the president, the trustees and the Florida board of governors. He will also require a weekly meeting with Dr. Robinson to evaluate the university’s process in making sure the proper actions are taken and these issues are resolved.

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