To be a university president. That is what every college student should aspire to. First we had Benjamin Ladner’s extravagances at American University. Now we have reports of alleged abuses by the now former president of Texas Southern University. The Houston Star-Telegram is reporting in an Associated Press story that the board of regents at the university fired the university’s president following a two-month investigation by a law firm. See Regents Vote to Fire Texas Southern President, April 17, 2006. According to the story, the university began an investigation after questions were raised about the use of university funds to...
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furnish and landscape the now former president's new home. The audit apparently uncovered almost $650,000 in what were deemed to be inappropriate expense reimbursements. The expenses in question allegedly were incurred over a seven-year period.
The Houston Chronicle obtained a copy of the four-page report under the Texas Public Information Act. According to the Chronicle, this report shows that the former president “used university money for donations to her church, automobile repairs, a full-time maid and maintenance and upgrades for her previous residence in Missouri City.” See M. Tresaugue, Slade Audit ‘Doesn’t Look Good:’ Internal Report Says $647,949 in TSU Funs Spent Were Not Allowed Under Her Contract, April 7, 2006. Also among the disputed expenses are “$48,363 in china, crystal, silverware and other serving pieces from Neiman Marcus.” As usual, the justification is that the university must be portrayed as a first-class institution. According to the Chronicle article, Ron Franklin, Slade’s attorney said “If (the purchases) are excessive in some people's minds, then she will certainly accept that opinion…She would plead guilty to that. There are not bean bag chairs in the law school. There are leather couches. There is not Crate & Barrel china in the boardroom. It's expensive china." Well excuse us for occassionally shopping at the Crate & Barrel on Chicago's Magnificant Mile. We like our Persian rugs and Tiffany lamps as well at the next guy, but we also like the quality and reasonably-priced everyday china at Crate & Barrel, which is hardly Wal Mart. We save our Christofle for weekend entertaining.
According to the Chronicle, the university does not provide its president with a campus residence, but provides the president with a housing and entertainment allowance.
The former president plans to appeal the regent’s decision. The local district attorney is investigating the matter, with one television station reporting that a grand jury has issued a subpoena for a video tape interview with the former president. As is often the case, there is the basic issue of whether this was theft or just poor judgment. Expense accounts are certainly a grey area, which is why boards need to monitor senior executive expenditures very carefully.
Of course there are the obvious questions about who is guarding the guardings. Where were the internal controls? Where were the internal auditors? Will the IRS invoke the IRS intermediate sanctions? Will Senator Grassley send Texas Southern University one of his famous “love letters” requesting a laundry list of governance-related documents. The question about guardians is particularly apt since the former president was hired to end business as usual, according to an editorial in the Chronicle. It also reports that she has a doctorate in accounting, which presumably was one of the reasons she was brought in. See Editorial, Moving On: TSU Regents’ Decision to Fire President Priscilla Slade Was Fair, Decisive, and Best for the University, April 18, 2006.
But what is truly appalling about this situation is the apparent complete denial by the university. ABC13.com Eyewitness News quotes a TSU spokesperson as having said, “We’re just hopeful that things will be able to move on and we will be able to turn the corner once this decision has been made.” That attitude is clearly reflected on the university’s Web site. There are no press releases (at least that we could find) indicating that the board of regents made the decision or describing the nature of the investigation, the allegations, or the investigation’s findings. In other words, if we close our eyes real hard and pretend, maybe it didn’t happen. In fact, the Web site still contains a greeting from the former president.
We are not plugged into the TSU student body, but we can find no evidence of any outrage reflected in Internet posting or discussion. Compare that with what happened at American University last fall. Just go to Benladner.com.
In our view, Texas Southern University has totally botched the handling of this matter. We tried to find the audit on the university’s Web site, but couldn’t. We called the general counsel’s office and were told it had not been posted. So we have filed a request for a copy of the report under the Texas Public Information Act. We and everyone else who wants it, will eventually get it. Why not just put the information out? More importantly, why not begin a public dialogue about how the governance lapses that permitted this situation to occur can be corrected. Texas Southern can put its head in the sand, but the student body and the public should yank it out, forcing the board of regents to look for some sunshine no matter how bright.
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