I'm just living large ! How dare they suspend my spending authority !
Posted on 02/04/2006 4:37:44 AM PST by Ninian Dryhope
Priscilla Slade's accountability is said to be at issue in part because of a big furniture bill
Texas Southern University's regents stripped President Priscilla Slade of her authority to spend money and hired an outside law firm to investigate her management of school finances Friday.
The board of regents also placed another senior administrator, Quintin Wiggins, who oversees the university's business operations, on paid leave, pending the outcome of an audit by the Bracewell and Giuliani law firm.
The nine-member board, which includes lawyers, corporate executives and religious and financial leaders, made the decisions after meeting for more then five hours behind closed doors. The regents are debating whether thousands of university dollars Slade, 54, spent to furnish her new home were reasonable costs.
"She is fully aware that she needs to be more accountable than anyone else associated with this university," board chairman J. Paul Johnson said in a statement. Johnson and the other regents left the meeting without answering questions.
Slade said in the statement that she agrees with the board's decision, but declined to comment further.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office also is looking into Slade's expenses. District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said Friday his office has interviewed Wiggins, who is responsible for the routing of bills and subsequent payments at the university, but has not contacted Slade.
Wiggins declined to comment.
Attorney Ron Franklin, who negotiated Slade's contract with TSU, accompanied her to the board meeting. Franklin is a former Houston Independent School District board member who represented state Rep. Sylvester Turner in a libel lawsuit against a Houston television station following his failed bid to become mayor in 1991.
The board began looking into Slade's expenses after Regent Belinda Griffin visited her house recently. When Griffin praised the decor, Slade told her the university bought many of the furnishings, which surprised the regent.
Slade charged the university roughly $87,000 to furnish the sprawling, Spanish-style house on Terrace Drive near Memorial Park. The board is generally asked to approve contracts of more than $100,000. On Monday, Slade reimbursed the university $138,159 for the cost of landscaping her new home.
She has told regents that the university paid the landscaping bill for her 17,675-square-foot property by mistake. She explained that she hired a firm that has done frequent work on campus, and it inadvertently sent the bill to TSU, which paid it.
Before the board meeting, about 25 students and alumni held a rally to show their support for Slade. They wore shirts reading "TSU Says Keep Quality. Keep Dr. Slade," held signs and circulated a petition in support of the president.
Craig Zeno, a TSU graduate, said he donated money for the rally because he believes the university is a better place because of Slade.
"If it comes out that she did do something illegal I would be hurt," he said. "But at the same time I know President Slade is a woman of integrity and I just don't think she would do it."
Robert Muhammad, the Southwest Regional minister for the Nation of Islam, praised the board's decision to keep Slade on the job.
"The board made the best possible decision," said Muhammad, who was one of about 60 people who waited for the board to emerge from closed doors. "It was really a lose-lose for them if they did not thoroughly investigate the transactions. To fire Priscilla Slade after all the great things she has done would be another bump in the road for TSU."
Slade receives $48,000 annually for housing expenses, which is intended to cover mortgage payments and property taxes. The amount is in the top half of Texas schools. Larry Faulkner received a housing allowance of $52,800 as president of the University of Texas at Austin last year, while Prairie View A&M University gave $40,000 to President George Wright for housing expenses.
In her seventh year as president at TSU, Slade earns a base salary of about $250,000. She also receives $14,400 for a car allowance and up to $50,000 for travel, conferences, meetings and entertainment related to university business.
Slade, who received a doctorate in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin, took the reins at TSU when it faced an uncertain future. After her appointment in October 1999, she helped the regents stave off state lawmakers who were considering plans to place TSU under a university system because of its financial problems.
Slade is credited with improving the university's fundraising and bond rating and overhauling the financial aid office.
Enrollment has grown nearly 84 percent since Slade became president, with a student body of about 11,600 last fall. The school has added health and recreation centers and a pharmacy school wing, and a new science building is being constructed.
I'm just living large ! How dare they suspend my spending authority !
I'd like a time line on that landscaping bill. If I had had over $100,000 work done and didn't get the bill in the mail, I guess I would be a little curious.
A question I have is how long ago did this "billing error" occur before it was corrected. Slade's explanation doesn't pass the smell test if it was more than 30 days ago.
I've met DA Rosenthal a few times. If there is something to these allegations, then she is probably toast. He is a very aggressive prosecutor who takes takes no prisoners... er, so to speak.
TSU is a "traditionally black" school. and was near shutting down a few years back. If she turned it around then she should be praised and it will be a great loss for the school and the community if there truly was such massive fraud and theft going on.
This chick gets over $300k a year in salary and perks and can't furnish her own house?
Is this the same Quintin Riggins who played football at Auburn?
"Is this the same Quintin Riggins who played football at Auburn?
I think that was Quentin Riggins, while this is Quintin Wiggins.
17,675 square feet? Is this a typo? That's a lot of living space for a university president.
It costs a lot of money to furnish a 17,675 square foot home. Damn! And I thought the 3000 square foot home that my parents raised me and my two brothers in was huge!
Even the fake Moos are complete blithering idiots.
"Muhammad" is a great name for a farm pig. On a human, it just makes you a moron.
I'm ressurecting this because this woman honestly believes she's above the law. It's the third world corruption is fine mentality at work. She needs to be incarcerated.
Also this school needs to go bye bye. It's a big waste of money. You know how congress reviews port and bases periodically and closes the outmoded ones. Why doesn't this happen in public education? Prarieview A&M can absorb TSU and cut out a lot of waste. LOL. This woman is pathological.
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