Posted on 08/30/2006 3:07:28 AM PDT by Ninian Dryhope
Weeks after she was indicted, the ex-president will instruct courses on accounting
Priscilla Slade, the former Texas Southern University president fired for spending school money on personal expenses, is teaching accounting courses on campus this semester.
Her return to the classroom comes four weeks after a Harris Country grand jury indicted Slade and three aides for allegedly paying for household furnishings and landscaping, among other things, for her benefit. Priscilla Slade, the former Texas Southern University president fired for spending school money on personal expenses, is teaching accounting courses on campus this semester.
Her return to the classroom comes four weeks after a Harris Country grand jury indicted Slade and three aides for allegedly paying for household furnishings and landscaping, among other things, for her benefit.
Although the university's governing board fired Slade in June over her spending as president, she remains a tenured professor in the Jesse H. Jones School of Business, officials said Tuesday.
Slade's decision to resume teaching came as surprise to some administrators and faculty members, who assumed she would prefer a lower profile while facing felony criminal charges.
When approached on campus, Slade said she is enjoying her return to teaching, but declined further comment. She has denied any wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit against the university.
The university's lawyer would not disclose Slade's new salary. As president, she earned more than $340,000 a year.
Officials said the university could move to revoke her tenure, and Slade almost certainly would file a grievance. The grievance would be heard by a committee of faculty members, whose recommendation would go to the president and regents for the final decision.
"Regardless of who it is, we have to make sure that due process is followed because faculty members nationwide have fought for the right of tenure," said Sanders Anderson, president of TSU's faculty council.
At most universities, professors with tenure have the implicit promise of a lifetime job. They cannot be dismissed, transferred or demoted, with the exception of extreme misconduct on their part or a financial emergency at the school.
Although Slade has tenure, the business school's dean and the accounting department's chairman are not required to give her teaching assignments. Dean Joseph Boyd could not be reached for comment.
Acting president Bobby Wilson declined to comment when asked whether he agreed with the decision allowing Slade to teach again. Slade received tenure before becoming the president of TSU in 1999.
J. Paul Johnson, the regents' chairman, said it is not the board's role to challenge Slade's tenure. TSU's tenure policy does not clearly state who is responsible for challenging a professor's status.
The board fired Slade after the university's attorneys concluded that she failed to follow university policies and state laws to buy more than $260,000 in furniture, landscaping and security equipment for her house.
A criminal investigation later revealed more than $1.9 million spent over Slade's tenure, including artwork, club memberships, spa treatments and tickets for sporting events. The two felony charges against her carry a potential penalty of life in prison.
Since Slade's firing as president, TSU has raised tuition and eliminated 178 jobs, including dozens of faculty positions, in an attempt to close a multimillion-dollar budget gap. Also, the state auditor has criticized the university for misusing endowment funds.
At the business school Tuesday, students said that they were taken aback by the sight of Slade walking to class.
"I'm shocked that she was brave enough to come back to campus," said Nicole Reed, a business marketing senior from Tulsa, Okla. "A lot of people are mad at her."
At the same time, Reed said she trusts the university to hire the best professors.
Apache Goudeau, a business management senior from Houston, said he is not sure how Slade will be able to avoid her past in class.
"We're in a financial bind because of her," he said. "I'm sure everyone wants to ask her about it. I just want to know what happened."
I'm offering a prize for the best snide student question on this thread. (Prize to be revealed on award.)
There's an Enron joke in here somewhere.
Creative Accounting 101
Not a student just curious.
Why is anyone taking class, she just caused their tuiton to go up?? no one takes class she would go away
tuiton=tuition
If she gave one hoot about the scrool...she would have just faded away...now she chooses to use tenior and her ego to drag this sad excuse for a college through the gutter and out to the sewer....
I mean't tenure...too early or a result of study at the TSU english dept....
Some courses are bottlenecks. If you want to major in accounting, for instance, you might have to take ACCT-101 before you could take any other accounting courses. Usually administrators dump the least popular (and incidentally most pedigogically challenged) teachers in these courses, 'cause they fill up regardless.
I agree, if she is assigned an upper level optional course, no one will come.
How about:, "Perfesser, for taxes purposes and per generally accepted accounting principles, is embezzled artwork written off on the basis of straight line depreciation or is use the method of declining balance, perferred? Follow up question: How does that affect a sentencing recommendation?"
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