Plan could cost Texas Southern its accreditation

[Bornthrilla]

April 18, 2007, 3:16PM
Official: Plan could cost TSU its accreditation

By RASHA MADKOUR
Associated Press

The main accreditation agency for colleges said Gov. Rick Perry's proposal to dissolve the board of regents at Texas Southern University and install a conservatorship would put the historically black university's accreditation at risk.

Beyond degrading the value of degrees earned at TSU, losing accreditation would also mean the federal government would stop providing financial aid for students attending the university, said Belle Wheelan, who heads the college division of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the regional accrediting body for 780 colleges and universities in 11 Southern states including Texas.

The vast majority of students at TSU, an open-enrollment university, receive federal financial aid.

Perry decided to place TSU under a state conservator after the school was rocked with allegations of misspending, corruption and mismanagement.

TSU's former chief financial officer, Quintin Wiggins, is on trial on charges of misusing more than $200,000 in university funds to buy furniture, landscaping and a security system for the home of then-President Priscilla Slade.

Slade, a former accounting professor, is scheduled to go on trial in August.

A report by TSU's interim chief financial officer outlined overspending, missing purchase orders and poor financial projections at the school. It highlighted flooded basements in several buildings and said the athletic program was $2 million over budget.

If a conservator took over TSU, it would violate the association's requirement that an institution have a multi-person board, Wheelan said, and "the commission would be required to take some action. It would indeed get our attention and we would go down and find out what's going on."

Perry spokesman Robert Black said the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board spoke with several accreditation agencies, which said "they would welcome a strong, decisive action by the state because that would show some proactive efforts."

Raymund Paredes, the head of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, said today that the school could indeed lose its accreditation if the board is dissolved for a conservator, but said that the state needs to move ``aggressively and decisively to straighten things out at TSU.''

``The greater danger in terms of losing accreditation is to do nothing,'' Paredes said, adding that financial struggles will affect the school's academic environment.

The Texas Legislative Black Caucus, which objects to Perry's plan, is working on an alternative to the drastic measure, which they say amounts to a government takeover. Perry recently put the state's juvenile prison system, the Texas Youth Commission, under conservatorship, after multiple allegations of sexual and physical abuse of inmates.

But Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, whose district includes TSU, said conservatorship will not work for colleges and universities because of the effects of losing accreditation.

The black caucus is considering proposing a plan that would give the university president more power to make changes without needing approval from the board of regents. This setup, achieved through a change to the university or state statute, would allow immediate reforms to be made to the university's financial management without irreparably tainting its academic reputation, Coleman said.

[aggiebred09]

Its sad to say but alot of these ships are sinking. I know we think we have problems off of Market St. but we are just in time out compared to the trouble the rest of these HBCUs are in. At the meeting today. It was stated that the 2 insitutions above A&T, FAMU and HoU are in fear of loosing it all...Heyll all we have to do is get our retention rate up and were almost above water.

[aggiejazz]

admin said:

April 18, 2007, 3:16PM
Official: Plan could cost TSU its accreditation

By RASHA MADKOUR
Associated Press

The Texas Legislative Black Caucus, which objects to Perry's plan, is working on an alternative to the drastic measure, which they say amounts to a government takeover. Perry recently put the state's juvenile prison system, the Texas Youth Commission, under conservatorship, after multiple allegations of sexual and physical abuse of inmates.

But Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, whose district includes TSU, said conservatorship will not work for colleges and universities because of the effects of losing accreditation.

The black caucus is considering proposing a plan that would give the university president more power to make changes without needing approval from the board of regents. This setup, achieved through a change to the university or state statute, would allow immediate reforms to be made to the university's financial management without irreparably tainting its academic reputation, Coleman said.

This same black caucus probably showed their ineffectiveness by supporting the clowns who are on trial, now. We sometimes get into this "the white man is trying to get us" defense and we don't examine closely enough the scoundrels we are defending.

[aggiejazz]

aggiebred09 said:

Its sad to say but alot of these ships are sinking. I know we think we have problems off of Market St. but we are just in time out compared to the trouble the rest of these HBCUs are in. At the meeting today. It was stated that the 2 insitutions above A&T, FAMU and HoU are in fear of loosing it all...Heyll all we have to do is get our retention rate up and were almost above water.

I think there is a lot cleaning out the house and hiring the right people to lead their perspective departments before we will see a rise in retention. I will add an increase of alumni and corporate giving will be needed, too.

[Bornthrilla]

May 1, 2007, 1:05AM
TSU is left wondering: Who is in charge here?
Interim leader's contract expired, and school looks to Perry for answers


By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE and KRISTEN MACK
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle



The confusion swirling around Texas Southern University intensified Monday, with administrators, faculty members and lawmakers wondering who is in charge of the troubled campus.

Questions arose after the board of regents fell short of a quorum and thus could not decide whether to extend the four-month contract of interim President J. Timothy Boddie Jr., which expired April 16.

Belinda Griffin, the board's chairwoman, said the historically black university's chief academic officer, Bobby Wilson, would serve as acting president, but it was unclear whether she has to the authority to make the appointment.

In Austin, some black lawmakers urged Gov. Rick Perry to appoint new regents as soon as possible. Perry has asked the board to resign and moved to impeach Griffin after a series of administrative and financial missteps.

"If you don't have a president and don't have a board, there is no one running the university," said state Rep. Sylvester Turner, a Houston Democrat. "It doesn't make any logical or rational sense not to allow the board to meet, unless you plan to run the university into the ground."

Turner also said that legislation filed by two Houston Democrats last week is not necessary for Perry to make changes on the board. The bills are intended as a compromise with the governor, who asked lawmakers this month to replace the nine-member board with a single conservator.


'It has to be fixed'
State Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Democrat whose district includes the campus, said he offered the bill because Perry wanted another "legislatively based" option to avoid conservatorship.

"It's necessary to keep Governor Perry moving forward toward a solution he supports," Coleman said. "The circumstance at the school is untenable. It has to be fixed. The school cannot function in this disarray. This circumstance requires action, whether through this legislation or not."

Said Perry: "I think that there is gross fiscal mismanagement at the Texas Southern University campus and we must deal with it and deal with it appropriately. We have legislation going forward that makes it very clear who is in charge and makes the appropriate designation of an individual to operate that university."

Some black lawmakers said Perry is overstating the university's financial problems. But most people would agree that TSU is in the midst of a crisis, said Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Democrat who has filed legislation identical to Coleman's bill.

"This situation will continue to spiral out of control," Ellis said.

Ellis said he spoke with Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who had some concerns about the bill. With the legislative session ending May 28, it will be Dewhurst's call whether to place the bill on a fast track.

TSU's board, meanwhile, could not act on the appointment of an interim president without a quorum. Only three regents — David Diaz, J. Paul Johnson and Griffin — were present for Monday's meeting, at which Griffin had planned to replace Boddie with Morris Overstreet, a retired Texas Criminal Court of Appeals judge who teaches at the university's law school.

Perry recommended Boddie, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, for the temporary post in November, and regents initially liked his commanding presence, integrity and leadership skills.

But Griffin had chafed at Boddie's insistence that he worked for the governor, not the board, campus officials said. Boddie could not be reached for comment.

Griffin said she appointed Wilson because "we need someone at the helm."


Griffin could be impeached
Other critical issues remain unresolved in the absence of a quorum: Whether to increase tuition and fees this fall, and which faculty members should be awarded tenure.

"I'm confused, so I'm going to ask who is in charge," Sanders Anderson Jr., chairman of the faculty senate.

Perry notified the state Senate of his desire to impeach Griffin, a DeSoto businesswoman, after she refused to resign immediately and defiantly scheduled the board meeting. The Senate could decide whether to impeach Griffin as soon as today, said Rich Parsons, a Dewhurst spokesman.

Griffin reiterated Monday that she will serve until her replacement is appointed and confirmed by the Senate, as the Texas Constitution requires.

Regent Bill King, however, said it was inappropriate for the regents to meet with the fate of the board pending in Austin.

"We need to be cooperating with the governor and the Legislature," he said. "We need money from them to turn around the university. There is no need to be adversarial."

Chronicle reporter Clay Robison contributed to this report.

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[Bornthrilla]

May 2, 2007, 12:25AM
Perry acts to install new regents at TSU
Move indicates he is setting aside conservatorship


By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE and KRISTEN MACK
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle



TSU IN TURMOIL
AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry is sidestepping his call for conservatorship at Texas Southern University and now plans to appoint five new members to the chronically troubled school's governing board this week, officials said Tuesday.

The shift followed the resignation of the board's embattled chairwoman, Belinda Griffin, and the state Senate's unanimous decision to withdraw the previous nominations of three regents at Perry's request. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said the Senate will move to confirm the new regents by the end of next week.

''This is an important step to move forward to restore Texas Southern University to the high quality school it can be again and to hold TSU accountable to all the taxpayers," said Dewhurst, who presides over the Senate. "We've given Governor Perry the ability to be able to name five new regents."

For the moment, the historically black university is without a decision-making body or president. The chief academic officer is temporarily in charge, and several critical issues remain unresolved, such as whether to increase tuition and fees this fall.

The anticipated appointments include former Dell executive Richard Salwen, who recently served on the governor's TSU advisory committee.

The committee called for changes on the governing board, more state oversight and additional funding to bail out TSU, but stopped short of recommending a state-appointed conservator.

Despite the recommendations, Perry called for conservatorship, which would in effect replace the regents with a single bureaucrat. But black lawmakers argued that the plan could jeopardize TSU's accreditation and students' ability to receive financial aid.


An alternative
Two Houston lawmakers offered a compromise that would allow the governor to dissolve a university's governing board in times of crisis and replace it with a smaller, reformed-minded board for a one-year term, instead of the usual six years.

The bill, which was sent to the Senate Finance Committee, is likely to receive a hearing on Monday.

"Our goal would be to suspend the rules and pass it out as quickly as possible," Dewhurst said. "We are going to want to move the bill out of the Senate as quick as we can and get it to the House."

Some lawmakers are concerned that the bill would give unnecessary powers to the governor. But House Speaker Tom Craddick, among others, has thrown his support behind the measure.


Chairwoman resigns
"I support appointing an interim board and moving quickly to install a strong president so that TSU can retain its good standing, solve the immediate problems, and strengthen the university's academic programs for the long-term," Craddick said.

Griffin, the board's chairwoman, resigned before the Senate decided whether to remove her from the post. Senators delayed the vote to ask her to avoid it by resigning, said Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat.

"Clearly the votes would have been there to remove Ms. Griffin," Ellis said. "We appreciate her resigning."

In a separate vote, the Senate withdrew the nominations of regents David Diaz, Earnest Gibson III and Bill King at Perry's request. The governor had appointed them after the previous legislative session in 2005, and the Senate had yet to confirm them.

Perry asked the Senate to impeach Griffin last Friday after she refused to resign immediately and defiantly scheduled a meeting of regents for Monday. She later canceled the meeting after falling short of a quorum but reiterated that she would serve until the governor appointed her replacement, citing the Texas Constitution.

In her Tuesday letter, Griffin wrote: "I hereby resign my position on the Board of Regents of Texas Southern University. It has been my pleasure to serve the University and the State of Texas." She could not be reached for comment.

"It was the right thing to do," state Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat, said of Griffin's resignation.

"It has created a real tug-of-war between she and the governor and the school has gotten in the middle," Coleman said. "Ms. Griffin thought she was doing the right thing, not creating a problem."


Past missteps
The call for conservatorship followed a series a financial missteps and a spending scandal that led to criminal charges against former TSU President Priscilla Slade and two aides.

Slade's spending habits came to light after Griffin visited her new house in January 2006. When Griffin praised the decor, Slade told her the university bought many of the furnishings, which surprised the regent.

Perry appointed Griffin, a DeSoto financial adviser and TSU alumna, to a six-year term in 2003, and she later became the first woman to lead the university's board.

In February, Griffin reimbursed the university's foundation $9,471 for scholarships her daughter received amid allegations of preferential treatment. Still, she questioned the fairness of having to repay the money in the absence of a statewide policy regarding scholarships for regents' relatives.

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[Bornthrilla]

May 2, 2007, 2:45PM
TSU receives 5 academic warning letters from NCAA
Historically black colleges and universities among schools affected most by report


By MICHAEL MAROT
Associated Press


INDIANAPOLIS — The NCAA is getting tough on academics, and teams from predominantly black colleges and schools in the Hurricane Katrina region are getting hit hardest.

The NCAA's latest Academic Progress Report, released Wednesday, shows historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) account for about 13 percent of all schools facing potential scholarship losses or receiving warning letters because of poor classroom performance.

Texas Southern, an HBCU school in Houston, received five warning letters, the most nationally.

Seven Louisiana schools accounted for thirteen of 49 warning letters, which could lead to more punitive actions as early as next year. The schools are Centenary, Grambling, Louisiana-Lafayette, Louisiana-Monroe, McNeese State, Nicholls State and Southern.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the data collected over the last three years might have been skewed by student defections after the hurricane, which could have affected a team's score.

This is the first time the NCAA has sent out warning letters based on academic performance.

The NCAA's Academic Progress Report (APR) calculation measures eligibility and retention of student athletes. Teams scoring less than 900 under the formula cannot replace scholarships if an academically ineligible player then leaves school. The maximum loss is 10 percent of the team's scholarships.

Teams scoring less than 925 in this latest report received warning letters.

NCAA vice president Kevin Lennon said many teams from predominantly black colleges and the Hurricane Katrina area were granted waivers, which allows the school to avoid punishment for now. Lennon said more than 50 teams at HBCUs were given waivers.

"But I think there's an expectation, whether it's an HBCU or not, to put together a plan for improving rates," Lennon said. "If those rates improved, they're not on the list."

For teams receiving warning letters, it means they must improve now.

If they appear on the list next year, they could be subjected to a reduction in playing time. If they're on the list each of the next two years, they could be disqualified from NCAA tournaments.

Lennon and other NCAA officials consistently have said they don't want it to reach that point.

"Our hope is that they will make improvement and not be subject to those penalties," Lennon said. "We're trying to work with each school individually."

The data also revealed a clear financial delineation.

Schools that can pour money into academic resources, such as BCS schools, fared well. Universities with less money weren't as fortunate.

Lennon said the NCAA understands the predicament and wants to help. That's why the board of directors last week approved an annual fund to disperse about $1.6 million in grants to underfunded schools.

"Some BCS programs have additional resources to put into the academic support system," he said.

No BCS team received a warning letter.

Contrast that with:

• Texas Southern was hit in five sports, getting warning letters in men's basketball, men's tennis, women's golf, softball and women's soccer.

• Nicholls State received warning letters in four sports: Baseball, men's cross country and women's indoor and outdoor track.

• Tennessee-Chattanooga and San Jose State were the only schools sanctioned with both contemporaneous penalties and warning letters in two sports. Both schools were cited in football. Tennessee-Chattanooga also was penalized in wrestling, while San Jose State was cited in men's soccer.

• Florida International's football team, which was involved in a prominent brawl against nearby rival Miami, could lose as many as nine scholarships next year.

• Georgia Southern, which won back-to-back Division I-AA football titles in 1999 and 2000, also faces scholarship losses in football.

Lennon expects a different outcome next year when the NCAA drops its adjustment for small teams, such as golf.

"I can almost assure you that will change," he said. "We understand that a lot of them (BCS teams) benefited from the small-squad adjustment. Next year, when we don't have that, I don't think you'll see that disparity you just noted."

Other statistics showed that women's teams continued to perform better academically than men's teams. Women's teams averaged a score of 970, men's teams 950.

Thirteen women's teams were cited, compared with 99 men's squads.

Although no sport averaged less than 925 over the three-year period, football, baseball and men's basketball consistently compiled the lowest scores and most citations.

[Bornthrilla]

May 3, 2007, 2:56PM
Ex-TSU official found guilty of misapplying funds


By BRIAN ROGERS
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle


Jurors today found a former Texas Southern University chief financial officer guilty of illegally allowing hundreds of thousands of university dollars to be spent on the home of then-TSU President Priscilla Slade.

Quintin Wiggins, 46, was convicted of one count of misapplication of fiduciary property over $200,000. He faces a sentence ranging from five to 99 years or life in prison.

The jury was set to begin hearing testimony in the trial's sentencing phase shortly after the guilty verdict was announced.

The verdict came after three weeks of testimony and three days of deliberations in the court of state District Judge Brock Thomas.

Harris County prosecutors contended that Wiggins acted criminally when he allowed the use of university funds for such expenditures as furniture, landscaping and a security system for Slade's home.

Defense attorney L. Mikele Daniels told jurors, however, that he may have been negligent, but that he did not intentionally break the law.

He relied on the advice of others for some purchases and did not know about other expenditures, they said.

Wiggins resigned in March last year after the TSU Board of Regents placed him on paid leave in connection with the investigation.

Slade, 55, who was fired in June, is scheduled for trial on Aug. 10 on two counts of misapplication of fiduciary property over $200,000.

She was fired after TSU attorneys concluded that she had failed to follow university policies and state laws while spending more than $260,000.

A criminal investigation concluded that more than $1.9 million was spent during her tenure on such purchases as artwork, club memberships, spa treatments and sports tickets.

Former TSU Vice President Bruce Wilson, 53, charged with one count of misapplication of fiduciary property, is set for trial on Sept. 28.

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