The Board of Regents of Texas Southern University voted Monday to terminate the employment of embattled TSU president Priscilla Slade for cause after an outside law firm’s report concluded that Slade and TSU’s former chief financial officer had violated TSU policy regarding reimbursement of hundreds of thousands of dollars of Slade’s expenses. The prior posts on the Slade affair are here.
Slade’s problems began in January after she had moved into a new home near Memorial Park. Slade billed TSU for $86,467 in home furnishings, $138,159 in landscaping services and $56,010 in security-related equipment for the new home. After regents questioned certain of the expenses, she reimbursed the university for the landscaping expenses, which Slade contends she always planned to pay but which TSU employees mistakenly paid. However, a report by Bracewell & Giuliani — the outside law firm that the board hired to conduct an investigation into Slade’s expenses — found that Slade authorized the landscaping work without knowing how she would pay for it and without prior approval of the board. The law firm concluded that Slade initially intended for the university to cover the costs.
Of course, it didn’t help Slade that TSU’s former CFO who actually signed the checks for the reimbursements to Slade has a criminal background stemming from passing hot checks several years ago. No one has explained to date how the former CFO got the position at TSU in the first place.
The DA’s office continues to investigate the matter.