Transparency State University

It appears that Dean Kieh and Interim Associate Dean Ewoh are far, far....far away from their inter-galactic goal of $1 million a year in SOPA fundraising.  The final goal announced last August was supposed to be $5 million raised in 5 years.     https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2021/09/shakedown-at-sopa-fundraiser-by-dr-ewoh.html  According to Dean Kieh's August 2022 update: "BJ-ML SOPA FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN :   The campaign was launched in August 2021. To date, we have raised a little over $11,000.00. This is below our expectation. As a remedy, our Advisory Board will take action in the solicitation of contributions." According to the email, Dean Kieh has admitted in his SOPA Update that they have only raised $11,000 in the past year.  It is unclear from the update if this is $11,000 in pledges or actual money which has come to SOPA.  There are also no details as to where this $11,000 (assuming it is actual money) will go towards- no specific deta

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/former-texas-southern-university-law-school-dean-sues-school-over-loss-of-tenure/ar-AA125U5w Former Texas Southern University law school dean sues school over loss of tenure Texas Southern University’s former law school dean sued her ex-employer in federal court Wednesday, alleging that she was stripped of her position and tenure without cause. Joan R. M. Bullock has also accused the university of breaching her contract and retaliating for bringing to the president and provost “matters of public concern” — including ones that she said could potentially affect the school’s ability to remain accredited. “This affects me in a dramatic way,” Bullock said. “I believe in (Texas Southern’s) mission and its goals, and now it is putting me in an awkward position in looking for other employment. I think it is highly unfair what they have done.” University spokesman Tracy Clemons declined to comment, adding that the institution does not speak publi

 Perhaps Dr. Mills has it right?.....is TSU really "ungovernable"? https://aframnews.com/is-texas-southern-ungovernable/ Question: Can we make an unclean situation into a clean one? TSU should be given an opportunity for creative institutional rebirth, but due to historic State underfunding and land-lock developmental constraints the process has been slow. However, God can do anything, but as human beings we can only do some things. TSU’s historical development is replete with moral confusion and intellectual leadership dishonesty. Hence, TSU is not institutionalizing and advancing its Special Purpose Legislative Designation For Urban Programming for community development, which was granted in 1973. Question: Why does this institutional community development dilemma exist at TSU? No doubt about it, there is enough blame and guilt to go around internally at TSU; including surrounding public school failures, and dysfunctions that must be creatively resolved in conjun

Looks like the Board of Regents is having another special called meeting on Friday at 3:30pm. 2 special meetings in 1 week!   What is going on?? https ://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Organization/2066

Looks like the TSU BOR has called for a special meeting for tomorrow morning. We hope all is well in the Tiger 🐯 Kingdom!   

In our previous post it appeared that Ms. Square was rumored to be under pressure from former Provost Kendall Harris and abruptly retired and left TSU.  There was no university-wide email thanking her for her many dedicated years of service to TSU, no going-away party, no dancing bears or clowns.  For her many years of public service to our TSU community, we believe that Ms. Square should have had some type of public recognition and reward upon her retirement.  Many students and faculty had worked closely with Ms. Square through the years and respected her ethics, hard work and dedication to making sure our students turned into alumni.  https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2020/11/what-happened-to-registrar-ms-marilyn.html?showComment=1605840771333#c2807497126672658763 Now it appears that Ms. Square has quietly returned to campus as a consultant.  Interestingly enough, Ms. Hobbs, the Registrar who replaced Ms. Square has either been terminated/removed/leave of absence because she has

It appears that on Wednesday, August 10 while during a graduate school directors meeting, there was a slapping incident at Hannah Hall involving a routine process server who was providing a subpoena to Dr. Antoinette Christophe, the MPA Director and an associate professor in the School of Public Affairs.     Several witnesses were stunned to see Dr. Christophe react by slapping the process server and tearing up the subpoena, then storming back into the graduate school meeting.   Dean Maddox had to close the meeting down immediately.  Later on, Interim Associate Dean Andrew Ewoh and Interim Chair Majumdar were seen walking to Hannah Hall.  

Looks like Provost Harris has left TSU permanently.  It appears he is a “consultant”…. But does this company actually exist?  Hey Kendall…..do check the spelling of “Associate” and “University “ when you have a moment…..🤣🤣

We already knew that we had attracted Republicans to our campus through the Koch’s (see our previous post on Koch money funding CJR) but why do we have to host Senator Ted Cruz also? https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2020/07/hbcu-for-salesold-part-3.html?m=1 Isn’t this the same senator who opposes an African American woman on the Supreme Court?  What benefit does it serve us as an HBCU to host a man who does not wish to be a part of history in the making, ironically being hosted by a school named after 2 civil rights icons?     https://www.texastribune.org/2022/02/01/ted-cruz-biden-supreme-court/ Subject:   Senataor Ted Cruz's Visit to TSU Campus  Dear All, Good afternoon and hope you are doing well. I would like to inform you that Senator Ted Cruz will be visiting our TSU campus  on February 22, 2022 . Please share the information with undergraduate and graduate students in your programs and encourage them to attend the meeting in SOPA  from 10:30 am to 11:30 am . See the at

 Dr. David Baker, longtime Administration of Justice (AJ) Interim Chair (almost 9 years) has suddenly and without any warning retired and left TSU as of December 31, 2021.  It seems that even Dean Kieh was caught off-guard unexpectedly and mentioned his surprise in the opening SOPA meeting.  Additionally, it seems that for months there has not been an AJ Graduate Program Director (GPD) for the AJ Department who manages the MAJ and Ph.D. programs.  In a previous post, we discussed the strange hiring of Ms. Mason who does not appear to hold the work experience or credentials as EMAJ Director.  It appears that the EMAJ program continues to spiral downward with a loss of students.  We anticipate other low-producing programs also are having similar and serious enrollment problems.  https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2021/10/who-is-kaelynne-j-mason.html More interesting it seems that sometime after the SOPA Faculty meeting, Dean Kieh appointed Dr. Jasmine Drake as the new Interim Chair f

It appears that SOPA Dean Kieh and Interim Associate Dean Ewoh tried to enforce and make up their own Incomplete Grade Change policy for the Political Science Department only.  The new grade change policy required the professor to provide all exams including any revisions, syllabi and other graded work towards the Incomplete grade change.  However, no Incomplete Grade changes were sent out by the Provost or Registrar.  Neither the AJ or UPEP departments announced changes, yet somehow Interim Chair Majumdar sent an email informing the Political Science Department of the Incomplete Grade changes.  Why did AJ and UPEP not follow suit with their faculty members? After a Political Science professor requested assistance from Provost Poats, Interim Associate Dean Ewoh then sent an email to Interim Chair Majumdar who then informed the Political Science Department the “evidence” required to change incomplete grades would no longer be needed.   Yet questions remain- why did ONLY the Political Sc

We wonder- will Dean Kieh be replaced very soon?  He seems to have completely lost control over his management and leadership of SOPA and needs to prove his authority and competence by screaming at faculty and staff.   He also seems to have copied on the Provost, HR and General Counsel.  Kieh's own email ironically contradicts his own demand to prevent "mass emails" by CCing HR, Provost and General Counsel.  Interestingly enough, Provost James Ward sent a similar email several years ago and was shortly replaced by then President Lane.   We do wonder: Does history repeat itself at TSU?  We believe so.   Thu 1/20/2022 10:48 AM Dear Colleagues, Warm greetings. I trust all is well.  I am writing regarding the continuing issue of sending emails En masse : Emails regarding various faculty and staff related issues have been sent to the members of the TSU Board of Regents,  President Crumpton-Young,  Provost Poats, Senior Associate Vice President for Human Resources

As our last post discussed the concerns of teaching classes regarding the General Counsel in the School of Business, it seems that he is not the only top administrator teaching courses on our campus.   https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2021/10/why-is-general-counsel-teaching-at-4pm.html Our Registrar is teaching 2 classes during normal workday hours at 9:30 am and 11am on Tuesdays/Thursdays, a total of 200 minutes outside of her office each week.   This would be conservatively $5,000 extra (***estimated) for each class in her paycheck, a total of $10,000 for this semester and possibly $20,000 for the academic year if she teaches next semester also.  We doubt that she is teaching these 2 classes for free.  We do wonder since both the Registrar and the General Counsel report directly to Madam President - did she permit them to teach and make extra money?  Neither one of these individuals seem to have been teaching prior to this semester, so why have they suddenly now become interest

We support our students and we support efforts to provide diversity and the best knowledge to our students through the best choices for educators and professors.  There is never anything wrong with university administrators teaching on our campus and making a little extra money ($5000 per each class-**estimated) However, we are quite concerned that the General Counsel- Mr. Hao Le- our Chief Legal Eagle- is teaching a Business class in the School of Business (SOB) at 4pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  A major concern is that this class is at 4pm on a working day, twice a week.  As Chief General Counsel, Mr Hao Le already has a full plate: King Lane left him with a BIG MESS-  https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2020/01/will-king-lane-lose-his-kingdom.html Additionally, this is a rather large class- a total of 39 students are registered for his class .  That would mean conservatively almost 80 exams to grade (assuming a midterm and final exam, but possibly other grading criteria).  We ass

  The EMAJ program in the AJ Department at the School of Public Affairs (SOPA) has had many problems with financial mismanagement, to expensive and ineffective recruitment plans to student complaints over lack of faculty support.  In January 2020, a new EMAJ coordinator, Ms Kaelynne J. Mason was hired. We have questions: 1) According to her CV, she has a Master's of Law in Mediation from Regent University, yet according to the Regents University website, no such concentration exists . Additionally, an L.L.M. degree is a Master's degree AFTER a law degree (J.D.).....but her CV does not show a law degree.  It shows a Master's degree (M.A.) in Law, but it is not the same degree as an L.L.M.  Yet she has listed herself as having an L.L.M.   https://www.regent.edu/program/ma-in-law/ 2) On her CV, her last job experience was 2 months in 2019 as a service clerk in the Clayton County Sheriff's Office.  She also worked in loss prevention at Six Flags for 3 months in 2018 and

We support our students and especially our future lawyers.  They do need reliable working technology and it did seem clear that they also needed to have a set schedule for classes.  According to the Instagram video, it appeared that over the summer the law school informed the students there would be online and hybrid classes, but around the beginning of the fall semester, the students were suddenly told in person, face to face classes were now required.    https://www.instagram.com/tv/CUF-i1Pq4pR/?utm_medium=copy_link This created quite a problem on both ends- technology needed to adjust on campus for the sudden expansion of on-campus classes but law students at the forum with Madam President and Dean Bullock informed them that a lot of law students had not made arrangements for housing and had to really scramble to find housing nearby.   Yet it had to be an important enough protest for the Houston Chronicle to show up:  https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/artic

Being a Dean of a school can be enormously lucrative for personal and lavish perks, not including a bigger office and a personal assistant(s).  There is also a nice stipend attached to your paycheck as well.  While we support our deans in the work that they do and especially our students, we do wonder why BOTH deans of SOC and COLABS have to travel to California for a jazz festival and one of them appears to have brought her husband along?   From an objective viewpoint, using state funds to travel for personal and unnecessary reasons seems to be a bad idea.  Perhaps a chaperone was needed but why send BOTH deans?  

In our last post of the SOPA Fundraiser on August 6, 2021 we wrote: https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2021/08/sopa-fundraising-conflicts-with-new.html Dr. Ewoh went around the fundraising room appearing to demand and shake out money by directly asking the attendees how much they will donate.  It appears that the SOPA fundraiser had about $14,000 in pledges.  Some highlights: Dean George Kieh- pledged $2000 Dr. Andrew Ewoh- pledged $1000 Dr. Rina Majundar- pledged $500 and also said she would establish a book scholarship in memory of late father. Ms. Richelle Jones- pledged $1800 Mr. Chad Sebastien- pledged $2000 Ms. Sheila Taylor- pledged $1000 Dr. Glenn Johnson- Need to think about it- so that means pledge or no pledge(?) Dr. Ashraf Mozayani- pledged $1000 Ms. Terry Phillips pledged $500 An adjunct professor pledged $200 (a bribery-ish attempt to keep his adjunct position?) Ms. Terry Phillips pledge $500  Dr. Baker- pledged $1000. Perhaps he was motivated by being reappointed to

We haven't seen or heard from Interim Associate Provost Rasoul Saneifard since Provost Harris resigned in late June. He appeared to be MIA at the Opening Faculty meeting on August 18.  There haven't been any emails signed by Dr. Saneifard in a few weeks.  Rumors are that Provost Poats removed him from his position recently.    Perhaps Interim does not really mean permanent? https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2021/05/does-interim-mean-permanent-at-tsu.html

With our President and Provost now replaced with new leadership, we now turn to our Deans of the 8 schools.   Rumblings are imminent that some or all of the Deans may be replaced very soon.  Anytime a new President enters a university, there are always administrative changes.    Which Dean will step down first?  Your vote matters!  http://www.quiz-maker.com/QB2ZJJT3A   Deans at TSU seem to have a very short career life span.  Our very first blog post discussed the newly appointed business school dean who stepped down after just 7 weeks in October 2018: https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-case-of-disappeared-dean.html

Seems that the August 12 BOR meeting was suddenly postponed. No new date announced yet. But why postponed? 🤷🏽🤷🏽 The August meeting is possibly THE most important meeting of the year because of tenure & promotion decisions and the upcoming budget.  Is it possible our enrollment numbers have been so low that the administration needs to redo the budget  and meet later this week?  We wonder after having seen this TSU announcement sent yesterday seemingly begging for students to enroll..... The other fear is that our Texas Dems have fled to DC and our traditional belt of legislative budgetary support to fight for us isn't around and possibly the Republicans may cut our university budget even further.  While we heavily applaud our Texas Dems for standing up for our voting rights, it may have come at a much higher cost of our university allocations for the next 2 years.  If we needed that Austin money and we don't get it because our supporters are in DC, we may be lookin

We wonder.....now that Provost Harris has resigned as Provost and has left the university on some type of indefinite sabbatical.....where is he now?  Will he return to campus to teach?  https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-provost-golden-parachute-bor.html Or perhaps, will he be teaching online unable to return to campus for the rest of his career due to rumors of inappropriate and unprofessional conduct as Provost with our male students and/or staff/faculty?   Recall that in 2020, we had 3 different Title IX directors on campus- that seems a lot of turnover even during a pandemic.  Rumors were that there were complaints by male students towards the Provost as well as several other HR complaints filed as to the unprofessional and vindictive attitude by the Provost towards faculty and staff.  Provost Harris was sued at PVAMU raising uncomfortable allegations about his working relationship with women:  https://www.leagle.com/decision/infdco20150513c42

Rumors are that the new President is not happy with SOPA Fundraising plans.  It seems that the new administration considers the SOPA Fundraiser competing directly with the President's rumored launch of a multi-year, multi-million dollar fundraising campaign expected to be announced very soon.  There was likely no coordination of fundraising efforts.  This confuses our alumni and donors.  Why would alumni donate twice to the same institution in the same year? We are not surprised by these rumors, considering that Dean Kieh subjectively interprets the faculty manual any way he wants to, so why bother to coordinate with the President's office?  After all, this is the same dean who subjectively removed 1 department chair (Dr. Adams), but kept on 2 others (Drs. Smith and Baker) even though the 2 year time limit in the faculty manual expired for everyone.   https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-final-sopa-chairs-decision.html Meanwhile, Dean Kieh seems to have doubled d

Looks like Lonestar College will be competing with us for recruitment of students and plans to offer a 4 year bachelor's degree in Emergency Management which would directly compete against SOPA's EM program.  Lonestar already offers 3 bachelor degree programs, now expanded to 5.  SOPA's EM program has floundered with low enrollment for years and Lonestar may vanquish the EM program permanently. https://www.yourconroenews.com/neighborhood/moco/news/article/Lone-Star-College-set-to-expand-its-degree-program-16271976.php Still no word on any type of university-wide recruitment plan to increase our fall enrollment.  Rumors are that we are currently around 5,000 students but possibly 15%-20% have not made final payment, therefore those students may not actually attend.   We've had issues with enrollment in prior years, but usually by July we would have 6,500-7,000 enrolled students.  Certainly Covid has harmed our enrollment but other schools have moved more aggressively to

We applaud BIG ideas. But BIG ideas are free and don't accomplish anything.  For example in the email below from Dean George Klay Kieh of SOPA- we wonder- how did he decide to raise a "minimum of $5 million?"  Rumors are that during his job interview he admitted to only raising $5000.  To go from $5,000 to $5,000,000 seems... ambitiously reckless .  Perhaps Dean Kieh is trying to impress our new President?    Did Dean Kieh just make the up the $5 million or was there any thought put into HOW he would raise such a mammoth amount of moooolah?  Usually a great deal of effort and research is put into how much to (realistically) raise.  Committees formed, consultants hired, alumni, faculty, staff, students outreach, polling.  We are not even aware if TSU has ever raised $5 million from anywhere, let alone 1 school having such am ambitious goal.  Let's not talk about King Lane's Maroon and Gray fundraising right? Too often unfortunately, our leadership at TSU like to D