Transparency State University

                                  TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY Office of the Board of Regents                                                       3100 Cleburne Street ♦ Houston, TX 77004 ♦ 713.313.7011 March 16 , 2020 Dear Members of the TSU Community , We are working with Acting President Ken Huewitt and the administration to ensure all members of the TSU family are safe during this time in our nation as we are all impacted by COVID-19 (coronavirus). As we continue with the business of Texas Southern University, the Board of Regents would like to keep you informed about its plans moving forward. The following components of this letter are meant to give the TSU community an update of the important steps that are underway by the Board of Regents. The Presidential Transition The Board will work toward officially naming Ken Huewitt the Interim President of Texas Southern University. President Huewitt has provided focused leadership at a time when TSU has needed a steady hand. Ke

In light of the law school admissions scandal, should we be worried about our law school accreditation status with the ABA?  According to the Houston Chronicle and The Texas Tribune maybe we should be: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/education/article/TSU-law-school-still-out-of-compliance-with-15109322.php https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/TSU-officials-say-student-who-sparked-admissions-15105559.php   https://www.texastribune.org/2020/03/11/admission-bribes-kickbacks-heart-texas-southern-university-turmoil/?fbclid=IwAR3Lv-LjiV3DKk5rqk8G5NRYgyTCk1mmEakPYXsPBxFibqBIk8ufDzQZ2qI

We kept waiting and waiting.....and we have to thank the Houston Chronicle for their Open Records request and publishing the report.  Lot of very interesting revelations and we hope now that all has been revealed, King Lane's supporters will significantly diminish and a new day on campus will finally come to light.  Let's see how the Huewitt administration handles the best opportunity to bring about real change at TSU.  https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6808138-Texas-Southern-University-investigation.html

Eyewitnesses and other reliable sources at TSU inform us that the FBI was on campus and were interviewing people in conjunction with their investigation or investigations (we have no clue how many are ongoing). But we have now confirmation that there has definitely been some type of really serious criminal investigation ongoing at TSU, likely connected with the law school admissions scandal and very likely much, much more. This could be the reason the BOR is not releasing the investigation documents despite Open Records requests and the AG office weighing in.  More to come? 

One issue which has caused a great deal of curiousity has been that Provost Harris was not named Interim President once King Lane was shown the exit door.  We wonder why.   Speculation and rumors on our campus has been that Provost Harris has a formal complaint lodged against him, possibly a Title IX sexual harassment complaint.   There is unfortunately past legal precedence for us to be concerned and to take this rumored complaint seriously.  Provost Harris was sued along with his former employer PVAMU in the past-  https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/texas/txsdce/4:2013cv03606/1139251/50/ Curiously enough, when Wendell Williams was fired from TSU, he was the Title IX coordinator for TSU.  More curiously, the individual to be promoted and become the latest Title IX coordinator has prior connections with Provost Harris- Ms. Toni Gray used to work at PVAMU in their HR department. We are not aware how well Ms. Gray and Provost Harris know each other well en