Transparency State University

Emails provided to  Transparency State  show that 3 times now TSU has had to delay and move their re-opening of our beloved campus from June 15......to June 22......to June 29...... will the 3rd proposed re-opening finally be successful?  Sources say Nope.  Phase 1 has been effectively frozen until..... Will TSU ever really re-open again as a physical university?  We wonder.  Maybe, maybe not. All of this would be simply easier to just go ahead and make everything online for the fall semester except for the labs (duh).  Even HBCU football has taken a beating already (no pun intended!).  If we can't even get Coronavirus away from football on a field with a dozen players.....how can we possibly re-open an entire campus of 7000 plus students? https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/06/19/college-football-players-test-positive-virus-hbcus-cancel-four-games?utm_source=Inside+Higher+Ed&utm_campaign=6ca460fea6-DNU_2019_COPY_02&utm_medium=e...

On Sunday, June 7, all of us were treated something rather unusual.....an email from TSU Information Office informing us at 6:51 pm that a new Title IX coordinator had been appointed.  We find it interesting to send out this type of announcement on a Sunday evening. We can speculate about the timing but it is also worth reporting that Dr. Fisher is a TSU insider both working and education (Bachelors, Masters and Ed.D.- all from TSU) and is a former Chairperson (or will remain so?)..... http://coe.tsu.edu/?page_id=1810 We are disappointed that TSU has chosen an insider (and a long-term insider at that) for important issues related to Title IX especially with past rumors of certain administrators and sexual harassment cases (one of whom has now moved to China) as well as the #MeToo movement which King Lane tried to cudgel and bully possibly two faculty members with threats of sexual harassment investigations, including hiring a private Austin law firm (your tax dollars at work). ...

Is it already time for another BOR meeting?  No predictions but.....here we go: https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicAgenda.aspx?ak=1000526&mk=50380774 Lot of IT purchases, possibly dismissal and terminations?  Tenure and promotion. Looks like a full meeting. According to the April 16, 2020 meeting, the BOR is supposed to release the full Berkley Report- so why hasn't it been released yet? Also, what's up with the Admissions Committee- are we really going to deny students below 2.0 GPA?  Ideally we would love to see TSU increase their quality of students' with increased GPA, but in this pandemic with all the stress and uncertainty with high school students not even having reliable high-speed internet access, perhaps this policy can wait another year?  Seems like there are methods to make appeals but we suggest the BOR consider delaying this policy another year. https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=46569694 https://v3.boardbook.o...

Interesting lawsuit filed by former mayoral candidate Ben Hall.  We have copied/pasted the press release below from Ben Hall's office- Certain facts in the allegations raised seem to mirror complaints in some of the lawsuits filed against TSU recently.   Houston Community College Hit With $100 Million Dollar Racial Discrimination Class Action Suit Filed On Behalf of Black Employees on Juneteenth HOUSTON, TEXAS.   A $100 million dollar racial discrimination lawsuit has been filed in a Houston, Texas state district court on behalf of hundreds of Black former and present employees of Houston Community College (“HCC”).  The suit was filed Friday, June 19, 2020–“Juneteenth—the anniversary date that Black slaves in Texas learned they had been freed from slavery two years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln.  The lawsuit details a damning list of allegations about what is going on at Houston Community College under the leadership of Chancellor Cesar Maldo...

Summer should be a time of rest and reflection for everyone, but instead it appears that the Deans and Provost Harris appear to be busy playing "musical chairs" at TSU in some of the schools on campus: School of Communication (SOC) Dr. Michael Berryhill is still listed as the Chair of the Journalism Department but it has been confirmed that he is no longer the Chair and it is rumored that the new chair is Dr. Vera Hawkins.  Another professor- Dr. Toneisha Taylor- seems to have arrived on campus recently in order to chair a new department in SOC- Communication Studies.  There is a possibility that she was hired from PVAMU with connections through the Provost office and Dr. Cavill.  We are unaware if Dean Brown-Burton had complete involvement with these changes in chairs and departments. School of Public Affairs (SOPA) All 3 of SOPA's departments- Administration of Justice (Dr. David Baker), Political Science (Dr. Michael Adams) and Urban Planning (Dr. Sherri Smith) h...

An update on our post from April 14- https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-houston-housing-authority-and-mr.html Looks like more troubles for Houston Housing Authority- and TSU's LaRence Snowden has a criminal complaint filed against him - "Four separate criminal complaints have been filed Wednesday, May 6 th , 2020 against three Houston Housing Authority officials and the Houston Housing Authority legal counsel. The sworn complaints by Dolcefino Consulting were delivered to Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton alleging the city housing agency is falsely using the COVID-19 disaster to hide the release of critical public records on two controversial East End land deals. The complaints target HHA Chair LaRence Snowden, attorney Tammye Curtis-Jones, HHA President & CEO Mark Thiele and Vice President of Finance and Business Operations Mike Rogers. Rogers is also the HHA official in charge of maintaining financial ...

On Thursday June 11, TSU faculty and staff were informed that prior to entering their offices, they needed to visit the General Services and have their temperature checked.  On Friday they were informed that police would be stationed outside buildings prior to allowing people to enter beginning June 22. We have to wonder and strongly question.....the fall semester hasn't even begun yet.....and we already are at the point of doing temperature checks prior to entering buildings even with significantly less people on campus? Right now in the summer, we have very few faculty, admin and staff on campus.  Almost no students assuming all our classes are online.  So these temperature checks are manageable.....temporarily.  But when the fall semester hits and with enrollment possibly increasing or staying at the same levels (we hope).....will TSU really be able to provide the same standard of rigorous care and safety while continuing to do lecture style teaching, campus a...

The Berkley Report (as mentioned in the Houston Chronicle) has been released as discussed on Monday’s BOR meeting:  http://www.tsu.edu/about/board-of-regents/pdf/brg+enrollment-executive-summary.pdf Unfortunately, this isn’t the full report- this is only a 5 page summary.  This report is rather light on details; in fact there aren’t even any names mentioned.  When will the full report be released?  And will there be names in the report?  As compared to TSU’s own internal audit, this is a surprisingly detail-less report especially from an outside agency.  We hope when and if the full report is released there are much more details for transparency.  https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6808138-Texas-Southern-University-investigation.html At the BOR meeting on Monday, the Provost claimed he hadn't read the full report or been giving a copy.  Seems odd considering he is and was in charge of admissions policy.  It must...

Seems like the Provost can't catch a break at any school on the campus.   Provost Harris tried to forcibly lower the summer salaries of the business faculty without any consultation, not even trying to have an amicable meeting, even as a mere formality. There was also no reason given to cut summer salaries either. Understandably, JHJ faculty were not happy about this latest dictatorial maneuver by the Provost.  And the rumors are that President Huewitt rejected Provost Harris's proposal to cut salaries and protected faculty rights. Every now and then, the TSU leadership finally does the right thing!  Thanks for doing the right thing Mr. President. 

In October 2019, Provost Harris called for an ad hoc committee to be set up to set new guidelines for transfer of departments and joint appointment.  No reason that we know of was discussed as to why there was a need to tamper and meddle with the faculty transfers as the Faculty Manual is quite clear on transfers: 4.13 Faculty Transfers from One Discipline to Another. A faculty member may transfer from one discipline to another provided that the transferring faculty member meets the minimum standards established for entry into the faculty of the discipline to which he/she seeks to be transferred.   It appears that the Chairman of this committee for joint appointment and transfers has quietly allowed himself a joint appointment with both the College of Education and the School of Communication.  Dr. Cavill has 3 degrees from TSU, but it is unclear if he has any academic credentials for holding a joint position with the School of Communication.  His creden...