Transparency State University

Looks like the meeting on Tuesday was all about Regent Price, seems he's been caught on a recording saying some very nasty things to someone who dropped the recording publicly: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/education/article/texas-southern-university-tsu-regent-racist-rant-15231796.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=HC_MorningReport&utm_term=news&utm_content=briefing&fbclid=IwAR07k8XH29P98eG0K4hZ7k2TxqMio9Lrud5FGJF9a_AZ7ks4SGcmcOPAtvg Regent Price was also removed from all his board committees as well as Secretary position, yet has been able to cling onto the BOR.....for now.  But what these changes means is that the Provost now has a new boss on the committees he's directly reporting to: the committees of Admissions and Academics.  This will be interesting to see how the Provost will or will not adapt successfully to whichever board member is his new boss.  And perhaps for TSU's post-pandemic future this new boss w...

A Special called remote teleconference BOR meeting has been called for Tuesday morning.  Speculation is ripe as to what this meeting could be about.....the BOR just had a meeting on April 16, 2020.  So what's the emergency 12 days later? The theory most prominent seems to be that we may have a new Provost on Wednesday morning.  The reason being the agenda seems to be hinting at some changes in personnel: Item D- appointment, evaluation or dismissal of personnel. But it could also be that Internal Audit may be dropping some fresh and soft doo-doo bombs due to the Lane investigation which is rumored to be ongoing.  And their investigation may have uncovered more and newer reasons to terminate employment for certain individuals before the summer starts.  With pandemic furloughs, cuts and freezes extremely likely, maybe cleaning house before summer starts is a good idea.    I. Call to Order Presenter: Regent Albert H. Myres, Chair II. Roll Call ...

At the latest BOR meeting on April 16, 2020, towards the end of the meeting a short discussion brewed about possible “re-alignment of schools.”  There was also a campus-wide email from President Kenny regarding the re-alignment.  Quote : “Additionally, I will re-align colleges and departments to implement new process improvement strategies.”  What could this mysterious statement mean?  Well for starters, for years now there have been rumors that some schools in particular are vulnerable to become merged and consolidated with other schools including breaking up departments.  There are valid and legitimate reasons for doing this most notably, the cost savings associated with one less Dean and less Chairs which would save TSU a ton of money.  And there would be other benefits most likely.  Some departments have so much rancor and office politics that they’ve had a new Chair almost every 2-3 years and that can drain and destroy the...

It's a big day for King Lane.....we wish him much luck. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/education/article/Former-TSU-president-a-chancellor-finalist-at-15213981.php https://chancellor.siu.edu/search/#survey

What’s going on with the Houston Housing Authority and our own Mr. Lawerence Snowden?  Seems like he got caught up with a very wet scandal involving a destination wedding and a potentially lucrative consulting kickback gig.  We can only speculate if the BOR knows about yet another embarrassing story involving an employee of TSU.  As the reporter says, it is nice to have good friends.   https://dolcefino.com/2020/04/05/a-little-help-from-my-friends/

Looks like King Lane is a finalist at SIU for the Chancellor job.  We guess there is life after "career death"…..We will be interested in seeing if they hire him without a Ph.D. and no publications.  Hope no one asks him about his time at TSU.   https://thesouthern.com/news/local/siu/siu-carbondale-announces-3-chancellor-finalists-dates-for-virtual-public-forums/article_6f12b029-dcb6-58d6-ba84-fa1fa1b8828d.html https://chancellor.siu.edu/search/chancellor/applications/Lane.Austin-CV.pdf

                                  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 i...

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...

Looks like one of our predictions is already coming true- on Monday night, rumors on Twitter  surfaced that King Lane and his lawyer are secretly conducting negotiations through mediation to buyout and cashout the remainder of the King's contract with TSU. As we predicted, King Lane finally woke up and smelled the coffee- you really cannot work with people you picked a fight with, lied to, complained to the media and tried to bully them into doing things which are unethical and possibly illegal, i.e. the BOR and others (tenured faculty, staff) who have been at TSU much, much longer than 3.5 years. Going to the media or trolling on social media clearly doesn't work either especially when you have a 4 page detailed termination letter.  Rumors are adrift that the BOR must be sitting on a ton of very incriminating evidence that they are not going to release until they absolutely need to and will likely devastate any case going to court.  King Lane must be very aware of gian...

So now we know the reasons why King Lane has been removed by the BOR.  In a 4 page termination letter posted on TSU's website the BOR lists a series of very disturbing and damaging items which likely has already harmed our university's reputation and brand image.   http://www.tsu.edu/about/board-of-regents/pdf/final-termination-letter-02042020.pdf We turn now to the future- what will the rest of 2020 look like for our university?  We anticipate several predictions in the coming months:  1) King Lane will either go away quietly with a severance package or he will fight it out in civil court which could take years and years and years.....rumors are that King Lane and his Queen own 2 houses and have 2 mortgages which doesn't seem like a very stable financial situation especially when you just got terminated.  We suggest King Lane take the money and run . 2) The 30 day appeal process for King Lane will not be successful for him .   No one ...

Need we say more?  Thanks for your service Austin.    TEXAS SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY 3100 Cleburne Street, Ste. HH115 | Houston, Texas 77004 | (713) 313-7992 BoardofRegents@TSU.edu 2/5/2020 Board of Regents Dear Texas Southern University Family, As you know, TSU’s vision is to become one of the nation’s pre-eminent comprehensive metropolitan universities, recognized by our program excellence, our quality instruction, our innovative research, and our desire to make an impact on our community, state, nation and world. It is in that spirit that we must continue to work together as a Tiger community, even as we address challenges brought on by a change in our leadership. Last night, the TSU Board of Regents, the governing body that holds itself and the University’s leadership to the highest standards, voted 6-1 to propose the termination of Dr. Austin A. Lane. As previously announced, Kenneth Huewitt will serve as acting president....

Looks like another lawsuit to hit TSU.....So TSU isn't ADA compliant?  What a surprise! https://www.open-public-records.com/court/texas-29054373.htm

It’s almost like an episode of Game of Thrones at TSU this past week.   With the sudden announcement by the BOR of King Lane being placed on paid leave pending an investigation’s results, it seems like it’s house cleaning time at TSU.    The board hasn’t given any reason as to why King Lane was placed on paid leave, but there’s been so many rumors now about why, we have to assume some of those rumors are true.   https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2020/01/will-king-lane-lose-his-kingdom.html             But in other news, the same day the BOR placed King Lane on paid leave, his special assistant, his consigliore , Senor Wendell Williams was fired by acting President Huewitt, possibly under the direction of the BOR.   This was rumored to be true by Saturday but the Houston Chronicle has confirmed it- https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Assistant-to-TSU-preside...

Texas Southern University Board of Regents - Special Announcement / 1-17-20 On behalf of the Texas Southern University Board of Regents, we want to provide our community with an update about our recent decision to place TSU President Dr. Austin A. Lane on paid administrative leave.   We are sharing this information while remaining mindful and respectful of the ongoing investigatory process and for all of the parties involved.   On January 10, 2020, the Board of Regents met with the Chief Internal Auditor, independent counsel, and third-party investigators for approximately seven hours. The Audit Committee made a public recommendation to the full Board, and consistent with the Audit Committee’s recommendation, in a seven to one vote (one abstention), the Board of Regents placed Dr. Lane on paid administrative leave.   The Chief Internal Auditor's investigation goes back over three months. The investigation into admissions and our review of ...

By now we have all heard the latest news about King Lane being placed on administrative leave pending an investigation outcome.   Details remain scarce but this fact is puzzling to us- why has King Lane informed the media that the vote to place him on leave was 5-4 when on the TSU website it states 7-1 (with one abstention)?   Who is mistaken here regarding the number of votes against King Lane?   Or rather…..in who’s best interests does it serve to muddy the deeply troubled waters of the difficult and lengthy decision-making process of the BOR?   Fortunately, the BOR has placed the final public vote on YouTube.   We are appreciative of this wise and transparent leadership decision from the BOR.   This will serve us well as we move to a new era of Honesty, Ethics, Accountability and Transparency, which we have decided to christen as the new H.E.A.T paradigm in the aftermath of King Lane's departure.   The acronym HEAT will serve us well an...

On Monday, November 18, 2019 the Board of Regents met for a closed door, unscheduled meeting.  Sometimes unexpected things happen and unscheduled meetings need to be called for, so this wasn't really unusual for the BOR to meet without scheduling but what made it so unusual was that King Lane, nor Provost Harris nor Wendel Williams (the President's confidant) were invited or possibly not even allowed to be in the meeting which makes us give deep pause and wonder- is King Lane on his way to the exit lane? Bear with us as we reminisce on the past 3.5 years of King Lane's tenure: 1) Tried to get the BOR to approve a $2.5 million mansion for his family and him to live in despite already receiving several thousand dollars a month in living stipend.  King Lane brought up the mansion proposal on at least 3 separate BOR meetings unsuccessfully. 2) Spent $100,000 on Rockets courtside basketball tickets https://transparencystate.blogspot.com/2019/04/confirmed-president-lane-buys-...

By now most people have heard about the very sad and disappointing news of our law school's admissions scandal.  Details remain scarce but it appears this scandal involved a "pay to play"admissions scandal whereby someone at the law school admitted students who may not have been qualified for admissions but bribed their way into the law school.  Details are still forthcoming but this scandal doesn't look good for all of us, especially King Lane and his royal coterie. Interestingly, the Board of Regents had a special meeting on Monday, November 18 but without the presence of King Lane or the Provost.  Neither was invited or asked to attend which is even more interesting.  Why would the President or Provost not attend a Board of Regents meeting? https://abc13.com/education/tsu-law-school-tied-to-admissions-improprieties-sources/5705898/

Look like yet another powerful whack at the Center for Justice Research by the Houston Chronicle- Not only that, but it seems that about 31 academics have signed a report stating that the Center's Director- Dr. Howard Henderson- research is pure baloney as well as proposing outdated and anachronistic policy proposals to increase mass incarceration. We can only imagine how embarrassing and humiliating this must be for him as well as the Faculty Fellows.  Moreover what does the Koch Foundation think about all this “research”?  We guess the Koch’s must be very, very unhappy. We certainly would!  The weblinks are set below- https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Report-Harris-DA-s-office-overburdened-14302364.php https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Academics-raise-concerns-about-report-finding-14539787.php https://www.prosecutorreport.com/ https://www.prosecutorreport.com/note

Rumors are again rampant that another high-ranking General Counsel team member will be fired or "resigned" very soon.  King Lane seems rather displeased with a certain member of his court of jesters but we are not sure what the reason is.  However, this rumor comes to us from a trusted inner court individual so we wait to see if the exit doors be slammin' on yet another exiled member of the Lane kingdom soon enough. Of course we wouldn't be surprised at all to hear this rumor being verified in the very near future.  King Lane's merry go round of court jesters have a very, very limited shelf life...

Today we bring you a story filled with money!  Yes, money! Really good money for our newly appointed deans at TSU according to open documents filed at the BOR meeting in June.  We had heard rumors of a $1 million payout but we had to see the documents for ourselves!  What a windfall! Dr. George Kieh, Dean of School of Public Affairs (SOPA)- $195,000- his predecessor made a salary of $156,000 so way to go Dean Kieh!  Dr. Needha Boutte-Queen, Dean of COLABS- $195,000- we are not aware what her predecessor made but wowza!  Dr. David Chi-Chung Ye, Dean of Jones School of Business- $225,000- we are not aware what his predecessor was earning- you all may recall the first story we ever published of the mysterious case of the missing dean! Dr. Rashid Mosavin- Dean of Pharmacy and Health Sciences- $235,000-  we are not aware what his predecessor was earning but...dang!  Dean Joan Bullock- Dean of TSU law school- $270,000- her predecessor whom we wrote abo...