Slade returns to TSU as teacher

Priscilla Slade, the former Texas Southern University president fired for spending school money on personal expenses, is teaching accounting courses on campus this semester.

Her return to the classroom comes four weeks after a Harris Country grand jury indicted Slade and three aides for allegedly paying for household furnishings and landscaping, among other things, for her benefit.

Although the university's governing board fired Slade in June over her spending as president, she remains a tenured professor in the Jesse H. Jones School of Business, officials said Tuesday.

Slade's decision to resume teaching came as surprise to some administrators and faculty members, who assumed she would prefer a lower profile while facing felony criminal charges.

When approached on campus, Slade said she is enjoying her return to teaching, but declined further comment. She has denied any wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit against the university.

The university's lawyer would not disclose Slade's new salary. As president, she earned more than $340,000 a year.

Officials said the university could move to revoke her tenure, and Slade almost certainly would file a grievance. The grievance would be heard by a committee of faculty members, whose recommendation would go to the president and regents for the final decision.

"Regardless of who it is, we have to make sure that due process is followed because faculty members nationwide have fought for the right of tenure," said Sanders Anderson, president of TSU's faculty council.

At most universities, professors with tenure have the implicit promise of a lifetime job. They cannot be dismissed, transferred or demoted, with the exception of extreme misconduct on their part or a financial emergency at the school.

Although Slade has tenure, the business school's dean and the accounting department's chairman are not required to give her teaching assignments. Dean Joseph Boyd could not be reached for comment.

Acting president Bobby Wilson declined to comment when asked whether he agreed with the decision allowing Slade to teach again. Slade received tenure before becoming the president of TSU in 1999.

J. Paul Johnson, the regents' chairman, said it is not the board's role to challenge Slade's tenure. TSU's tenure policy does not clearly state who is responsible for challenging a professor's status.