Former Texas Southern University President Priscilla Slade Was Teaching Accounting But Now She Has Been Suspended

Priscilla Slade, who earlier this year was dismissed from her position as president of Texas Southern University and later indicted on criminal charges of diverting public funds to remodel her home in Houston, was teaching a course this semester on accounting at the Jesse H. Jones School of Business at the university. Under university rules, Slade was entitled to 75 percent of her salary as an administrator. This made Slade the highest-paid faculty member on campus with a salary of more than $208,000.

But when word of Slade’s teaching assignment reached the press, the university’s acting president Bobby Wilson suspended her from the classroom saying that she presented “an ongoing threat of disrupting the academic process.” Slade, who holds tenure, will go on paid leave. The university has now started the process to revoke her tenure.

Dr. Slade maintains her innocence and has filed a suit against the university for wrongful termination.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.