Talbert O. Shaw Retires After 15 Years at Shaw University
By Eleanor Lee Yates

RALEIGH, N.C.

At a time when some historically Black colleges are making headlines for financial mismanagement and woes, Shaw University's outgoing president is being remembered for daring to take the reins of a financially troubled institution and turn those troubles into opportunities.

"Those were tough times for the university," Dr. Talbert O. Shaw recalls. "The school was on the verge of closing. Employees had not been paid."

In 1986, the Internal Revenue Service had filed two liens against the university. The university owed $750,000 to the IRS for unpaid withholding taxes, interest and penalties. It had defaulted on loans totaling $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Education used in part for two new dormitories in the 1960s. The school also owed the federal government about $500,000 for student-aid funds that had been used inappropriately. The university had no endowment and owed close to $5 million.

"Banks wouldn't honor checks. It was very grim," says Shaw, a native of Jamaica, who earned a bachelor's from Andrews University in Michigan and a master's and doctorate from the University of Chicago.

Enrollment had dwindled and many of the venerable buildings were in disrepair, some actually boarded up.

The woes had been gradual. Many say leadership was not strong enough. Others say alumni did not give enough. Add to that the typical struggles of a small, private college.

Why would a university administrator take on such troubles? Shaw always loved a challenge. And there was the striking coincidence with the name, Shaw, although no relation. There was the rich history. Shaw University is one of the oldest historically Black colleges in the South, founded in 1865 by a former Union Army chaplain from New England to teach free slaves to be ministers and teachers. Originally established as the Raleigh Institute, the school was renamed in 1870 to honor its chief benefactor, Elijah Shaw.