King says a verbal report by the law firm looking into spending procedures prompted the board to suspend Slade indefinitely with pay. She believes something will be done by the next meeting on May 5.
Slade’s suspension is just the latest of several issues that have come up at the school in the past few months. In March, the school’s chief financial officer, Quintin Wiggins, resigned. He was held responsible for paying the landscaping bill, which should have been approved by the board because it was over $100,000. The board also discovered that he had nine misdemeanor convictions for writing bad checks, according to an article in the Houston Chronicle.
“You can imagine how disconcerting it was,” Anderson says. “[The faculty] was waiting for the next shoe to fall.”
Anderson says the faculty is ready for a decision to be handed down so the school can return to normal.
We want it to be handled fairly and expeditiously. It’s taking too long to make a decision. Our main concern is for the university itself,” he says.
In the meantime, Wilson will oversee athletics, strategic development, construction and the physical plant. Dr. Charlene Evans, the school’s senior vice president of university relations and ombudsperson, will oversee human resources, the office of development and external affairs. Dr. Gayla Thomas, senior vice president for enrollment management and planning, will assume additional responsibilities for areas under information technology.
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