ATLANTA

Clark Atlanta University Professor Lebone Mobeti settled in for what he figured would be a long term as chairman of the school’s engineering department when he took over the post in 2004.

Instead, a year later he found out school officials were disbanding the department.

The reason — school officials were facing a $7.5 million debt and figured the engineering department and the library sciences program should be ended to save money.

“The department was a revenue source for the school,” says Mobeti, noting that the engineering program brought in nearly $1.8 million in research dollars, grants and other revenue annually.

“So it was a decision made without a full accounting with the facts,” he says. “Why would you cut a revenue-producing program if you’re cutting costs?”

To keep the program going, Mobeti and a group of professors and students have sued CAU officials, claiming they failed to follow proper processes in their decision to eliminate the program.

CAU President Walter Broadnax “admitted it was personal preference that the school close the department,” says the group’s attorney, Gina Mangham. “Had they followed the procedures, the issue would have come out differently.”

Broadnax has called the lawsuit a “headache” and says the university acted appropriately in terminating the department.

“We have defeated them in every court and we keep defeating them,” he says.

Broadnax says he believes the group is trying to use the media to sway CAU’s board of trustees.

“The intensity of their yelling and screaming goes up as time runs out,” he says.

The Georgia Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case on March 13.

But the dispute also raises a larger issue — should historically Black colleges and universities, many of them struggling financially, continue to run expensive programs that are likely offered at other nearby institutions.

For example, CAU began its engineering department in 1994, despite participating in dual-degree programs with 11 other schools. Students would attend CAU for three years and then transfer to one of the other schools to finish their engineering requirements.