BATON ROUGE, La.
The Southern University Board of Supervisors has called a special meeting for May 5 to sort through allegations that board chairman Johnny Anderson sexually harassed female employees.
Anderson has voluntarily relinquished his gavel temporarily, pending the investigation, but now Southern University System President Ralph Slaughter is facing counter-charges that he attempted to smear Anderson with the allegations. If true, in incident could cost Slaughter his job.
A source close to the investigation, speaking on the condition of anonymity, says the allegations against Anderson involve female employees who say they were offered pay raises and promotions in exchange for sex.
Slaughter has repeatedly declined comment, except to say that his role was as a “whistleblower.”
Anderson, who also serves as assistant chief of staff for Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, claims he was vindicated by a report compiled by an attorney appointed by the governor to investigate the allegations. In that report, Baton Rouge attorney Mark Falcon reported that he could not come to a conclusion because Slaughter had refused to provide requested information, including tape recordings of Anderson’s alleged victims.
Slaughter’s attorney claims much of the evidence requested by Falcon was turned over to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office during a federal grand jury investigation, which took testimony and subpoenaed records in December. No action was taken, and federal prosecutors have declined to discuss the probe.
In his report to the governor, Falcon noted that he had “been able to identify certain individuals who may have been involved with the complaints identified by President Slaughter or otherwise possess knowledge of these complaints.”
Falcon said he asked that the university force those employees to speak with him regarding the alleged sexual harassment. The university notified the employees in question, but said they declined to be interviewed by Falcon and the university refused to compel them to do so.
