Baton Rouge, La.

Southern University System President Ralph Slaughter has been suspended for two months by his governing board while an internal investigation is conducted into his claims that the board chairman sexually harassed female employees.

Slaughter has come under criticism in recent weeks for making the allegations public. Slaughter claims that he was acting as a whistleblower to protect the alleged victims of the harassment.

After meeting for several hours in executive session May 5, the Southern Board decided to place Slaughter on paid leave and ordered him to cooperate with an internal investigation into allegations that Board Chairman Johnny Anderson offered pay raises and promotions to female employees and students in exchange for sex.

Anderson last month voluntarily surrendered his chairmanship, and is recusing himself from board deliberations involving the alleged harassment. Anderson, who also serves as assistant chief of staff for Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, has repeatedly denied any improprieties, and claims Slaughter is trying to smear him.

At the special meeting, the board ordered Slaughter to turn over all documents related to the allegations of sexual harassment to the Southern University Human Resources Director Lester Pourciau, and to cooperate fully in the investigation.

Mark Falcon, an attorney appointed by the governor to investigate the allegations, complained in an April 13 report to the board that he couldn’t reach any conclusions because Slaughter had refused to release information about the complaints. Slaughter said Falcon never produced a letter of authority from the governor, despite repeated requests.

In a letter to the governor, Slaughter’s attorney, Jill Craft, indicated that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office both produced letters of authority to obtain information about Anderson’s alleged sexual harassment for an ongoing federal grand jury investigation that began late last year.