ATLANTA

Clark Atlanta University faculty and staff got two strong messages Monday in their battles with President Walter Broadnax, who they want fired.

First, the Georgia Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit by a group of CAU Engineering Department faculty members and students who sued Broadnax and the school to keep CAU from disbanding the 13-year-old program as a way to save money.

Then a few moments after he got that news, Broadnax said he isn’t going to step down.

“Not going anywhere,” Broadnax said. “That’s not the plan.”

The embattled Broadnax has been heavily criticized by some faculty and students who believe his leadership at the historically Black university has been lacking, particularly in a time when CAU has been struggling financially.

When Broadnax became president in 2002, the school’s expenses exceeded revenues by $7.5 million. Broadnax said cash flow problems -- which also meant it was a struggle then just to make payroll -- actually mean that figure was more like $25 million.

Broadnax and the school’s Board of Trustees decided to streamline the university.  Among the biggest cost-cutting moves was to disband the school’s library science program and the engineering program. Both moves led students and faculty in each department to unsuccessfully file lawsuits to stave off the slashing of both programs. 

The library sciences program was shut down in 2004 while the Engineering program is slated for closure in 2008.

Engineering faculty and students argued school administrators, mainly Broadnax, ignored policy and procedures when the decision to shut down the program was made. They appealed a lower court ruling against them. 

But in a short opinion issued Monday, Georgia Chief Justice Leah Sears agreed with the lower court ruling, citing other court case where, “....students may not enjoin ‘the operation and management of a (private) college.’”