Storming the Ramparts

TSU did receive good news at its board meeting March 4, when a representative from the state auditor's office praised the school for its initial responses to his office's report.

To Jackson, TSU's problems, while extensive, are eminently treatable. And once the nuts and bolts of putting in adequate financial systems are addressed, the school will be ready to grow, he says.

It's an echo of what many other former TSU administrators, presidents, board members and supporters have said in the past, but Jackson says he believes there is incredible opportunity for the school.

"At TSU what the state gives is 90 percent of the budget, which is [$60] million a year," he says. "At other schools what the state gives is 40-50 percent of the budget. For every state dollar, we ought to be able to match it with a private dollar.

"But when there is a lack of credibility in financial management, in basic accounting, it's very difficult to get people to write checks. Even alumni....It's a very difficult conversation to have asking corporations to support the school with millions of dollars when it's in the paper that the state auditor says we can't keep our checking account straight. But TSU is a very easy sell if we get the auditor approving of the changes we make."

But, as Coleman notes, that kind of talk from Jackson does not always go down so well. "There's a healthy bit of skepticism, and people have the right to be skeptical when the government has not treated the school in the right manner in the past," he says. "People get paranoid when it involves something that's important, and sometimes that paranoia gets turned into suspicion and bad feelings, and those bad feelings get transferred to Willard and sometimes to me."

There are, Coleman says, two issues. "Am I optimistic about the school repairing its problems and serving students well? Yes. I'm not as optimistic about the relationship between the community and the board and certain board members and the Legislature.

"Can we accomplish the accountability goals? Yes," he says.
"Is it ever going to be a lovefest? No."
Of course, anyone who follows the school knows that if it ever became a lovefest, then it probably wouldn't be TSU.

E-mail Richard Connelly at rich_connelly@houstonpress.com.