Slade goes public — sorta

So TSU's embattled president Priscilla Slade has decided to defy the university's board of regents by talking about her questionable spending — we could say Slade went public, but in reality, it's anything but public.

Slade, remember, is accused of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of university money on personal expenses not allowed under her contract. Last week came news that she spent nearly twice her personal allotment in 2005 and nearly $650,000 in unauthorized expenses during her seven years as president. The Bracewell & Giuliani law firm is investigating, and in the meantime, TSU regents told Slade not to comment. But Sunday, Slade met with local black leaders at the Rev. Bill Lawson's house, and later she gave an interview to Lawson's daughter, KTRK's Melanie Lawson. She didn't give an interview to the Chronicle — which, after all, has printed stories saying she acted improperly — bu she did send the newspaper a letter.

Then, yesterday, Slade borrowed from the White House playbook by defending her spending for an hour on KCOH, the city's oldest black radio station. KCOH gave Slade an hour of commercial-free airtime at the request of U.S. Rep. Al Green and didn't allow Michael Harris, its morning show host for 24 years, to ask any questions. Green and state Rep. Sylvester Turner interviewed Slade in the studio and the president took calls from ex-TSU regent Willard Jackson and the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, pastor of Slade's church. Of course, the callers were prearranged — listeners weren't given the call-in number, just to make sure no one called and asked Slade any serious questions. (We guess Sheila wasn't given the number either.)

"I don't think anyone who is a regular listener of the program will be persuaded because I wasn't allowed to talk and the people who usually call didn't talk," [Harris] said. "It was a show, but not a talk show. There was no dissenting opinion."

J. Paul Johnson, chairman of the board of regents, said he was surprised by Slade's sudden publicity campaign. "I almost don't know how to comment," he said. "It was my opinion that we would not try to air this thing in the media." The regents had planned to meet May 5 to discuss Slade's future at TSU, but Johnson said they may meet earlier.