State rep blasts TSU regents

Looks like the flow of bizarre news from TSU won't be drying up anytime soon: In his keynote address to the school's graduates Saturday, state Rep. Harold Dutton blamed the TSU board of regents for contributing to the problems with ex-president Priscilla Slade, saying they mishandled the investigation into her spending and her dismissal. Slade, you'll remember, was fired and later indicted for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of university money on unauthorized personal expenses during her presidency. But Dutton said the regents are as much to blame as anyone:

"You (regents) are directly responsible for the unsuccessful management and government of TSU," Dutton said in his speech, with the regents arrayed on the platform behind him.

In an interview later, Dutton, D-Houston, said he was referring to the "dark clouds" looming over TSU because of the regents' handling of the investigation, dismissal and subsequent indictment of former university president Priscilla Slade and their current dispute with the school's radio station.

TSU Board Chairman J. Paul Johnson declined to comment, saying through a spokeswoman that he felt it would be inappropriate.

Yes, we wish Dutton had gotten that memo about inappropriateness, too. It's not clear exactly what he meant by saying the Slade situation was mishandled, but we suspect he's referring to Slade's lawsuit against the university, in which she claims she was treated unfairly because the regents planned to begin discussing how to find a new president before a public hearing — which Slade decided not to attend — was held. In an interview after his speech, Dutton called the regents "co-conspirators" and said they should not be allowed to pick TSU's next president.

His other beef with the regents concerns what he said are their attempts to "direct the affairs of KTSU," the school's radio station, which Dutton called "the black jewel of Wheeler Avenue." He suggested other, bigger problems at the university should be fixed before the radio station is restructured.