Who's in charge at TSU?

The emergency meeting of the remaining Texas Southern University regents Monday morning ended up not panning out after all when only three of nine voting regents attended, meaning the group didn't make quorum — perhaps because Board of Regents Chairwoman Belinda Griffin had submitted the regents' resignations to Gov. Rick Perry on Friday. But if the regents have already resigned, why were they planning to meet yesterday? Add that to the ever-growing list of questions about the troubled university.

As we noted yesterday, the regents told Perry last week that the would comply with his request that they step down, but they said they wouldn't actually resign until Perry had appointed a new board (the governor, you'll recall, called for a state conservator for TSU earlier this month). That drew fire from Perry spokesman Ted Royer, who said Perry isn't satisfied by the "pretend" resignations; the governor reportedly asked the state Senate to begin removal proceedings against Griffin, an action that would require a two-thirds vote. Griffin's response: "I'm not clear on how you can impeach someone who's already resigned. It's a little bizarre." A little?

If Perry appoints a conservator to lead the school, there's concern that TSU's accreditation — which is based on the university being under a multiple-member governing body — could be endangered. That's why Griffin said the current regents won't actually step down until a new board is in place, and it's also why legislators on Friday proposed a measure that would let the governor dissolve a state school's board of regents and replace it with a smaller, reform-oriented board when necessary. At the moment, Perry's only tool for drastic university reform is conservatorship, but he can't appoint a conservator unless top legislators find "gross financial mismanagement" at the university. Based on what we know so far, TSU seems to qualify: The school's former CFO, Quintin Wiggins, is on trial for allegedly misdirecting more than $200,000 in university money; former President Priscilla Slade has been indicted for reportedly spending nearly $2 million of state funds on private expenses; the university owes more than $34 million on construction projects, has $2.6 million in missing and over-budget purchase orders and hired 190 employees that weren't approved by the state; one of TSU's parking garages was shut down in March because the school hadn't paid its bills; and TSU can't account for $7 million from public bonds. And that's just some of what's come to light in recent months.

Despite all that, members of the Legislative Black Caucus told the AP that the situation at TSU has been overblown and that they have seen no evidence of financial mismanagement. "We haven't seen any proof this university is going to implode because of the financial situation," Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Houston) told the AP. Meanwhile, as the Chronicle reports today, it's not clear exactly who's in charge at TSU now: interim President J. Timothy Boddie's contract expired April 16, and the regents apparently intended to replace him with law professor Morris Overstreet at yesterday's meeting. According to the Chron: "Perry recommended Boddie, a retired U.S. Air Force brigadier general, for the temporary post in November, and regents initially liked his commanding presence, integrity and leadership skills. But Griffin had chafed at Boddie's insistence that he worked for the governor, not the board, campus officials said." So Griffin yesterday appointed the campus's chief academic officer, Bobby Wilson, to serve as acting president, but it isn't clear whether she had the authority to do that. Stay tuned.