Over the past few days we [The opinion piece writers are a former president of Texas Southern University -- a criminally mismanaged school about to have a conservator assigned to it -- and a local politician. They're going to argue against the governor's plan to appoint the conservator.] have been asked by many of our friends why we fight so hard to preserve an institution that most people in this state believe to be dysfunctional. [Here's their first problem: It is indeed dysfunctional. Very few students graduate. Its president and financial officers were thieves. It's no longer a question of belief. Rational people know the place needs radical overhaul. I doubt even the authors of this opinion piece believe differently. It's their feelings that are leading them astray.]

They ask whether it's because of Mickey Leland, Barbara Jordan or Harold Dutton. Our answer is always no. We fight for Clifford Varner, Thomas Jones and Betty Berry.

You see, Mickey, Barbara and Harold could probably have gone to a number of other universities. But the same is not true for Cliff, Thomas and Betty. [Cliff, Thomas, and Betty are unlikely to be able to perform in college. Their going to TSU, drifting for years, and then flunking out, makes no sense financially, morally, or intellectually.]

Texas Southern University stands as a beacon for excellence and opportunity. [Resounding cliche. And, for most of TSU's students, not really true.] We have some of the brightest students in the state, who could have attended another university but who chose to attend Texas Southern. [TSU has very few of the state's brightest students.] But unlike other Texas universities, we also open our doors to those students who could not gain admission to any other university. We believe that is a laudable mission and we fight to retain it. [It's not laudable when the leadership of the school is ripping off those students.]

That fight is different from the one against gross fiscal mismanagement at the university. [No, actually it's the same.]

For years, there have been charges of shoddy recordkeeping and poor bookkeeping at Texas Southern. But in 1999 the state auditors, after careful review, found that the university had resolved those accounting system problems. Since that time they have found no significant accounting system problems at TSU.

It was in part the strength of the university's accounting system that provided such clear paper trails that lead to the indictment of the school's former president and chief financial officer. The judicial system will determine whether these managers are guilty of any criminal wrongdoing. But even if they are guilty, they are gone. [This is confused reasoning. Exposure of the criminality at the school had much more to do with a trio of intrepid students than it did with any systemic strengths. And those strengths couldn't have amounted to much if it was so easy for the president and her money people to loot the school.]

Moreover, the board of regents that was obligated to provide oversight also may have been derelict. They, too, are gone. What remains is an accounting system that works and vacancies in the presidency and board offices. These should be filled immediately with competent professionals. [This overlooks the reputational damage the school has suffered. The authors want to target a couple of people as the cause of the school's downfall, but there are indeed scandalous systematic problems at TSU, and it will have lost all credibility with the world if they aren't fixed.]

Conservatorship is not the answer. First, it is not the governance structure at TSU that is broken; it is the system of selecting the board of regents. For the past 60 years, it has been the governor, with the advice and consent of the Texas Senate, that [who would be better] has appointed the regents who hire the president. Thus, the problem of university governance lies on the doorsteps of the Texas governor and Senate. If they are dissatisfied with the caliber of their appointments, then perhaps it is time that they establish better criteria for filling these positions. [Sure, but this is about the distant future. It's the present the governor's dealing with.]

Second, if the same criteria that the appointing bodies used in the past are used to select a conservator, then Texas Southern would again be ineffectively led by someone who likely would lack the necessary knowledge and experience to lead an institution of higher education, let alone one in such dire need of strong leadership.

Third and most important, conservatorship would result in the destruction of the university. According to the school's accrediting agency, conservatorship would destroy the university's accreditation and eliminate all federal financial aid programs. These programs provide necessary funding that more than 70 percent of the TSU student body relies on to fund their education. [This would be temporary, if it happens at all. A school can survive losing and regaining accreditation. As for federal funding, the American taxpayer shouldn't be asked to subsidize ill-run schools that don't graduate their students.]

The effect is obvious. The Barbaras and Mickeys and Harolds would simply go to another university. But for the Cliffords, the Thomases and the Bettys, their opportunities for a college education may be irretrievably lost. [As it stands, Clifford, Thomas, and Betty are likely to get at TSU a simulacral education. It will end up costing them and other Americans a good deal of money.]


... We applaud Gov. Perry's commitment to decisive leadership at Texas Southern University but fervently disagree that the path he has chosen is a wise one for Texas Southern, its students and the state of Texas, generally. [Not bad writing, but it has its share of cliches, and it has ended this particular sentence awkwardly, on a weak word.]

Texas Southern continues its proud tradition of welcoming students the Texas public schools have failed. And while these nontraditional students tend not to graduate within the traditional four or even six years, there is a strong indication they eventually do graduate, have increased earning capacity and contribute largely to the Texas economy. [Tend... strong indication... Here the writers must weasel their way around the profound fact of wretched graduation rates at TSU.] ...