Officials call for investigation of Texas Southern University over financial mismanagement findings

Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have ordered the Texas Rangers to investigate Texas Southern University on Monday after a new state audit found evidence of poor bookkeeping and financial mismanagement.

Patrick said he will discuss with Abbott and House Speaker Dustin Burrows a freeze on TSU’s state funding. It’s unclear if and when the freeze would go into effect and what impact it would have on TSU, one of the largest historically Black universities in the country.

In a letter to Patrick’s office and other members of the state Legislature’s Audit Committee, State Auditor Lisa Collier said university staff vacancies for “critical” financial responsibilities have contributed to delays in financial reporting, as well as poor asset oversight and weak contracting processes.

According to a preliminary report from Collier, more than 700 invoices totaling more than $280 million were tied to vendors whose contracts expired in the contract database. And more than 800 invoices worth nearly $160 million were dated before the purchase were officially requested or approved.

Collier also said the university submitted its financial reports to the comptroller’s office 10 months late for the 2023 fiscal year and four months late for the 2024 fiscal years.

In a statement to The Texas Tribune, Texas Southern University said it was cooperating with the state auditor and that it had “enacted corrective measures” prior to the release of the report, including a new purchasing system. The university declined to answer questions about the vacant positions in their financial office, and the potential freeze on state funding.

The Houston university, which has an enrollment of about 8,000 students, has faced scrutiny for how its finances have been handled before. In 2020, allegations of bribery and kickbacks in the law school admissions process led to the ousting of the sitting president at the time, Austin Lane.

Students with low academic credentials were admitted and given more than $430,000 in scholarship money, and cashier’s check and money orders were found stashed under one admission official’s desk calendar, an internal investigation found.

“The legislature has continued year-after-year to try to help the school,” Patrick said in a statement on X. “It appears the legislature has been misled over this time period on promised improvements in accounting practices and contracting.”

Within hours of Patrick’s order, Abbott issued a separate statement saying he had also requested DPS to investigate the university. He slammed the “potential misappropriation of hundreds of millions of dollars” and said “waste, fraud, and abuse will not be tolerated.”

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This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.