SU board meets to discuss lawsuits

• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Nov 7, 2009 - Page: 4B

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Members of the Southern University Board of Supervisors and their lawyers prepared Friday for their ongoing legal battle with former Southern President Ralph Slaughter.

Slaughter’s lawsuits, three of which are pending, are expected to heat up this month as the litigation moves from court filings to the courtroom, Slaughter’s attorney, Jill Craft, said.

The Southern Board’s legal affairs committee met in closed session for about four hours Friday to discuss and prepare for court, said board member Patrick Magee, of Lafayette, who chairs the legal affairs committee.

“We have no intention of settling,” Magee said. “I feel very confident in our legal representation.”

Slaughter is suing the Southern Board in state district and federal courts for allegedly conspiring to oust him from office as soon as his two-year contract ended June 30. That contract was the result of a settlement of his previous whistle-blower lawsuit against the Southern Board in 2007. Slaughter is seeking punitive damages and his job back.

“For some reason he (Slaughter) feels he deserves more than those two years,” Magee said, arguing that Slaughter was not fired.

“Ralph’s contract was not extended,” he said.

Slaughter also recently filed another lawsuit against Southern concerning a wage disagreement about his final paycheck. Craft said Slaughter is seeking more than $100,000 in unpaid leave time that he is owed.

“I’m optimistic about the cases and the law and how these suits will proceed,” Craft said Friday afternoon. “We tried to work everything out with the Board, certainly with the best interests of Southern. But, at this juncture, we don’t have any option but to go forward.”

The next step is a Nov. 16 hearing with 19th Judicial District Judge Michael Caldwell concerning Southern motions to dismiss the litigation, Craft said.

Then there is a Nov. 30 hearing scheduled with District Judge Tim Kelley regarding the newer wage lawsuit.

Craft said she also is awaiting rulings from U.S. District Judge Ralph Tyson, of Baton Rouge, on Slaughter’s injunction claim to be returned to the Southern presidency and on dismissal requests from former Southern Board members who are named in the federal suit.

The Southern legal affairs committee on Friday also discussed but took no action on U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint claims filed by Cedric Upshaw, former Southern executive director of alumni affairs; and Joseph Cedric Shelton, former assistant to the executive director for alumni affairs.