SU System board names Slaughter as president

After Dr. Leon Tarver stepped down as the president of the Southern University System in June 2005, System Board Chairman Johnny Anderson said a search committee would “look near and far” for a president that would bring Southern to new heights.
He also said he hoped to have a person in place by July 2005, the beginning of the 2006 fiscal year.
It took approximately eight months for Anderson and the other 15 board members to choose Dr. Ralph Slaughter as the new president of the country’s lone historically black college system. A choice that took a bit longer than initially projected and Anderson did not have to look far at all. In fact, Slaughter’s office was right across the hall from the board’s office, on the fourth floor of the J.S. Clark Administration Building.
Slaughter, a 1974 graduate of Southern, was selected from a consortium of 23 applicants, which dwindled to an interviewed pool of three: Slaughter, Dr. A. Toy Caldwell-Colbert of Howard University and Dr. Lester Newman of Mississippi Valley State University.
“I’m excited about being president of the Southern University System,” Slaughter said. “And I’m also energized because of the opportunities that are going to presented before me.”
Before being named as system president on March 11, Slaughter served as system vice president for administration and management and coordinator of the State Farm Bayou Classic. Before that, the accountant by trade was system deputy vice president for finance and business affairs. He also served as secretary of the state’s revenue and taxation department.
“I know there are challenges before me,” Slaughter said. “But I am going to visit every campus and interact with faculty, staff and students to gain input on making the Southern University System better.”
Dr. Edward Jackson, chancellor of the Baton Rouge campus, served as interim system president during the search. He has resumed his fulltime duties as chancellor.
Slaughter’s appointment has been received with mixed reactions throughout the Southern community. Some Southernites are happy to have “one of their own,” while others have expressed their displeasure in the board choosing “one of its own.” Feedback on www.southerndigest.com, the DIGEST’s Web site, has been contained various sentiments — good and bad — about Slaughter’s new position.
“I didn’t know much about him then and I don’t know much about him now,” said Raelanka Bobino, a Southern alumna from Oakland, Calif. “I just hope that he cleans up the messes that were left before him, leave a few memories besides Bayou Classic and bring a sense of cohesiveness to the five campuses.”
Campus cohesiveness is only one of many tasks Slaughter has before him. One of his biggest impediments will be trying to get the system to function minus 10 percent of its operating budget to help accommodate a $66 million dent in the state’s higher education budget sustained after Hurricane Katrina.
“Despite the fiscal problems and other obstacles that Southern is facing, I believe Southern I can bring about change at Southern,” Slaughter said. “As a son of Southern, I have accepted that challenge and plan to take it head-on.”