TSU Doesn't Heart Tavis Anymore
Monday, October 26, 2009 at 9:00AM
According to the Houston Chronicle, radio/TV yakker and presidential critic Tavis Smiley's name has been removed from Texas Southern University's school of communications due to a dispute over the money Smiley promised to donate/raise for the school.
From the Chron:
A long-simmering disagreement between broadcaster Tavis Smiley and Texas Southern University ended Friday when the university's governing board agreed to strip Smiley's name from its communication school.
Smiley promised in 2004 to donate $1 million and to raise another $1 million for TSU. The school later created the Tavis Smiley School of Communication in his honor.
In return, Smiley made one $50,000 donation in mid-2005 and raised $250,000 from three corporate donors.
But he said Friday that he had intended to fulfill his personal $1 million pledge.
“Any institution that turns away a $1 million gift in this economy, I think ought to have good reason for doing that,” he said in a telephone interview.
He also said former university President Priscilla Slade offered to name the school for him before he pledged any money.
“I even made a joke, how much is this decision going to cost me?” he said. “She said, ‘This decision has already been made.'”
“It doesn't feel good,” he said of the board's decision. “My intentions were to help the students.”
Of course, what Smiley doesn't mention is that he tried to change the stipulations of the donation deal. Smiley wanted to move from the original deal in 2004 of raising and paying out-of-pocket the $2 million over a five year period back to Smiley wanting to no longer do fundraising and pay out the amount over the next nine years, starting after this year. He apparently disagreed with some management decisions by TSU's president. But TSU was all, what's management got to do with it? You promised us $2 freakin' million five years ago! Hence his name is gone from the building. Egos are bruised. Feelings are hurt. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you feel about it), TSU still has Beyonce's papa, Matthew Knowles to warm the cockles of their broke hearts. He's teaching an entertainment business class at the school this fall.
Reader Comments (6)
your school has to be in dire straits to have matthew knowles teaching a class.
Smiley seems shady anyway, so this isn't too surprising.
Knowles is even worse than him. :-|
That's unfortunate to hear. I know that TSU has worked very hard to build their communications program. BUT their stuff is janky (yes I said janky)! The program is run by some bass ackwards folk who probably never heard of a blog let alone know how to edit a news package. And yes, I hope someone proves me wrong 'cause I'm rooting for them.
That said, Tavis became unbearable in my eyes a few years ago, so nothing surprises me about him.
co-sign with swiv & spinster about Knowles.
I know I'm hating, but the Brother always did stutter and i never even understood how he got to be a television journalist, let alone have a building named after him for "Communications". America "never" see's our best, only who "they" chose.
Smiley is just another Crab in the Barrel.
I wish Matthew Knowles was one of my professors... I can see him at a Law School lecturing on Entertainment Law. He's an intellectual fellow and has many insights to share on music, branding, trademark law and intellectual property law. I'm not sure why anyone is bashing him.