Dr. Austin Lane and Texas Southern Part ways

After a 12-hour mediation session a settlement has been reached between Texas Southern University and Dr. Austin Lane, officially ending his tenure as President on February 20, 2020. Students, alumni, and the community have been saddened by the outcome as many have supported Lane since his arrival to Texas Southern.

Lane was first issued a “Notice of Proposed Termination for Cause” letter at the beginning of this month, February 4th. In the letter the Regents outlined two contract violations they believe President Lane committed, which were “VII(F) defines, in part, “cause” for termination of the Contract as: “(6) failure to promptly advise and fully report to the Board any matter known by Dr. Lane that tends to bring public disrespect, contempt or ridicule upon the University, or (7) any act that creates a material adverse effect on the reputation and/or brand of the University.”

From an investigation conducted by Texas Southern’ internal auditors it was concluded that Lane failed to respond or notify the Regents of fraud allegations concerning law school officials.

Two days after receiving the notice of proposed termination, lane responded with an 8-page response countering each accusation that was brought against him. The 8-page response can be found on the Defender’s website here.

In addition to the 8-page response, Lane spoke at an afternoon press conference at the Ensemble Theater where he said,

“This really is a witch hunt. I have never been involved in my 25-plus years of working in Higher Ed with a calculated witch hunt. I got my notice on Tuesday. I think it was four pages. I knocked out about eight pages to counter every point that they were trying to make where they had no evidence at all”.

Following Lanes‘s response, mediation between the Regents and Lane was had and an agreement was formed. On February 17, 2020 according to the official confidential settlement agreement Lane and Texas Southern will part ways amicably, neither tarnishing each other’s name.

Lane has been awarded at least 879,000 which includes his salary and compensation for mental anguish and damages to his reputation.

Kenneth Huewitt has been appointed as the acting President of the university.