An amount of $2 million in scholarships was granted to students who did not pass the academic qualification at Texas Southern University, according to a recently published article.

Allegation Against the Former President of the University

The former president of the University was Austin Lane. He served as the University's President from 2016 to February this year. Additionally, he was an administrator of different schools such as Lone Star College System, Tyler Junior College, and the University of Texas in Arlington. However, he was fired as the President at Texas Southern University because of money issues. He was involved in the issue of giving scholarship grants worth $2 million to students who did not meet the academic admission criteria from fall 2017 to 2019.

It was also found out that there was an increase in the number of freshmen students during these years. Out of 8,723, there were around 4,141 freshmen students who were accepted even without meeting the academic requirements. According to the report obtained, those students were accepted and admitted in the university "based upon a variety of undocumented scenarios," Moreover, many of the unqualified students are not enrolled anymore at the university today.

Complaint Filed in the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board  

An anonymous complaint was filed in the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board before 2018 ends. In the complaint filed, it was stipulated that the university "tried to increase enrollment by encouraging staff to admit all candidates, regardless of whether the candidate met the university's academic admissions criteria." Six months after the report or complaint, the university's office of internal audit issued a report including the number of students admitted but did not meet the baseline academic admission criteria. 

However, the number presented by the university's internal audit was said to be lower according to the external audit. It was for that reason that they requested the university to gove a more updated and report and a more accurate analysis. The external audit was done by the Berkeley Research Group and their report was received by the interim President of the university Kenneth Huewitt. He said: "Most important, we will continue to address this issue and the recommendations listed in the report." 

Former University President Terminated

Earlier this year, former University President Austin Lane and a top deputy who was said responsible for the enrollment from 2017 to 2018 were terminated. The university's board of regents gave him a detailed and lengthy notice of termination. 

Meanwhile, Lane was able to reach into a settlement before he was terminated. The final agreement did not accuse Lane of his wrong-doing. However, regent officials said that his departure is due to enrollment problems which Lane kept on declining. He also refused to give comments about it. However, two members of the university's Board of Regents criticized how lane was terminated. They described the process as "flawed" and "bush-league." Later, one of the members, Derrick Mitchell, resigned from his post. 

In the official statement of the University, they said that those officials who were involved with the issue are no longer working anymore at Texas Southern University.

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