Broadcast star Tavis Smiley has given only $50,000 toward his promised $1 million donation to Texas Southern University, a lapse his spokesman describes as collateral damage from the scandal surrounding Priscilla Slade.
Smiley and TSU's new president, John Rudley, are set to talk by telephone today, a step that could lead to resuming payments.
Smiley promised the money in 2004, after the school said it would create the Tavis Smiley Center for Media Studies.
At the time, Smiley agreed to give TSU $200,000 a year for five years and to help raise another $1 million. But records provided this week by TSU show Smiley made only one $50,000 payment, in July 2005.
Spokesman Joel Brokaw said Smiley stopped the payments "as soon as (he) learned of the difficulties at TSU. He sent correspondence saying he was going to suspend or postpone the payments until the matter had been cleared up."
Smiley is best known for his work on radio and Black Entertainment Television. He also has a PBS talk show, which airs daily on KUHT at 12:30 a.m. or 1 a.m., depending upon the day.
It's not uncommon for donors to change their minds, although Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, said the would-be recipients often keep it quiet.
"They don't want to scare away other donors," he said.
Borochoff, who was not involved in Smiley's pledge to TSU, said donors may break an agreement if they can't afford to honor it or if they are unhappy with the institution's handling of early contributions. "Here, I can see people feeling the university is not handling the funds adequately," he said.
Brokaw attributed Smiley's decision to problems involving Slade, who was accused of using $500,000 in school funds for personal expenses. She was fired in mid-2006 after regents discovered she used school money to furnish and landscape her new home.
But Smiley's payments stopped almost a year earlier. According to documents provided by TSU under the state's open records act, his sole contribution was a check for $50,000, dated July 14, 2005.
Brokaw said Smiley had heard concerns about the school's financial management "before it became an official investigation."
The shortfall in Smiley's pledge was first reported by The New Majority, a monthly publication that covers Houston's minority communities.
Slade's 2007 trial ended in a mistrial, several months after the school's former chief financial officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Earlier this year she agreed to deferred adjudication, meaning she will not have a criminal record if she completes her 10-year probation. She also agreed to repay $127,672.18.
In an undated Memorandum of Understanding between TSU and the Tavis Smiley Foundation, Smiley committed to give TSU $1 million, payable in five annual installments of $200,000, and to help TSU raise another $1 million. TSU agreed to use the money for an endowed faculty chair and an endowed scholarship fund.
TSU spokeswoman La Chanda Jenkins said TSU has received an additional $200,000 to support the program, including $100,000 from the Wal-Mart Foundation and $50,000 each from DaimlerChrysler Corporation Fund and the Enterprise Rent-a-Car Foundation. She said she did not know if Smiley helped to secure those donations.
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