Southern U. President Fights Ouster in Court

The squabble has intensified between Southern University’s Board of Supervisors and the president, Ralph Slaughter. On Thursday, Mr. Slaughter filed a lawsuit asserting that the board had acted improperly in seeking his ouster, The Advocate, a newspaper in Baton Rouge, La., reported today.

The board recently voted not to renew Mr. Slaughter’s contract, which expires in June, and planned to consider placing him on administrative leave. The lawsuit, however, seeks an injunction to void that vote, asserting that the supervisors illegally polled and counted votes, which could violate the state’s open-meeting laws.

This is not the first legal battle between the board and Mr. Slaughter, who became president in 2006. He filed a whistle-blower suit in May 2007, arguing that the board had suspended him in retaliation for reporting that a former supervisor had allegedly sexually harassed several female employees. The board cleared the former supervisor’s conduct, and Mr. Slaughter agreed to drop his lawsuit as part of a settlement agreement.