Ex-Southern University President Must Repay Foundation Funds

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A state judge has ruled that former Southern University System President Ralph Slaughter must repay $275,000 to the school's private fundraising arm.

The Advocate reports the amount includes a $200,000 salary supplement from the private Southern University System Foundation that Slaughter received in March 2009, the day the public Southern Board of Supervisors voted for Slaughter to vacate his job when his two-year contract expired at the end of June 2009.

The other $75,000 is foundation money that Slaughter used — among other things — to pay one of his attorneys, Jill Craft, after he sued Southern over his dismissal.

Foundation attorney Preston Castille argued Tuesday that the payments to Slaughter of $200,000 and $75,000 were "prohibited transactions," and state District Judge Tim Kelley agreed.