Talbert O. Shaw Retires After 15 Years at Shaw University
By Eleanor Lee Yates
RALEIGH, N.C.
At a time when some historically Black colleges are making headlines for financial mismanagement and woes, Shaw University’s outgoing president is being remembered for daring to take the reins of a financially troubled institution and turn those troubles into opportunities.
“Those were tough times for the university,” Dr. Talbert O. Shaw recalls. “The school was on the verge of closing. Employees had not been paid.”
In 1986, the Internal Revenue Service had filed two liens against the university. The university owed $750,000 to the IRS for unpaid withholding taxes, interest and penalties. It had defaulted on loans totaling $1.2 million from the U.S. Department of Education used in part for two new dormitories in the 1960s. The school also owed the federal government about $500,000 for student-aid funds that had been used inappropriately. The university had no endowment and owed close to $5 million.
