BATON ROUGE, La.
Southern University System President Ralph Slaughter, recently suspended from his job, has filed a lawsuit that details complaints from nine female university employees and one student who claim Southern University Board Chairman Johnny Anderson made unwelcome sexual advances toward them.
Several complaints involved sexual advances in exchange for pay raises and promotions that Anderson made to the women during out-of-town board trips, in some cases asking them repeatedly to come to his hotel room. At least one of the victims allegedly quit her job after Anderson pressured her to go on a trip with him to Atlanta on board business.
Anderson has temporarily relinquished his gavel amid a university investigation and a federal grand jury probe into the complaints.
Slaughter declined comment for this story, but his attorney Jill Craft said he has been a whistleblower for a board that was more interested in covering up the allegations against Anderson, who also serves as assistant chief of staff for Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco.
Slaughter’s lawsuit alleges that the Southern Board was retaliating against him when it suspended him for two months with pay on May 5. No reason was given for the suspension with pay, but several board members had complained previously that Slaughter was not cooperating with an attorney appointed by Blanco to investigate the alleged sexual harassment.
Slaughter said the governor’s attorney never provided credentials entitling him to personnel records, which are confidential under Louisiana law. Slaughter noted that he had already turned over most of the records to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for a federal grant jury investigation that is still ongoing.
The lawsuit noted that the governor, through her attorney, issued a public report that claimed Slaughter was insubordinate and refused to cooperate with the investigation.
