Embattled Clark Atlanta University President Walter Broadnax, who has taken heavy criticism from faculty, students and alumni over his leadership of the school, has a new right-hand man to take over day-to-day operations. Dr. Carlton Brown, former president of Savannah State University, wants to improve the relationship between the administration and faculty and students in his newly created position that frees up Broadnax to do fund-raising.
Dr. Carlton Brown has hit the ground running in his new job at Clark Atlanta University.
Just one week as the school’s executive vice president, handling the day-to-day reins of the 4,500-student historically Black university, he’s already met with faculty representatives and student leadership.
“We’ve obviously got a great deal of work to do,” Brown says. “But I’m looking forward to getting it done.”
Brown, the former president at Savannah State University, has assumed his newly created position in the wake of heavy criticism around campus from some faculty, students and alumni of the way CAU President Dr. Walter Broadnax has been running the school.
When he came to CAU in 2002, Broadnax sought to eliminate what had been a $7.5 million deficit — a figure he says was more like $25 million when figuring in cash flow problems. During his tenure, the school has instituted cost-cutting measures that included shutting down its School of Library & Information Science in 2004 and the closing of the Department of Engineering after 2008.
A group of engineering faculty and students unsuccessfully sued Broadnax and the institution, accusing Broadnax of ignoring university policies in closing the department. In June the Georgia Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of the lawsuit.
