Shaw University celebrates 150 years, but alumni worry about future

As Shaw University celebrated the end of its sesquicentennial Friday, the pomp honored the past and the speeches set an optimistic tone for the future.

Even as alumni returned for Founder’s Day, homecoming and a sold-out gala, though, concern remains about the school’s health. Like many other small private colleges – especially historically black schools – Shaw has seen budgets strained by falling student enrollment. And last week, several Shaw alumni took the rare step of filing a lawsuit against two long-serving trustees, accusing them of mismanagement and conflicts of interest.

The unrest comes as a youthful president charts a new path for the 150-year-old Shaw, the oldest historically black university in the South.

Tashni Dubroy, a Shaw alumna, chemist and entrepreneur, became president this year after several years of turnover at the top. She immediately began to shake up the status quo.

Dubroy, 35, hired a new team of vice presidents and set about forming industry partnerships with technology companies for internships and real-world education opportunities for students. She changed scholarship allocations, prompting a protest at the beginning of the semester.

Now, the administration is reviewing liberal arts programs and considering new, market-driven programs in areas such as hospitality, cybersecurity and human resources. Shaw must create signature programs to draw and retain students, Dubroy said. The university now has 1,656 students – down from about 2,500 a decade ago.

“Higher ed is going to have to change in order for us to remain relevant,” she said this week in an interview. “Higher ed at large is going to have to change. Shaw in particular will need to strengthen its value proposition in order to be competitive.”

Critics agree Shaw has to change, but they aren’t convinced about Dubroy’s direction.

Eugene Myrick, a 1994 alumnus from New York, said he’s tired of what he calls dysfunctional leadership at Shaw. He’s one of three plaintiffs who filed a recent lawsuit against Board Chairman Joseph Bell Jr. and past chairman Willie Gary, alleging breach of contract, conflict of interest and years of mismanagement.

“Basically they just abuse their power,” Myrick said. “They have tried to make themselves lifetime members of the board.”

Bell declined to answer questions about the lawsuit Friday. Staff at Gary’s office this week said they had not seen the lawsuit.

Some alumni have criticized the process to hire Dubroy, and they say she doesn’t have enough higher education experience.

Dubroy’s journey through the corporate world is shaping her decisions at Shaw.

A native of Jamaica, she attended a community college in New York before enrolling at Shaw, where she majored in chemistry. She went on to earn a doctorate at N.C. State University and to work as a scientist at BASF, a large chemical company. Dubroy moved to the business side of BASF and, as a part-time student, earned a master’s in business administration at Rutgers University.

Then she went into cosmetic chemistry, leaving BASF to start a hair-care company, Tea and Honey Blends, and a salon. She returned to North Carolina and eventually sold her share of the companies. In 2011, she came back to her alma mater to be a chemistry professor and later a department chair.

Dubroy has turned her business eye to a university that has for years struggled financially. She revamped the way the university handles contracts and procurement to tackle chronic problems such as bills not being paid on time. She also began to reallocate financial aid, reducing tuition discounts in favor of scholarships that ultimately have to be supported by private donations.

Shaw had a deficit when she started, Dubroy said, but she won’t talk about how severe it was.

The change in scholarships upset band members, who were also angered when the longtime band director, Charles Brown, was suspended with pay for part of this semester. Critics suggested the action was retaliation because Brown was outspoken against the scholarship changes. He has since been reinstated after hundreds of supporters signed a petition to bring him back.

Dubroy said she is more focused on Shaw’s academic portfolio, even at the expense of a very popular band program.

“Shaw has got to be known for something,” she said. “And it can’t be for athletics, it cannot be for the band. It has got to be a programmatic strength.”

Majigg Jones, president of student government, said the changes at Shaw are a work in progress.

“She’s come in with a new direction,” Jones said. “To some, it’s not popular, but to most it’s a great direction, bringing a lot of attention back to the university, restoring our roots and expanding our brand.”

Shaw is not named in the lawsuit, but this week issued a statement saying the university’s finances are stable, with $36 million in net assets at the end of 2014. The statement said the suit was brought by a small group not affiliated with the National Alumni Association.

The university statement said Shaw no longer has a contract with an insurance company owned by Gary’s brother and has no record of payments made to a cleaning company connected to the Bell family.

Myrick said he’s worried for the university’s future. Alumni have not been able to get answers to their questions about its finances. “We need Shaw,” he said, “and we need it to last another 150 years.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 7:57 PM with the headline "Shaw University celebrates 150 years, but alumni worry about future."