TSC Trustees Move to Legally Block Diversion(Theft) of Funds Designated for Texas Southmost College

When a teenager is caught on a security camera passing by a "Stripes" checkout counter with a 12-pack of beer under his arm, law enforcement and possibly a jury will agree a theft has been committed.  When a group of prominent Brownsville citizens, likely with clean criminal records, attempt to alter or change the by-laws of an organization committed to support Texas Southmost College to allow those millions of dollars to be used for other purposes, those conniving traitors need to be stopped dead in their tracks.

That is exactly what the TSC Board of Trustees has endeavored to do, filing a lawsuit against the TSC Foundation, formed initially "in 1984 as a non-profit corporation to support and enhance the role and mission of Texas Southmost College."  The monies controlled by the foundation include $3,000,000 transferred 4/26/1990 by TSC from $1,000,000 of donated funds along with $2,000,000 Department of Education matching funds.

Dr. Rose Gowen

In a meeting being held today at the TSC Art Center, Dr. Rose Gowen and the other members of the so-called TSC Foundation are considering changing the by-laws of the foundation limiting those funds use to support of Texas Southmost College.  Here is the critical language Gowen and her cronies desire to change:  “…no activities shall be carried on, or distributions or applications of funds or property made…which are not made for the benefit of Texas Southmost College, for the support of its educational and public activities and programs or otherwise for the purposes necessary in the conduct by Texas Southmost College of its function as a public school.”  The foundation members likely want this language changed to include UTB or UT-RGV.

According to a TSC newsletter, the following changes to the by-laws are being considered:



1. Name change. The TSC Foundation Board of Directors will be considering action to rename the Foundation as the Historic Fort Brown Foundation for Higher Education or another name.

2. Change of purpose. The original Foundation Articles of Incorporation clearly define the purpose of the TSC Foundation as to “support and enhance the role and mission of TSC.” The Foundation Articles of Amendment, Section 5.3, further provide that, “…no activities shall be carried on, or distributions or applications of funds or property made…which are not made for the benefit of Texas Southmost College, for the support of its educational and public activities and programs or otherwise for the purposes necessary in the conduct by Texas Southmost College of its function as a public school.” The TSC Foundation Board of Directors will be considering action to change this purpose by adding UTB (or the successor entity resulting from any consolidation or reorganization of UTB) as a beneficiary of the Foundation.

3. Change in the structure of the Foundation Board of Directors. The current Bylaws of the Foundation require that four (4) of the positions on the Board of Directors be reserved for representatives from the Texas Southmost College Board of Trustees and the Texas Southmost College Chief Executive Officer, with the same voting privileges as any other member of the board of directors. The TSC Foundation Board of Directors will be considering action to eliminate these four (4) current TSC representatives from the board of directors. In turn, the president of UTB (or the successor entity resulting from any consolidation or reorganization of UTB) and the president of TSC will be added; however, they will have no voting privileges.

4. The current Bylaws define the president of TSC as the executive officer of the Foundation. The TSC Foundation Board of Directors will be considering action to have the Foundation Chair gain control over all affairs of the Foundation.

5. Currently, the central purpose of the Foundation is to provide support to TSC and specifically to TSC students. The Foundation Board of Directors will be considering action to have full control as to the number of scholarship recipients and the dollar amount awarded to scholarship recipients for UTB (or the successor entity resulting from any consolidation or reorganization of UTB) as well as TSC. 

 TSC President Lily Tercero

Two years ago courageous TSC trustees blocked the transfer of up to $200,000,000 of taxpayer funded properties from Texas Southmost College to the incredibly affluent University of Texas system.  Now, TSC President Lily Tercero has announced the necessary lawsuit against the TSC Foundation:  "It is extremely disappointing that we have been forced to take legal action to preserve the intent and purpose of a foundation that was originally created to support only TSC."