Lawmakers advances plan to transfer struggling UNO back to LSU System
Flowers grow Dec. 15, 2022, in front of the University of New Orleans sign on Lakeshore Drive. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator)
Louisiana legislators are advancing legislation to move the University of New Orleans, which has struggled with enrollment and finances, back into the LSU System.
Senate Bill 202 by Sen. Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans, unanimously cleared the Senate Education committee Thursday. The bill would reverse the action legislators took 14 years ago to move UNO to the University of Louisiana System from the LSU System, where it had operated since the university was founded in 1958.
The university's possible return to LSU's control is in response to UNO's acute budget crisis. The school faces a $10 million budget shortfall and has implemented a spending freeze, layoffs and staff furloughs in an attempt to make ends meet.
UNO administrators have kept open the possibility of further layoffs and furloughs. Its budget crisis is largely tied to enrollment. The school had a student body of around 17,000 before Hurricane Katrina, with an immediate drop to around 6,000 after the storm. For the fall 2024 semester, its total enrollment was 6,488.
Unlike UNO, every school in the LSU System has reported enrollment increases over the past few years, in contrast to nationwide trends of declining student numbers on college campuses.
One notable opponent of the UNO transfer is Julie Stokes, a University of Louisiana Board of Supervisors member and former Republican state representative from Kenner. She also earned an accounting degree from UNO.
Stokes raised concerns that there is no transition plan yet for the system switch. Harris' bill requires one, but not until April 1, 2026. That would be after an Aug. 1, 2025, deadline UNO President Kathy Johnson is required to meet to notify the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges of its intent to transfer systems. The association is the accrediting body for UNO and other schools in the region, providing assurance that its educational offerings meet high standards.
Stokes also objected to the composition of the transition team in Harris' legislation. It calls for a committee made up of 'stakeholders from the Greater New Orleans region' and members of the legislature's two education committees. Stokes said she believed the committee should include members of the LSU and University of Louisiana system boards.
The Louisiana Board of Regents, which oversees all higher education in the state, has already approved the transfer. Shortly after the Regents gave their approval, Johnson said in an interview with the Illuminator that she was 'agnostic' on the plan. She declined to answer questions Thursday as she left the Senate Committee on Education meeting with Stokes.
At the time of the system switch in 2011, UNO alumni and boosters applauded the plan, as many felt the university was overshadowed in the LSU System.
UNO would be the only institution in the LSU System classified as an R2 university, meaning it has high levels of research activity, second only to LSU's main campus, which is a R1 school with the highest research activity rating.
In the University of Louisiana System, there are two other schools with research-level rankings: the University of Louisiana Lafayette, an R1, and Louisiana Tech, an R2.
UNO would also be the only other school in the LSU System with an NCAA Division I athletics program.
Harris' bill will next be discussed by the Senate.
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