Latest news with #LSUSystem
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
University of New Orleans transfer to LSU System expected to cost $23 million this year
The University of New Orleans sign sits in front of the University Center on Dec. 15, 2022. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) Louisiana lawmakers are advancing legislation to transfer the University of New Orleans from the University of Louisiana System to the LSU System at a cost of about $23 million, Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, said. Senate Bill 202 by Sen. Jimmy Harris, D-New Orleans, unanimously passed the Senate Tuesday. It will next be discussed in a House committee and must also receive approval from the House of Representatives and Gov. Jeff Landry before it takes effect. The bill would reverse the action legislators took 14 years ago to move UNO to the University of Louisiana System from the LSU System, which it had been a part of since the university was founded in 1958. The implementation of Harris' legislation is subject to funding. LSU estimates the transfer will cost $41 million in the first year and another $40.4 million over the next four years. 'That's more of a pie-in-the-sky type thing,' Harris said of LSU's estimate. Lawmakers don't plan to spend that much this year, Henry said in an interview after the vote. Instead, he expects to spend $20 million to wipe out debt to vendors and another $3 million for must-do deferred maintenance costs. Those deferred maintenance dollars will likely come from existing funds for campus construction projects, Henry said. The university's possible return to LSU's control is in response to UNO's acute budget crisis. The school faces a $30 million 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. The Louisiana Board of Regents, which oversees all higher education in the state, has already approved the transfer. 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. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
LSU President William Tate to take same job at Rutgers University
William F. Tate IV (Photo: Nick Romanenko/Rutgers University) LSU President William Tate has been named the next leader of Rutgers University in New Jersey, becoming the most notable in a string of abrupt, high-profile departures from Louisiana's flagship public university. The Rutgers Board of Trustees unanimously confirmed Tate's appointment Monday. He will begin his new job at the university July 1. His last day at LSU will be June 30. LSU spokesman Todd Woodward said an interim president will be announced Monday. Tate is the fourth administrator to leave LSU's main campus this year. He follows the abrupt departures of General Counsel Winston DeCuir and Chief Administrative Officer Kimberly Lewis, who were two of the highest-ranking Black administrators at LSU. Provost Roy Haggerty also made his exit recently. In addition, LSU Health Shreveport Chancellor David Guzick resigned under pressure and has taken a new role in the LSU System. Tate's departure had been rumored for weeks amid discussions of splitting the roles of LSU System president and Baton Rouge campus chancellor, which were combined in 2012. LSU saw major growth in enrollment and research spending during Tate's time at LSU. As Tate sought to boost research expenditures for his long-shot bid to join the prestigious American Association of Universities, spending on research grew from less than $300 million in the 2020-21 academic year to more than $500 million in 2023-24, the most recent year with data available. Though Tate's hiring as LSU's first Black president — the first at any Southeastern Conference University — was met with much fanfare, his tenure has been highly criticized for his stances on race and gender. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX In his first year on the job, Tate disbanded a committee looking into the possibility of renaming 13 buildings on campus named after racially problematic figures, They included the John M. Parker Coliseum, named after the former governor who participated in the largest mass lynching in American history. Tate promised reform after taking the helm of a university reeling from a Title IX scandal that ensued after a USA Today investigative report that revealed how the university mishandled sexual misconduct complaints against student-athletes. He subsequently combined LSU's Title IX, Civil Rights and diversity, equity and inclusion offices, dismissing a number of highly respected administrators and installing Todd Manuel, a former utility executive with no higher education experience, as the vice president of the office. Tate oversaw the dismantling of the DEI function of Manuel's office in January 2023 ahead of conservative Gov. Jeff Landry taking office. Manuel has faced accusations that he and his deputies engaged in the very acts the office is designed to prevent. Off the clock, Tate also made problematic comments. Most notably, he shared a video from an anti-transgender group on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that amplified misinformation about an Olympic boxer Imane Khelif, who is not transgender. 'This is illegal in Louisiana,' Tate wrote. 'We have established guidelines in our laws. Why don't the Olympics go to two divisions — Open and Women? It allows everyone to compete. Will it take a death to stop this at the Olympic level?' Though Tate later apologized for the error, his original comment is still on his X page. Tate's struggles on race and gender puzzled many who lauded LSU for hiring a Black man with significant scholarship on critical race theory to lead a university with a long and, at times, ugly racial history, starting long before the current campus was built atop a cemetery for enslaved people. At the time of his hiring, Tate enjoyed the support of Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. Tate came out of the gate hot with talk of reform and used his early capital to hire other Black administrators, including Lewis, who had been serving as Edwards' revenue department secretary, for a newly created position. But with a governor in office who had put LSU in his crosshairs, Tate seemed stuck between a rock and a hard place. Major donors to Landry now make up a majority of the LSU Board of Supervisors to whom the LSU president reports. Landry has more control over the state's four higher education systems than his predecessors after he signed legislation giving him the power to select board chairs, which he used to place Scott Ballard in charge of the LSU board. Landry's LSU board has been more vocal and more political than Edwards', with members at times even calling for popular officials to be dismissed in open meetings. When Landry put tenured LSU Law Professor Ken Levy on blast on social media for profane and critical comments Levy made about the governor to students, Tate pulled Levy from the classroom and put him on paid administrative leave. The matter sparked a lawsuit against the university that is ongoing in court. Before coming to LSU, Tate served as provost of the University of South Carolina for less than a year and as department chair and graduate school dean Washington University in St. Louis from 2002-20. This is a developing story SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
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. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ousted LSU Health Shreveport chancellor to join LSU System staff
LSU's Memorial Tower displays the time on Monday, March 20, 2023, on Tower Drive in Baton Rouge, La. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) Former LSU Health Shreveport Chancellor Dr. David Guzick, who resigned from his job this week after months of pressure from an LSU Board of Supervisors member, will fill a newly created role in the LSU System. The board voted unanimously Friday to name Guzick the system's chief research officer. The role comes with a salary of $475,000, a significant reduction from his chancellor's salary of $900,000. The board also named Lester Johnson, the medical school's vice chancellor of academic affairs, as its interim chancellor while a search for Guzick's replacement happens. A search timeline has not been announced. Johnson currently receives an annual salary of $208,763 and will receive a stipend of up to $100,000 for serving as interim chancellor. Guzick resigned as chancellor Wednesday following months of pressure from LSU Board member Esperanza Moran, who called for his dismissal at a board meeting last September. Moran has not spoken publicly about why she wanted Guzick removed. Moran was at the State Capitol on Wednesday for LSU Day. When a reporter approached to ask about Guzick's exit, she waved her hand and walked away. Guzick had wide support from LSU leadership, including LSU System President William Tate and the top staff at the Shreveport campus. He was praised for getting the medical school removed from probation by its accrediting body. That accomplishment was described as a 'grand slam home run in the bottom of the 9th to win' by his top administrators in a letter they sent to Tate in March, urging his support for Guzick. A similar letter was sent by 17 department chairs to the LSU Board of Supervisors last month, when the LSU Health Shreveport Faculty Senate also approved a resolution in support of Guzick. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Louisiana lawmakers to consider moving University of New Orleans back to LSU System
The University of New Orleans sign sits in front of the University Center on Dec. 15, 2022. (Matthew Perschall for Louisiana Illuminator) Louisiana's top two state lawmakers have asked the Board of Regents to study the possibility of moving the financially-embattled University of New Orleans back into the LSU System. UNO, the only public research institution in New Orleans, was moved from the LSU System to the University of Louisiana System in 2011. The campus was founded as Louisiana State University in New Orleans, with classes starting in 1958. House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, and Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, jointly signed the letter to Regents Chairwoman Misti Cordell, asking the state education oversight board to present its findings on the possibility. State law gives Regents one year to conduct the study. Read the full letter below. In an interview, DeVillier said the study is being done to see if moving the university to another system could help its budget and enrollment problems. Henry has not yet responded to a request for comment. University of Louisiana System President Rick Gallot, reached by telephone Friday afternoon, said he was not consulted before lawmakers sent the request. UNO was moved to the UL System 14 years ago. Gallot said his system would provide whatever information is necessary for the Regents report. 'I certainly respect the president of the Senate and the speaker of the house to do what they think is appropriate,' Gallot said. LSU spokesman Todd Woodward and LSU Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott Ballard have not yet responded to requests for comment for this report. The proposal comes as UNO experiences an 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. University officials have kept open the possibility of further layoffs and furloughs. UNO's budget crisis is largely tied to enrollment. The school had an enrollment of around 17,000 before Katrina, with an immediate drop to around 6,000. For the fall 2024 semester, its total student body was 6,488. 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. Moving UNO to the UL System came after lawmakers failed to pass legislation to merge the school with Southern University New Orleans, a historically Black university. Fears of a similar proposal being put forward again have popped back up again amid UNO's contemporary crisis, though no official plan or legislation has been put forward. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
