Alumni to protest merger of SUNO, UNO campuses

The Southern University Alumni Federation is gathering at the state Capitol today to protest the proposed consolidation of Southern University at New Orleans with the University of New Orleans. The protest, titled S.O.S Day at the Capitol, comes at the start of the 2011 legislative session. SUNO student leaders, lawmakers and advocacy groups will speak at today’s rally. Lawmakers proposing the consolidation of historically black SUNO with the largely white UNO campus are recommending a merger more sweeping than the idea backed by state higher education leaders. The measure by House Speaker Jim Tucker and Sen. Conrad Appel, both Republicans, would create a new University of Louisiana at New Orleans in the University of Louisiana System.