Faculty senate leader raises concerns about Southern restructuring

Southern University faculty senate President Thomas Miller says a restructuring of the system to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness is in order; one such effort is ongoing on the main campus now. But a consolidation proposal backed by system President Ronald Mason was created without faculty input and lacks checks and balances that would protect the interests of individual campuses, he says. “The day-to-day operations of campuses should happen at the campus level,” Miller says. He says the report created by the system office laying out the proposal claims significant savings will be created but doesn’t provide numbers to support the claims. As one example of what happens when the system office acts unilaterally, he mentions a contract with EOServe to provide online learning that is “unacceptable to all campuses throughout the system.” The system’s Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider and possibly approve the proposal Friday; you can read the board’s agenda here. —David Jacobs