While Gov. John Bel Edwards says he’s staying out of the process to pick LSU’s next president, he also says he supports splitting the top job into two positions—one to serve as administrator of the LSU A&M campus and one to oversee the entire LSU system.
“I do think it makes sense,” Edwards said today, following a lunchtime speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Louisiana. “You want your chancellor present at events on campus but also to do fundraising specific to the A&M university, whereas the system president has to do that all across the state of Louisiana.”
The Baton Rouge campus used to have its own administrator. But in early 2013, the LSU Board of Supervisors merged the positions of president and chancellor as part of a systemwide restructuring that sought to create a more cohesive, united and efficient LSU.
In the wake of former President F. King Alexander’s resignation late last year to prepare for a new position as president of Oregon State University, board members have said they will look first at restructuring the university’s leadership before deciding who should fill the top post—or posts.
Board Chair Mary Werner told Daily Report last week she has heard from many “stakeholders and constituent groups” that have urged the board to consider splitting the positions in two once again, though not all board members support such a move.
Edwards, though, thinks it’s a good idea.
“That doesn’t mean, however, that the entire staff and apparatus that they had around them has to be re-created because I still think that many of the efficiencies that were created when the positions were consolidated can be maintained even if the positions themselves get split up again,” he says.
“But having watched this play out over the past several years I do think the institution is better served by having a chancellor, who is not also the president.”
Splitting the positions could potentially clear the way for an administrator with a non-academic background to be tapped for the position of president, while someone with higher-ed credentials could be named president.
Chief Administrative Officer Jay Dardenne has been mentioned for months as a strong contender for president, though his lack of academic experience would make it difficult for the board to tap him for the position as it is currently structured.
Dardenne has reportedly acknowledged he would consider the position if it were offered to him, though board members insist no potential candidate has an inside track.
Edwards said today he’s heard the rumors about Dardenne but doesn’t put any stock in them and expects the commissioner to continue as his top budget guy in the upcoming session.
“There has been not a single second worth of conversation to that effect in the administration between Jay and myself, so that is just speculation and rumor and I am not going to address it,” Edwards said. “It is my expectation Jay will be the commissioner of administration going forward.”
