The Southern University Board of Supervisors voted nearly unanimously today to merge the positions of system president and Baton Rouge campus chancellor, effective July 1. Supporters of the merger—which the board approved in a 14-1 vote—say the move is meant to save money, improve efficiency and eliminate friction between the heads of the system and the flagship campus.
Alumni Federation President Preston Castille Jr. says higher education’s current funding crisis may have brought the issue to the forefront, but the change is “long overdue.” He says he has seen battles between the Southern University System office and Southern’s Baton Rouge campus “for the last 30 years.”
Albert Samuels, a Southern University associate professor of political science, says he doesn’t think combining the positions is the “best model,” and says he hopes the change isn’t a panicked reaction to “political storms” meant to curry favor with lawmakers.
Samuels says he doubts the Legislature will cut as much as $400 million from higher education, as has been discussed.
“We have a crisis, we’re going to deal with that crisis, but we’re going to be around,” he says. “We’ve been here for 100 years, and we’re going to be here for 100 years.”
James Llorens, the most recent Baton Rouge campus chancellor, was ousted last year. The board also chose not to re-up with Ronald Mason, the current system president whose contract expires at the end of June.
Mason has not stated publicly whether he intends to apply for the new combined position. Last year he said he didn’t want an extension of his deal because the board refused to grant him as much authority as he wanted. The board’s makeup has changed since then, with five new members appointed by Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Skeptics of the change worry about how the system’s other campuses will be treated under the new model. Faculty Senate President Thomas Miller says campuses should “maintain a certain degree of operational autonomy.” At LSU, which likewise recently combined the positions of system president and flagship chancellor, the main campus provost has “an awful lot of autonomy,” he says.
Miller added that, as university leadership assesses changes, it should take a close look at the performance (or lack thereof) of Education Online Services Corporation, which was hired to improve and market the university’s online course offerings.
There was little discussion of the change among board members at today’s meeting. The only member to object was the Rev. Joe Gant Jr., who complained that members didn’t have enough time and information to make a sound decision.
The board decided not to hire a search firm to find candidates for the new position, instead leaving that job to a search committee led by former Board of Regents member Dr. Albert Sam. Others named to the committee, according to board Chairman Leon Tarver II, include: Castille; Miller; Jacqui Vines, the top regional executive for Cox Communications; Baton Rouge Area Chamber official Erin Monroe Wesley; entrepreneur Howard White; and former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools Charlotte Placide, among others.
The jobs of various vice presidents and vice chancellors also will be merged under the new model, according to a proposal presented to board members which you can see here (scroll down to page 10). In some cases, those jobs would be system-wide; in others, they would be specific to Southern-Baton Rouge.
“We are working closely with administrators at LSU to learn from their experience with a similar management approach, as well as how they worked through concerns around accreditation, governance and administration,” the proposal says.
The Southern University System has 12,778 students enrolled across the system’s five institutions, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics. Of those students, 6,777 are enrolled at the Baton Rouge campus.
—David Jacobs
