Southern board votes to declare financial exigency

The Southern University Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to declare financial exigency today, giving the university more power to lay off tenured faculty, mandate furloughs and end academic programs. The board had voted 6-6 on Sept. 6 not to declare financial exigency, but Chancellor James Llorens placed the item back on the agenda. Llorens calls it a “very difficult decision,” but says the university needs the authority and flexibility to balance the budget this year and meet the challenges of the next several years. Llorens will now be required to bring a detailed plan to the board within a month. Before the vote was taken, Louisiana Association of Educators Executive Director Michael Walker-Jones asked the board to give Llorens and the Southern staff an opportunity to work through the school’s financial problems without declaring financial exigency. “Once it is done, it is one of those things that is difficult, if not impossible, to undo,” he says. —David Jacobs