Southern U.’s Faculty Threatened With Emergency Budget Cuts

August 18, 2011, 11:12 am

Chancellor James L. Llorens of Southern University at Baton Rouge has warned that he will declare the Louisiana institution to be in a state of financial exigency—clearing the way for forced furloughs, program cuts, and layoffs of tenured professors—unless nearly all of its faculty members sign an agreement subjecting themselves to furloughs equal to 10 percent of their annual pay, reports The Advocate, a local newspaper. Faculty leaders are balking at the proposed voluntary agreement, which also calls for shorter termination notices and does not offer any guarantee that financial exigency will not be declared in the future, the newspaper says.

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dopefein

If the President of the college can open the books and show the “financial exigency,” and the faculty can see for themselves the urgency, then that seems reasonable. But if they are simply being asked to do this without all the data, then well, that is not reasonable. When will institutions learn that transparency and sunshine kill discontent.
yellow1

Is it just faculty, or is this all staff as well? Would Chancellor Llorens down to every employee be doing this?

I read that the furloughs were staff before and NOT faculty, but this new development doesn’t seem to provide any balance.
11286747

It would be impossible (at least incredibly dumb) to offer a guarantee that financial exigency will not be declared in the future. Nobody knows what the future will bring; our economy could still implode. The Chancellor can suggest some decision-rules by which such an action (financial exigency) would be taken so it is not being perceived as simply a random decision by the administration. Having to declare financial exigency in the future is far less likely if voluntary cuts are taken sooner rather than later but only a fool would offer a guarantee that it will never happen,
jffoster

I concurr with and join …747. Otherwise the faculty risk having themselves exigenciated right out of existence. But in the longer haual, and actually not so very long, Louisiana can not afford and does not need THREE systems of state universities — LSU, U of La, and Southern. To maintain Union, Justice, et Confidence, she will have to find a way to effect Unification, Consolidation, and Closure. It’s time for a big part, if not all, of Southern University to, er, go South.
http://twitter.com/Mrs_Anything Starra

Mismanagement of funds.
blesstayo

The Advocate local newspaper reported that the enrollment at Southern has dropped from 10,000 to 7,300. That is a significant drop that should impact the revenues. The staff has also been subjected to furloughs, but nothing has happened to the faculty??? At my school, faculty members have not received a pay increase in two years, the Board offered early incentives for old faculty members to take early retirements, and academic programs were cut!!! But, we never really have any reduction in the administration.

Southern should in good faith reduce administrative costs, eliminate some administrative positions, present the faculty the cost/benefits of eliminating specific academic programs and their faculty. Why did Southern wait this late? Academic institutions ought to learn how to connect their strategic plans to resource allocations!!!