The Supervisors are too damn high.
Today is the 117th day the Board of Supervisors has been in contempt of court for failing to release the list of 35 “applicants” the Presidential Search Committee considered for the LSU System president position — creating a situation that will possibly be paid for by university students and/or Louisiana taxpayers.
I use quotation marks above because the issue now seems to center around what this particular word means.
I imagine to those of us not in the line of fire, it refers to those people LSU considered for the position within the time frame of the search.
However, Board of Supervisors Chairman R. Blake Chatelain maintained in court that although the Board had access to the 35 semifinalists of the total 100 people who were considered for the position, the only true applicant was our new leader, F. King Alexander.
I call B.S.
Yes, the 12-member Presidential Search Committee (eight members coming from the Board of Supervisors) hired a search firm to seek out candidates. Ten people applied and 90 were nominated. But once that firm narrowed down the field to 35 possibilities, the list was in the Committee’s hands.
None of the 10 who went through the motions of seeking out the presidential position made it into the final rounds, but so what? The court-mandated demand that the Board hand over the potential candidates was clear.
I will be the first to say I value precision in communication; it is a direct line to truth, which is why I’m writing this. Yet I also want to live in a world where people value a transparent administration.
Ring any bells?
The Board knows what is legal here, but refuses to cooperate with the government under the presumption that revealing who the firm considered could compromise those people, despite none of them having actively sought out the position.
And thus, our stalwart Board has now earned a fine of $500 for every day it does not release the names. Running through the numbers, it appears we are close to owing $60,000 to the court.
But wait: nobody cares. The Board members refuse to pay this fine because the court order, apparently, infringes on their right to appeal a court order.
They must remove their heads from the clouds.
How long can the University play this game? LSU has yet to be able to appeal the decision, which was made in late April. It is therefore taking the case to the Louisiana Supreme Court.
While I do not condemn LSU for not paying the fine under such reasoning, the whole scenario is shady in the first place.
Until we receive a new ruling, I’m left to wonder how LSU will pay the fine, if it does.
Will a college program have to be rescinded? Will students see more dollars on their spring fee bills?
I want to congratulate one college that won’t be dealing with this issue. Nicholls State University is being deliberately open with its presidential search by releasing the names of the six finalists, one of whom is Dr. Allayne “Laynie” Barrilleaux, a graduate of LSU. Barrilleaux gets a gold star for defying the precedent set by her alma mater.
Alix Landriault is a 20-year-old Mass Communication Junior from Natchitoches, LA.