The LSU Board of Supervisors met in committees Thursday to approve a possible extension in the LSU System’s energy surcharge. The whole Board will vote today on these committee recommendations. The Finance, Infrastructure and Core Development Committee approved a proposed adjustment and extension of the System energy surcharge, which aims to alleviate the rising costs of energy on all campuses within the System. The surcharge was first approved in 2001. The plans include making students pay more if they take more hours. The surcharge was previously administered to all undergraduate students taking at least 12 credit hours and all graduate students taking at least 9 credit hours in the System. The committee now aims to charge full-time students on the basis of credit hours they take. Board member Alvin Kimble, of Baton Rouge, said it is fair to increase the surcharge for students enrolled in more hours. Former Student Government President and Board member Cassie Alsfeld was dissatisfied the proposal. She said the System’s students taking the most hours should not be penalized. “It will hit students taking more than 12 hours really hard,” Alsfeld said.A proposal to approve a tuition and nonresident fee increase at the Paul M. Hebert Law Center was also approved. Jack Weiss, Law Center chancellor, said he intends to increase tuition by $1,000 each year for incoming students beginning in fall 2009. Current students will not be affected, and students affected by the increase will carry the same tuition throughout their time at the school. “We are not imposing an increase for the folks who are there now,” Weiss said. The Law Center’s tuition is “at the bottom” of its peer institutions, Weiss said. The funds received by these increases for the first two years will maintain the school’s operations. The third year of increases will add additional funding for scholarships. Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Astrid Merget and acting Chancellor William Jenkins gave a status report on the progress of the University’s Flagship Agenda. Jenkins cited the University’s 75 percent increase of out-of-state applications as proof of Flagship Agenda’s progress. But he said the University is not doing as well in other regards. “We need to look at international students,” Jenkins said. Jenkins said the University needs to step up in recruitment and transfer rates if it intends to increase enrollment. The committees passed a one-year conditional approval of the New Orleans Jazz Institute at the University of New Orleans and the contracts of new Athletic Director Joe Alleva, Head Football Coach Les Miles and Men’s Basketball Coach Trent Johnson.
—-Contact Ben Bourgeois at [email protected]