The LSU Board of Supervisors had a year filled with meeting quarrels, talk of impending budget cuts and the reelection of a previous member.Disagreement surrounded the Board in August when the chairman-elect voting ended in a stalemate between Alvin Kimble of Baton Rouge and John George of Shreveport.Eight members voted in favor of Kimble, who had been expected to become the new chairman-elect since January 2008. But the other eight members voted for George, whose candidacy was added only three days before the election.Board members accused Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration for interfering with the voting process by persuading members to vote for George.”It’s so disheartening to see a new governor get involved in dirty politics so quickly,” Kimble said in September. “It’s a weird puzzle that someone who seems as moral and ethical as Jindal would get involved.”The Board expected a split vote until a member missed a meeting. The Board compromised and agreed to elect Blake Chatelain of Alexandria in December.”Dr. George and Mr. Kimble are to be commended for putting LSU as an institution above any personal admission,” said Chairman James Roy. “They have both clearly endorsed the candidacy of Blake Chatelain.”The Board welcomed back former chairman Ron Anderson in JanuaryAnderson was first appointed to the Board by Gov. Mike Foster, and he returned to fill the seat vacated by Board member Louis Lambert, whose term expired in June.In April, each chancellor of the 11 System’s institutions proposed a campus-by-campus budget reduction plan in facing the $32,272,323 in state general funding — $2.5 million less than Jindal’s original proposal.University Chancellor Michael Martin said he plans to protect the University’s academic core, flagship status and as many campus jobs as possible.”Moving back the flagship is a cost we cannot afford,” Martin said.Martin said the budget cuts will lead to reduced support for programs including the LSU Museum of Art, Rural Life Museum and some research projects.”We will have to reduce the services we provide,” he said. “And we will have to cope with that.”Martin said the University attracts the best students in the state, and said he thinks the state has a contract with those students to provide them with the education they’ve earned.”I do not believe we can advance the economy of this state without a very strong, vital and growing higher education system,” he said. “I am concerned that the budget, as we see it today, will not only affect the Flagship, but through the ripples, it will affect the higher education system across the state.”System President John Lombardi said the budget crisis is projected to be a two-to-three-year battle.”This is unusual,” Lombardi said. “We have two years that are awful and a third year that is worse. This is a very serious and dramatic rescaling of higher education and clearly damaging to the future of our state.”—-Contact Leslie Presnall at [email protected]