TIGER TV ONLINE REPORTER
Chancellor Michael Martin spoke to faculty, students and the local community Tuesday afternoon at one of four Chancellor Forums the Faculty Senate will host.
Tuesday’s forum, which was also this academic year’s first forum, focused on economic issues.
Kevin Cope, the Faculty Senate President, said one of the forum’s objectives was to “educate the community about budget complexities” as well as “come up with the beginning of solutions to these problems.”
According to audience members, problems include the University’s standing with the community and University funding.
Martin said he hopes the community thinks of the University as an “investment, not an expenditure”, explaining that University alum fill public office and school boards.
Martin also addressed the University’s budget cuts. He said he hopes the Louisiana Legislature will give the University the capacity to raise funds from an outside source.
However, if the state legislature denies the suggested proposal, tuition may increase.
“We need to make a case that we need latitude to raise revenues and I think our students are smart enough to realize we need to pay for quality,” Martin said.
Martin said he hoped for an increase in $500 per semester which would raise $28 million annually.
“If the legislative can’t protect the Flagship then the Board of Regents has to give us the capacity to collect from the students,” he said.
The Flagship Agenda focuses on increasing research, academic excellence and the productivity and competitiveness of the University’s undergraduate and graduate students.
Martin also hopes to increase the number of graduate students from 17% to 22%.
Serious problems exist for graduate housing, he said.
“We need to figure out a way to get someone to pay for housing,” Martin said. “We’ve got to come up with a new business model [ . . .] it’s an attempt to see if we can come up with the means to find someone else to help us.”
Some faculty audience members were concerned with the University’s shift from arts and sciences to basic sciences.
“I came to Louisiana and chose to stay in Louisiana because of its culture, music and art,” said one audience member.
But Martin said that while section four of the Land-Grant Act calls for science, agriculture and engineering, it also preserves the classics.
The Land-Grant Act of 1862 provides funding for institutions of higher learning.
“There’s a shift from arts and science to basic sciences,” Martin said. “It sends the message that we’re prepared to change with the times and will help others change with the times.”
