Since its unveiling in April, the University’s massive realignment plan has been a hotbed of academic controversy. The plan — which aims to rename and restructure nearly every academic college on campus — drew fire Thursday from one member of the LSU Board of Supervisors, Hank Gowen, who told Chancellor Michael Martin and Provost Astrid Merget to start over.”It was the clear message that the provost and chancellor need to consider completely starting over,” said Charles Zewe, LSU System spokesman. “The Board members were unhappy with insufficient input from various campus entities like the faculty.”Martin told LSU System President John Lombardi in a letter that the realignment plan was designed to decrease “fragmentation” between academic departments, increase efficiency and better align the University toward completing its Flagship Agenda. “Great institutions constantly seek change to get better,” Martin said. When Merget presented the plan to faculty members on April 14, harsh words and criticism followed. Many said the administration didn’t seek enough faculty opinion before presenting the proposal. However, Merget said the plan was a result of extensive study and evaluation by the administration and several top faculty members, including the University Planning Council. A “transition team” and other task forces, made up mostly of faculty members, were established soon after the unveiling to help ease the University into its new structure — which the administration wants to begin implementing by July 1, the start of the 2009-10 fiscal year. Some of the plan’s changes include merging the School of Social Work, the School of Library and Information Sciences and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders into the new College of Social and Educational Professions. The College of Arts & Sciences would be renamed the College of Humanities & Social Sciences under the plan as well.Under the plan, the Department of Mathematics will move to the College of Basic Sciences from its current home in the College of Arts & Sciences. “The concern that the system administration and the Board had was that we wanted to make sure that all of the various interested elements affected by realignment were involved in the discussions of the proposed plans,” said Board Chairman James P. Roy. “When it does come to the board for approval we want to know that all parties have had the opportunity to be a part of the discussion.” Before their meeting on Thursday, LSU Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope wrote a letter to the Board and Lombardi in response to Martin’s previous letter. “The Chancellor’s letter contains several examples of highly-polished language that, in its glossiness, distracts attention from an assortment of errors,” Cope stated.Cope went on to say there haven’t been discussions with faculty members about the changes to their academic units, despite what Martin wrote about in his letter. Rather, a “minimally evaluated unveiling” was what the faculty got, Cope said. He also said the “transition team” was designed largely to implement the details of the plan rather than focusing on evaluation and the proposal of alternatives. Martin said he and Cope have had their disagreements, but that faculty input is being heard and used for the realignment plan. He said the plan presented in April was a starting point, a draft very similar to one considered in 1996. In order to keep this plan from failing like it did in 1996, Martin said it is important to keep the conversation going, make adjustments if needed and keep the LSU community in mind. Students are virtually unaffected by the plan, Martin said. Degree programs and requirements will stay the same, regardless of the restructuring. Layoffs are not a part of the plan.  As the Legislature enters its final weeks of the 2009 session, there is much talk about the state of higher education in Louisiana, Martin said. And although Martin said the realignment plan was not started because of pending budget cuts, the benefits of implementing the plan could help the University during future financial crises. “The Legislature is putting enormous heat on higher education to seriously consider restructuring,” Martin said. “I believe LSU should lead in that process.” Martin said the plan is still being ironed out, but that Board of Supervisors and, if required, Board of Regents approval will be sought.—-Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]