Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, and University Provost Jack Hamilton urged the campus community’s involvement in the budget crisis in the State Legislature at the Faculty Senate meeting Monday.
Claitor told the assembled faculty senators he’s sympathetic to the budget crisis, but other members of the legislature and the governor don’t have the state’s flagship university high on their list of priorities.
“They have folks out there in the hither lands that don’t view LSU the same way you and I do,” Claitor said.
But the University is important to the entire state, and it’s up to the University community to get that across, Claitor said.
“The [state legislator] that says, ‘I ain’t got no LSU where I come from,’ needs to understand that LSU is important where he comes from,” Claitor said.
Claitor said it’s time to stop arguing and start figuring out a way to get the attention of legislators.
“It’s not about who bleeds the most deep hue of purple, it’s about what we can do,” Claitor said.
Claitor, who is an interim member of the Senate Finance Committee, also criticized the Jindal administration for not having a plan to help higher education at a committee meeting last week.
“What was the Jindal administration’s plan for higher education and especially LSU, and what were we told? Zero,” Claitor said.
But as the Jindal administration figures out a way to help the state’s universities, Claitor said he’s taken the initiative to talk to academic experts and put a plan together.
“If the governor’s office isn’t going to make this a priority, maybe the House or the Senate will come forward with a plan,” Claitor said.
Claitor also said the reaction from the University community does not match the level of crisis it’s facing.
“People apparently don’t want to get mobilized until there’s smoke and fire coming out of the roof,” Claitor said.
Hamilton agreed with Claitor.
He said his role as the “grim reaper” of the University has taken a toll on him.
“It’s been a very grim and depressing experience,” Hamilton said. “And I know, and it bothers me a lot, that [the Faculty Senate] and the people you represent are out there wondering what the hell is going on.”
Hamilton also addressed the problem of state universities competing with each other for state funds.
“I was disturbed last week when I saw a message that came out from the president of Nicholls State. He said in a veiled way that large four-year institutions can survive more easily, and the smaller state institutions should be given preference,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton said that the state’s public institutions should be working together to rally the legislature for all of higher education.
“I think it’s a real problem for the president of Nicholls State to be saying that this institution should be covering their shortfalls. I think it’s a disgrace,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton stressed repeatedly that it’s no longer acceptable to sit around and wait for a decision to come, and that alumni, parents, students and the faculty need to get involved.
“Now is going to be the time to step up,” Hamilton said.
At the meeting, the Faculty Senate also voted to approve a resolution supporting a revision to the University’s property naming policy that emphasizes the need for Board of Supervisors’ approval and allows for structures to be renamed after renovation.
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Contact Frederick Holl at [email protected]