Amid a budget cut crisis that faculty and administrators claim has seen a dearth of student involvement, student representatives from throughout the state’s higher education system have yet to put up a significant unified front on the issue.
LSU Student Government President J Hudson said structural issues and differences between schools have so far hamstrung efforts to communicate jointly, though he plans to fix the problem soon.
As SG President, Hudson sits on the Council of Student Body Presidents, which includes the ranking student representatives from the state’s 30 public higher education institutions.
That includes the eight four-year universities in the LSU System, the four universities in the Southern University System, the eight universities and colleges in the University of Louisiana System and the 10 colleges in the Louisiana Technical and Community College System.
“Past administrations have told me it’s a waste of time,” Hudson said. “We saw an opportunity to do some good there.”
Hudson said the number of people on the council and the differences in the types of universities they represent have caused divisions that have prevented sending a single message.
“There’s a huge divide between the four-year institutions and the community colleges,” Hudson said. “But the community colleges are all lumped together with ours.”
Hudson said community colleges haven’t faced as many budget-related issues as the four-year universities.
“The universities are suffering at a much greater rate,” he said.
The board is scheduled to meet during fall break. Hudson said he plans to move forward without the community colleges’ support if necessary.
“We’re going to get those universities to get a single message out,” he said.
Hudson said he plans to get that message out even if it means excluding the community college representatives.
“That might piss them off,” he said. “But it needs to happen.”
Robert Rasmussen, faculty adviser for the LSU System student presidents on the council, said turnover is an issue.
“One of the problems we have is that the council changes every year, so there’s no continuity,” he said.
Rasmussen also acknowledged some “natural rivalry between schools,”  but he said the council can still do a lot of good.
“It’s always good when students get together and talk about the issues,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen pointed to the defeat of a bill in the Legislature two years ago that would have allowed concealed firearms on college campuses as evidence of the council’s effectiveness.
There is a precedent for organized student government involvement in budget cut affairs. Six student government presidents from schools in the University of Kansas System joined together earlier this month to demand answers from the state’s gubernatorial candidates about higher education.
In a letter signed by the six presidents, University of Kansas Student Government President Michael Wade Smith asked the candidates to support the “Kansas Commitment,” a $50 million initiative that would restore funding to the state’s higher education system.
“We’ve been cut more than $100 million over the past three years,” Smith said. “We, as the student body presidents, decided we needed to get involved.”
Smith said those students were connected via the Kansas Board of Regents. 
Their meetings include only the six major four-year institutions in the Kansas system — not including technical colleges.
“Our issues are all similar,” Smith said.
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Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]