Chancellor Michael Martin said he anticipates even more budget cuts in the future as he spoke at the Staff Senate meeting Wednesday.”Right now, the messages we’re getting from the system are the world will look worse before it looks better,” Martin said. “We need to make adjustments for another very large cut and prepare for that cut.”
Martin said he is preparing a plan to anticipate another cut to present to the Board of Supervisors at its July 16 meeting.He also updated the Senate on two House bills being debated at the State Capitol. HB 1, next year’s budgetary outline, has another budget cut for higher education.
Martin said there could be major consequences, depending on how big that cut will be for the University.
He also spoke about the LA Grad Act and said it is in the University’s best interest.
“It ties performance to greater autonomy to set tuition and I think that’s a good thing,” Martin said. “We’ve already demonstrated we are the best performing University in the state by far.”
Martin cited several numbers to prove it.
“The average graduation rate for all four year institutions in Louisiana is 48 percent. If you took us out of the state average, it drops to 32 percent,” Martin said. “Yet we get cast with everybody else.”He also said the University puts only 7 percent of the budget into administration, lower than the state average of 11 percent.The University will have the ability to raise tuition 10 percent after meeting several performance criteria, and Martin said it would cost students less.
“If we can offer sections and courses so they don’t have to stay an extra year, they know raising tuition can cost them less in the long run,” Martin said.
Martin cited several key aspects to surviving this budget crisis: maintaining a commitment to diversity, perfecting higher education policy before higher education governance and sticking to the values of the Flagship Agenda.Martin also spoke briefly about the new provost, former Manship School of Mass Communication Dean Jack Hamilton.
He said he thinks Hamilton will convert his commitment from the Manship program to the whole institution.
“I figure if I went outside for a provost now, it would cost 10 instructor positions,” Martin said. “Jack has agreed to serve two years and not a minute more.”The meeting concluded Chad Gothreaux’s term as staff senate president and the beginning of Lisa Verma’s term as president.
“It has been deeply rewarding to represent the staff of the University,” Gothreaux said. “Our accomplishments this past year have been a direct result of the hard work of our members, and we have addressed an unprecedented level of challenges.”
Verma commended Gothreaux for his high standards and “time, energy, dedication and enthusiasm.”–Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]