Programs cut. Professors laid off. Tuition hiked.
When these troublesome topics arise, administrators decide the fate and the future of universities. They’re also the ones taking the brunt of the blame as the nation’s higher education crisis leaves students and parents wide-eyed at the price tag of a college education.
LSU is no stranger to these problems. This year alone, the University took a $1.9 million budget cut, and tuition for residents increased by nearly $300, while non-resident tuition rose by around $1,400.
How do the University’s administrators cope? Chancellor Michael Martin and Director of External Affairs Jason Droddy spoke with The Daily Reveille about higher education and its leadership.
 
1. What qualities do higher education administrators need?
“You have to believe in the power of higher education. You’ve got to be thick-skinned enough to defend those values even when others affront them and challenge them,” Martin said. “You need an objective that transcends the moment. You’ve also just got to love the environment. I don’t think you can do any of these jobs without coming to work every day loving it. This is a fragile organism. You’ve got to love it enough that you’re going to protect it, even sometimes at the risk of your career or on.”
 
5. How can universities continue to attract administrators?
“The concern is: are there enough people around who are A) capable of it, and B) want to do it?” Martin said. “As a department head, you have 12 colleagues. As a dean, you have six colleagues. When you finally become chancellor, there’s nobody else,” Martin said. “There’s a group of us who get together and just vent sometimes and people say, ‘I’ve been there life.”
 
6. Why aren’t higher education officials considered heroic in today’s society?
“They’re a little smaller stories than winning a national championship in football … but there are still people leading higher education. I have discovered in this job the very things you do the best are the things you can’t tell others about,” Martin said. “Sometimes, a heroic win is the putting off of a significant happening.”
 
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Contact Andrea Gallo at [email protected]