Though it has been more than a week since Gov. Bobby Jindal announced his request for the Board of Regents to study the feasibility of merging the University of New Orleans and Southern University-New Orleans, heated debate on the proposal continues to stir.
“I want to formulate a plan that optimizes the use of all academic and financial and physical resources in the greater New Orleans area to help our students succeed in their chosen academic paths,” Jindal said Jan. 18. “We need to do what’s best for our students and … provide students with the best education.”
Jindal said the study will examine how reorganization will improve educational outcome and how shared resources will better serve students.
But some don’t think merging the two universities will improve conditions.
“There is a better approach than closing UNO and closing SUNO and starting a new school for a lot of different reasons,” Southern System President Ronald Mason Jr. told The Advocate on Monday. “There is a great tradition at both schools, and they serve two different populations.”
Mason said it is a mission of SUNO to educate the low-income African American community, and he considers Jindal’s proposal an “attack” on the university.
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UNO sophomore Jade Newman said that argument doesn’t make sense to her.
“If that card is going to be pulled, it seems counter-productive,” Newman said. “Segregating the two schools is not a history that needs to be upheld.”
Newman said she disagrees with opposing the merger simply based on SUNO’s reputation as a historically black college. She said there are bigger issues at hand.
“If the university was doing well, I’d be right there fighting with them, but it’s not,” she said. “SUNO only has a [5-8] percent graduation rate.”
But Newman also admitted that UNO’s graduation rate, which is 21 percent, is not acceptable.
“If the [merger] will help, it may be a good thing,” she explained. “But I’m waiting to see what the results are before I form an opinion.”
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If the merger is passed, Jindal said the new institution would be transferred to the University of Louisiana System.
LSU System Vice President of Communication Charles Zewe said UNO, which currently belongs to the LSU System, is a valuable part of the system and an active urban research institution.
“Engaging in speculative questions is not very productive,” Zewe said when asked how losing UNO could impact the system. “The entire thing still has to be studied by the Board of Regents and acted on by two-thirds [of the Legislature] before it even moves forward.”
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Contact Sydni Dunn at [email protected]