In the midst of our post Thanksgiving belt loosening at least one belt will be drawn even tighter than usual – the state’s higher education budget. According to the executive order issued by Gov. Kathleen Blanco on Nov. 5, $66.6 million will be chopped from the overall operating budget for higher education, with $27 million in those cuts coming from the LSU System.
It should be said that though we as students of the state flagship university will most definitely feel a pinch, we know we are not alone in having to make sacrifices for the greater good of the state.
After all, anyone who believes that Louisiana, historically one of the poorest states in the country, would be able to survive without budget cuts after two strong hurricanes would be delusional. But we would hope that when the Board of Regents has to make their cuts, they make them selectively.
The Board already appears to have some targets in mind, such as sending more students to community colleges for at least their first year of higher education and reducing the amount of incoming freshmen in the fall of 2006. In addition to that, new academic programs and a reorganization of the administration will be in the works.
As we have said we certainly expected cuts, and will do our best to adjust to them. But we must caution the Board of Regents to tread lightly.
Our University has for years attempted to pull itself out of the third tier, and though the process has been slow, we seem to be on our way up. The Board, we hope, recognizes this and will act accordingly. We can deal with larger classes and most likely will if there are cuts in the amount of instructors.
We only hope that our education continues relatively unimpeded, and that the destruction of the two hurricanes does not blow away all we have accomplished over the past decade of improvement.
We wish the Board of Regents luck, and we hold our collective breath in anticipation.