The LSU Faculty Senate passed a resolution Tuesday recommending the University hire faculty members rather than administrators in response to the budget freeze Gov. Kathleen Blanco called for in an executive order on Sept. 19.
Senate members cited the University’s trend of hiring nearly twice as many administrators as teaching and research faculty members in recent years as their motive for the resolution.
Blanco’s executive order directed state agencies to avoid hiring any new employees while the state attempts to deal with a $1 billion hole in its budget because of the hurricanes.
Chancellor Sean O’Keefe spoke to the Senate on behalf of Jerry Baudin, vice chancellor of finance and administrative services, who was scheduled to discuss the budget freeze’s impact on the University but was unable to attend the meeting.
O’Keefe said the University plans to maintain activities as close to the way they were before hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the state, in spite of the budget freeze.
“If we administered the governor’s order to the technical letter, it would bring the University to a standstill,” O’Keefe said. “The last thing we want to do is disrupt the workings of this campus.”
O’Keefe encouraged the Senate to continue looking for new faculty members because the University wants to accommodate the almost 3,000 displaced students from New Orleans.
“We don’t want to disrupt the efforts of faculty search committees because it is a long, detailed process when you hire new faculty,” he said. “We are just asking everyone to use good judgment in their spending.”
Some Senate members questioned O’Keefe about the University’s ability to attract new faculty because the budget freeze also cuts their travel expenses.
O’Keefe agreed travel is an important part of bringing academic experts from around the country to the University.
“We are going to do our best to comply with the governor’s request to throttle back on spending, while at the same time continuing to operate as what we are – an institution of higher education,” he said.
O’Keefe’s assessment appeared to please some Senate members, but some said they are worried “pushing ahead” may not be the best plan for the University.
LSU Faculty Senate Secretary Paul Wilson, horticulture professor who proposed the resolution, said he had “mixed feelings” about continuing to spend money on non-essential activities in spite of the budget freeze.
Although Wilson said one of the University’s immediate priorities should be hiring new faculty members, he said the University should begin planning for an extended shortage of funds in the future.
“We can’t wait until the last minute to decide what’s going to happen,” he said. “We need to decide this semester what we are going to do next semester.”
Wilson said he thinks cutting back on University spending in some areas may be the best solution.
“In my opinion, a better course of action is to postpone some things until we know exactly how much money is left in the budget,” Wilson said. “My experience is that you only spend what you have. Right now we don’t know how much we have.”
Contact Jeff Jeffrey at [email protected]