Academics: 34 University programs at risk of termination, p. 3
Football: Former RB Charles Scott returns to school, p. 7
Reveille The Daily
www.lsureveille.com
SUNO rallies to fight against potential merger
Entertainment: Performance combines music, dance, p. 11 Thursday, Jan. 27, 2011 • Volume 115, Issue 76
Joining Forces?
Mixed emotions emerge regarding merger study
Robert Stewart
Sydni Dunn
Managing Editor, Content
Staff Writer
NEW ORLEANS — Packed away in a gym on Press Drive, members of the Southern University-New Orleans community made their message loud and clear — they’re not going to take it. SUNO students, faculty, staff and administrators, among others, filled the gym of SUNO’s Health & Physical Education building Wednesday morning at a forum meant to rally the community against a proposed merger of SUNO and the University of New Orleans. Gov. Bobby Jindal has asked the Louisiana Board of Regents to conduct a study to see if it’s feasible to merge SUNO and UNO, whose campuses are only a few minutes apart. Jindal set the study deadline for March 1. People filled metal chairs in the middle of the gym and the bleachers at the back. Several legislators were in attendance, including Reps. Austin Badon and Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans, and Sen. Cynthia Willard-Lewis, D-New Orleans. Anti-merger sentiment pervaded the crowd as well as SUNO leaders. Joseph Bouie, SUNO Faculty Senate president and former SUNO chancellor, led the crowd in the cry, “I am, because SUNO is; We are, because SUNO is,” among other phrases. Signs adorned the front of the gym, reading “Save SUNO: Yesterday, Today, Forever.” SUNO Chancellor Victor Ukpolo said
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. UNO sophomore Jade Newman said that argument doesn’t make sense to her.
FORUM, see page 6
ROBERT STEWART / The Daily Reveille
Southern University-New Orleans Faculty Senate President Joseph Bouie speaks Wednesday at SUNO’s Chancellor Forum. Debate is circulating regarding a potential SUNO-University of New Orleans merger.
Read a blog and see more photos from the forum at lsureveille.com
MERGER, see page 6
FACILITIES
Parking garage construction set to begin next week Opening planned for spring ’12 semester Logan Leger Contributing Writer
After decades of conception, the University’s first parking garage will begin to materialize Jan. 31. The 750-space garage will sit across from the Student Union on the corner of Highland Road and Raphael Semmes Road. It was a part of the original parking master plan commissioned by former chancellor Mark Emmert in 2003 and approved by former chancellor Sean O’Keefe in 2005, said Gary Graham, director of the Office of Parking, Traffic
and Transportation. The parking master plan, known as Easy Streets, included plans for a garage to be completed in 2010 and for the University to begin evaluating another in 2011, Graham said. Though the project was delayed, the garage is the final and most expensive piece of the plan. “The garage is the crown jewel of the master plan,” Graham said. The University’s master plan called for eight garages to be built throughout the course of 50 years, Graham said. For reasons including planning and the economy, construction on the garage has been delayed about a year, Graham said. The University sold bonds to pay for the garage, but the market was
high in recent years, which delayed construction. However, because of the current economic climate, the University was able to achieve an overall smaller cost. The final cost of the garage is $22.2 million, said Emmett David, director of facility development. “In the end, the delay was actually helpful because we were able to get a better price,” Graham said. Half of the garage’s 750 spaces are reserved for paid visitor parking, much like what is currently available in front of the Union, Graham said. The other half is zoned for faculty and residential student parking, Graham said. CONSTRUCTION, see page 5
photo courtesy of THE OFFICE OF PARKING, TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION
A rendering shows the University’s future parking garage that will be built across from the Student Union. Construction is expected to begin Jan. 31.