Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope has said it would take “draconian” budget cuts to push LSU to that breaking point. But those cuts could be coming rapidly.
A $97.6 million budget slice to the LSU System is rolling through the hands of lawmakers in the state, who plan to compensate for Louisiana’s budget shortfall by handing down massive cuts to higher education instead of seeking one-time funds. The cut to the University itself would be about $43 million. Chancellor Michael Martin wrote about the gravity of the situation in a memo to newly-appointed LSU System President William Jenkins. “Declaring financial exigency is a last resort of a genuine crisis. Still, under the Board of Supervisors definition of exigency, the campus may have qualified for a declaration already,” the chancellor wrote. “Once exigency is implemented, several colleges will have to be closed and LSU will be forever different. This is a generational decision; it would take decades to repair the damage done to our students, faculty, and reputation.” The University’s Baton Rouge neighbor, Southern University, declared financial exigency in October.
http://www.lsureveille.com/news/proposed-cuts-could-launch-university-into-exigency-1.2740406
