Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
Nearly three months after University of Louisiana at Lafayette President Joseph Savoie stepped down from his position, there is still no plan to search for his replacement. There are no next steps, nor is there a finalized timeline for finding a permanent leader for the school, a spokesperson for the University of Louisiana System, which oversees UL and seven other schools, told The Acadiana Advocate in an email. "The University of Louisiana System is taking a strategic approach to ensure UL Lafayette’s next campus leader begins under the best conditions for long-term success," a spokesperson said. "Interim President Jaimie Hebert and his team are providing steady leadership and addressing key priorities, positioning the university for continued strength and stability. Details about future leadership plans will be shared publicly once finalized." It's a departure from the process other colleges in the University of Louisiana System have have used to conduct presidential searches in the past few years. At the University of Louisiana at Monroe, President Ron Barry stepped down in January. On Feb. 6, the UL System announced the school's presidential search committee members and announced an initial meeting that was held in March. Carrie Castille was named the school's 10th president on May 19. In May 2024, Northwestern State University President Marcus Jones announced he was leaving the school to take a position with the UL System. A search committee was formed by June 14, 2024. Jimmy Genovese was selected as the college's 21st president on July 18, 2024. Part of the delay in finding a replacement might be the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's dire financial situation. The college has been grappling with a $25 million structural budget deficit that Interim President Jaimie Hebert announced at the end of September. Since that announcement, the university has laid off 57 people and vacated another 19 positions through retirements, resignations, reassignments and position eliminations. Hebert has placed the bulk of the blame for the deficit on a decrease in full-time undergraduate enrollment in recent years. Hebert announced the deficit after Savoie, the university's longtime president, in July stepped down from his role after nearly two decades leading the university. Savoie's decision to step down had likely been in the works for weeks and came on the heels of the departure of the university's longtime vice president for administration and finance, Jerry Luke LeBlanc. Savoie met July 2 in his office with Mark Romero, the chair of the UL System Board of Supervisors, and UL System President Rick Gallot. While all three confirmed at the time that the meeting had taken place, they all denied that Savoie was leaving the university when a reporter reached out that day. His term was not set to end until June 30, 2026, according to a Jan. 27 letter of appointment that noted a recent satisfactory evaluation by the UL System Board. Savoie's compensation package included an annual salary of $510,500, housing on the UL Lafayette campus and the use of a vehicle or a vehicle allowance of $1,000 per month. He'll earn that salary through the end of the year. He'll take a six-month sabbatical before moving into a full-time tenured faculty position in UL's College of Education. Details about his new salary have not yet been disclosed, but he will earn the average of the top three faculty salaries for that college.
