Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
Faculty members of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette are expressing concern over the possibility that the UL System Board of Supervisors could name a new university president as early as Thursday when there's been no involvement of faculty, staff, students or the public. The Advocate | Times-Picayune reported Sunday that Ramesh Kolluru, UL's vice president for research, innovation and economic development, is the front-runner for the position and a selection could come as soon as Thursday. The UL System Board of Supervisors has announced a special meeting for Thursday morning at the university, but the agenda has yet to be published. There has been no formal search process happening at UL, and no public announcement of a search committee or plans on how to hire the new president. In a Monday letter to UL System board chair Mark Romero and the rest of the board of supervisors, the American Association of University Professors demanded a transparent process for finding the next university president. "Regardless of who is ultimately selected for the position, the process for identifying the next president of UL Lafayette must be fair and open and must involve the input of faculty, staff, and students," the letter said. "To that end, we ask that you direct the Board of Supervisors to form a search committee composed of these constituencies to lead the process of selecting the next president," the letter added. "The Board’s own policy on filling Chief Executive vacancies requires appointment of a search committee with 'a faculty member of the affected institution, selected by the Faculty Senate of the affected institution' on its membership. This policy and process must be followed. "Given the current financial crisis at the University, the next president should be trusted to act in the best interests of the University and the people that constitute this institution. A search process hidden behind closed doors, and without the input of those same people, will have the opposite effect." Interim UL President Jaimie Hebert announced after being appointed that the university was facing a $25 budget deficit that he inherited from his predecessor, former UL President Joseph Savoie. Savoie stepped down in July before his contract was up. Hebert has since eliminating more than 70 positions at the university through a combination of layoffs, retirements, resignations and reassignments. Hebert also asked university departments to cut 10% from their operating budgets, and Academic Affairs to cut 5% to limit impact on instruction. 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. This story will be updated.
