Copyright Baton Rouge Advocate
The UL System Board of Supervisors was expected to name the next president of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette during a special meeting Thursday morning. But the board’s vague agenda, released Wednesday, and its own rules and bylaws indicate it will likely not be able to do that without forming a search committee first. The Advocate | The Times-Picayune reported Sunday that Ramesh Kolluru, UL's vice president for research, innovation and economic development, is the front-runner for the position. Sources indicated — before the special meeting was announced — that a selection could happen as early as Thursday. Faculty members quickly expressed concern over the lack of involvement from campus stakeholders and the public. Sources also told The Acadiana Advocate Interim President Jaimie Hebert was “interested in participating in the search as an applicant for the next UL president.” There has been no formal presidential search process or formation of a search committee since longtime UL President Joseph Savoie resigned in July from the position he’d held for nearly two decades. During an Aug. 28 meeting of the UL System board, Chair Mark Romero said work has begun to search for the next UL president and that he would appoint members to a committee in the near future and develop a suitable timeline. He provided no update during the board’s Oct. 23 meeting. A spokesperson for the UL System on Oct. 28 said there were no next steps nor a finalized timeline for finding a permanent leader for the university but that “details about future leadership plans will be shared publicly once finalized.” Clear bylaws In a Monday letter to the UL System Board, the UL chapter of the American Association of University Professors pointed out that selecting a president without a search committee violates the board’s own bylaws. The UL System’s bylaws and rules spell out how an institutional president should be selected in the event of a vacancy. The UL System oversees eight universities — Grambling State University, Louisiana Tech University, McNeese State University, Nicholls State University, Northwestern State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Louisiana Monroe. It has overseen the University of New Orleans since 2012, but that school will now be overseen by the Louisiana State University System. When a president retires or resigns, the UL System’s rules outline that it must appoint a search committee that will set a selection procedure and a minimum set of qualifications for candidates. Search committee members will be appointed by the board chair. It will consist of at least six members of the UL System board, one of whom must be the student member of the board, and a faculty member of the affected school selected by its faculty senate, according to the rules. The UL System president, currently Rick Gallot, will serve as a non-voting chairman of the search committee. As its first order of business, the search committee is to detail selection procedures, including a timeline. The search committee is supposed to get input from the school’s student government association, faculty senate and alumni association to determine the desired qualifications for the next president. Search committee meetings are open to the public, according to Louisiana’s open meeting laws. Steven Procopio, president of the Louisiana Public Affairs Research Council, expressed concern over the possibility that the UL System board might name a new president without getting input from campus stakeholders and the community at large. “This position is important not only because it runs one of the major higher ed institutions in the state,” Procopio said. “It is also important because it’s a community-facing position. It’s not just ‘Are you a really good bureaucrat?’ It’s also making sure that the community buys into the decision, and having an open process helps that.” The UL System’s approach to replacing Savoie is a departure from the process other colleges in the system have used to conduct presidential searches in recent 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. “These searches help build trust in institutions,” Procopio said. “So that people understand it’s not just a political decision, that there is, in fact, consideration of the qualifications of the candidates.” Financial concerns Part of the delay in finding a replacement at UL might be the university's dire financial situation. After being named interim president, Hebert announced in September that the university was facing a $25 million budget deficit that he inherited from his predecessor. Hebert has since eliminated more than 70 positions at the university through a combination of layoffs, retirements, resignations and reassignments. He also asked university departments to cut 10% from their operating budgets, and Academic Affairs to cut 5% to limit impact on instruction. Savoie's resignation in July before his contract was up, followed the departure of the university's longtime vice president for administration and finance, Jerry Luke LeBlanc. Savoie was set to continue to earn his presidential salary through the end of the year, and his compensation package included an annual salary of $510,500, housing on the UL campus and the use of a vehicle or a vehicle allowance of $1,000 per month. An item on Thursday’s meeting agenda related to repealing his president emeritus status could change that. He's set to 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. The potential decision to name Kolluru the next president of UL comes a week after LSU named former McNeese State President Wade Rousse as its leader. LSU hired a search firm, created a search committee and held public interviews with finalists on campus. Rousse had the backing of Gov. Jeff Landry. Landry also reportedly weighed in on the UL presidential search after Romero asked if the governor had a problem with Kolluru applying, The Advocate | The Times-Picayune reported. Landry said in an interview that he told Romero, "I got no problem. Y’all go find whoever you want.” A secretive process for replacing Savoie would impact not only faculty, staff, students and the public, Procopio said; it also could hurt the person who is named the new president of the university. “Not having an open process handicaps him in the sense that now everyone’s going to look on this with suspicion, even if the person would be fantastic,” Procopio said. “Why do that when you can follow the normal process of having a search committee and really vet the candidates?”
