Study: La Tech and LSU-S should merge
“On the surface, this report looks like a positive outcome for our institution and our region, and we look forward to further developments.” Dan Reneau, Louisiana Tech president
LSU-Shreveport should merge into Louisiana Tech University within the nine-school University of Louisiana System according to a new study commissioned by Shreveport-area business leaders and the Louisiana Board of Regents that was released Thursday.
Consolidating the institutions would mean a larger Louisiana Tech with both Ruston and Shreveport campuses and the LSU affiliation would be lost. The LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport would not be directly affected.
Despite opposition from the LSU System, the Board of Regents could vote as soon as Feb. 28 on whether to support the merger, said Regents Chairman Bob Levy, of Ruston. Legislation to create the merger likely would be filed next month if the proposal is well-received within the Shreveport community, Levy said.
The study was initiated out of concern that the higher education needs of the Shreveport-Bossier City region are not being met, while smaller Ruston is home to one of the best public universities in Louisiana Tech. Possible mergers have been discussed for years.
A merger could expand academic offerings in Shreveport, while cutting down on university upper administration, according to the study.
“It’s an old issue ... but I think it’s different this time because the time is right,” Levy said, noting that the state’s budget woes mean an increased emphasis on finding ways to improve efficiencies and performance with existing resources.
When asked about possible opposition, Levy said, “It can’t be about the (LSU-S) alumni. It’s about the students. It’s not about the past; it’s about the future.”
The 183-page report says there is “no bulletproof answer” and offers other alternatives such as growing the offerings of LSU-S and moving it into the UL System.
The report contends that Louisiana Tech could fit within the LSU System as a growing research university, but that reorganization talk of a “one LSU” approach focused on the flagship Baton Rouge university could leave Louisiana Tech in the dark.
In October, LSU System President John Lombardi expressed his opposition to the study in a letter by stating that the LSU System had no interest and that the effort is akin to “attacking the integrity of the LSU System.”
The study was led by the Eva Klein & Associates firm, of Virginia, which has worked with the LSU System in past years in terms of studying higher education in northwest Louisiana.
Lombardi declined an interview Thursday, but he responded by email that the LSU System is working to strengthen LSU-S and expand its academic offerings. The Board of Regents, which oversees higher education statewide, has often fought against improving and growing LSU-S, Lombardi stated.
“We hope that the report encourages the Board of Regents to fairly re-examine LSU-S’ official role, scope and mission and eliminate the artificial constraints that have held back the campus,” Lombardi stated.
Lombardi said earlier this month that an LSU System Board of Supervisors “Working Group” is looking at possibly modeling LSU after the umbrella model at the University of Florida model, where the law school, medical schools and other entities fall under the flagship campus, rather than as separate entities within a system.
That discussion is the reason for the “one LSU” language in the Eva Klein report, Levy said.
While the Board of Regents contributed $25,000 to the study — out of about a $175,000 total cost — the effort was funded primarily by business leaders from the Community Foundation of North Louisiana and the Committee of 100 of Shreveport-Bossier under the umbrella group, the SB Imperative for Higher Education.
SB Imperative spokesman, Dr. Phillip Rozeman, said the report makes a “very, very strong case” in support of the merger.
Last year, Gov. Bobby Jindal proposed merging Southern University at New Orleans with the University of New Orleans. When that failed, the Louisiana Legislature approved moving UNO from the LSU System into the UL System.
Levy said the LSU-S and Louisiana Tech merger would be different because the idea is “organically grown” locally.
Louisiana Tech President Dan Reneau also declined to be interviewed, but he expressed support for the study in a prepared statement.
“On the surface, this report looks like a positive outcome for our institution and our region, and we look forward to further developments,” Reneau stated.
“If implemented appropriately, this will have a strong, positive impact on Louisiana Tech, both in Ruston and Shreveport/Bossier.”
Republican State Sen. Sherri Smith Buffington, of Keithville, just outside of Shreveport, said she expects there could be quick movement on the study once the community absorbs the information.
“I think this starts the conversation in our community,” Buffington said. “Do they embrace the concept?”