BATON ROUGE, La. – A decision on whether to declare a financial emergency for Southern University’s main campus was delayed Friday until this week, while school leaders try to broker a compromise with faculty over salary cuts.
Meeting in Shreveport, the Southern University Board of Supervisors postponed a vote until Wednesday in the hopes of reaching a deal with professors.
Katara Williams, spokeswoman for the SU System, said at least 90 percent of the faculty will have to agree to two years of consecutive furloughs of up to 10 percent, for the Baton Rouge campus to avoid emergency status.
“We wanted to make sure that every single option was exhausted before we had to do something so drastic,” Williams said in a phone interview.
The financial emergency declaration would give the historically Black university more leeway to lay off professors but would be considered a negative mark against the school that could harm recruiting and accreditation.
Southern Faculty Senate President Sudhir Trivedi said the faculty will want any campus budget proposal to include a reduction in administrative costs as well.
“Our cooperation is contingent upon whether the administration is working in good faith and whether any solution administration proposes is fair and equitable,” Trivedi said in an e-mail.
