“It’s a rarity for any athletic team to come together to abandon their commitment to an institution by walking off the field. It’s a very unique experience. But we’re using this as an opportunity of learning, a teachable moment,” President Frank Pogue told the University of Louisiana System board that oversees the historically Black college.
Pogue said he’s used the national attention Grambling has received as a way to highlight campus academic and facility needs and that the complaints lodged by football players about inadequate facilities are symptomatic of larger financial troubles on campus.
The university, like all public colleges around Louisiana, has been hit with repeated budget cuts from the state since 2008. Lawmakers and Gov. Bobby Jindal have stripped $690 million in state funding from higher education, a 48 percent reduction. Tuition increases have only partially filled the gap.
Pogue said Grambling’s state financing has been slashed 57 percent, and he said that fell on top of disparities in funding that already exist across the nation for historically Black colleges and universities.
“If you want to be helpful to Grambling, write a check,” he said.
University of Louisiana System President Sandra Woodley said Grambling’s financial woes are worst in the nine-campus system because the school had fewer reserves to plug budget holes, no large endowments to tap and a small student body.
