KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Jobs at stake as Southern University faces budget cuts

Jobs at stake as Southern University faces budget cuts

By Keitha Nelson - bio | email

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Jobs are at stake as Southern University tries to meet budget cuts ordered by Governor Bobby Jindal. Southern will have to do without $4 million.

Chancellor Kofi Lomotey announced a budget freeze Thursday. He also proposed a few changes that, no doubt, will shake things up.

It's no secret that all of Louisiana's state colleges and universities will soon have to tighten their belts. Funding is being cut as the governor's administration braces for an anticipated shortfall of nearly $350 million. And that's just for this fiscal year.

Ed Pratt with Southern University says it, too, is feeling the pinch. That's why Chancellor Kofi Lomotey made a few recommendations. Overtime pay will rarely be approved. As for new hires, that would only happen in extreme circumstances. And Lomotey says effective immediately, expenditures like travel and equipment must be approved by the provost or vice chancellor.

"What the University wants to do," Pratt explains, "is make sure that those cuts don't violate the integrity of the education programs that we have here for our students." Southern is dealing with a 15% cut in its budget. Lomotey says, "There will be a substantial reduction in the workforce at Southern University and A&M College."

Pratt adds, "It's one of those things where, where else are we going to get the $4 million? So there has to be some personnel cuts." Pratt also says about 1,600 people report to work at the university. It's not yet clear how many of those people won't be returning to SU's campus. "The Chancellor and his administration are looking into how to make the cuts as painless as possible," Pratt says, "but it's going to be painful because the cuts are so deep."