BATON ROUGE (AP) — The president of LSU's Faculty Senate filed a complaint with the university's accrediting agency about
plans to reorganize the system's leadership, saying Thursday that decision-making has been too secretive and appears rife
with political meddling by the governor.
Kevin Cope said he lodged a list of criticisms with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools about an LSU Board of
Supervisors decision to merge the jobs of system president and chancellor of the flagship campus in Baton Rouge.
The job consolidation is part of a planned, but still undetermined, revamp of the multi-campus university system.
Cope said his complaint was sent to the president of SACS' Commission on Colleges over the weekend.
In his letter to the Georgia-based
accrediting organization, Cope criticized the LSU board as making
decisions with inadequate
evidence to support its position, too much input from Gov. Bobby
Jindal's administration and disregard for suggestions from
faculty.
"Faculty members doubt that the
accreditation status of an institution (or complex of institutions) can
be maintained admidst
intense political influence or subsequent to a veritable circus of
emergency meetings," wrote Cope, an English professor who
also serves as chair of the LSU System Council of Faculty
Advisors.
LSU board chairman Hank Danos didn't return a request for comment Thursday about Cope's complaint.
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled Friday
to re-vote on the job merger after the attorney general's office said
the previous
vote appeared to have violated the open meetings law. But the
board's search committee already has started looking for candidates
to fill the consolidated job, suggesting the board isn't changing
course.
"A governing board that receives a scolding from the highest legal official in the state is not operating with the integrity
expected of a major research and education unit," Cope wrote.
William Jenkins is currently working as both interim system president and interim chancellor of the main campus.
Cope describes a heavy politicization of LSU governance, noting all Board of Supervisors members have been named by Jindal
and, in many instances, are campaign contributors.
The Faculty Senate leader said in his letter
to SACS that he repeatedly hears comments from university officials
suggesting
that decisions on campuses are made based on "instructions from
the fourth floor," a reference to where the governor's office
is located at the Louisiana Capitol.
The complaint also raises concerns about the influence of university donors, support groups and foundations, whose members
Cope says are involved in search committees and recruitment campaigns. He called it a "corrosion of the credibility of the
institution."
SACS officials have notified LSU that the job merger needs approval from its Commission on Colleges before it can be done,
and they have pressed for more details about the reorganization.
Accreditation is a benchmark used to judge
the worth of a school, reviewing governance, finance and integrity
issues. It can
affect the value of a degree in a job market and a school's
ability to attract faculty and students. LSU is currently in the
midst of an ongoing review to reaffirm its accreditation with
SACS.
LSU leaders have said they are in compliance with accreditation standards.