While students scramble with last-minute exam preparation, acting Chancellor William Jenkins is working to keep the University's momentum going until his replacement moves into office.
Jenkins assumed administrative duties Feb. 1 after former Chancellor Sean O'Keefe's resignation Jan. 16 after a loss of support from System President John Lombardi and the Board of Supervisors.
"It's been an honor to be back on the campus and serve," Jenkins said. "And there will always be issues, but that's fine. That goes with a large, major university. And we have great potential."
Jenkins is quite familiar with the issues of running a Flagship University. He first served as chancellor from 1996 to 1999, the year he became System President. After former Chancellor Mark Emmert resigned in 2004, Jenkins served as interim chancellor, and he currently is System President Emeritus.
And though some issues he has faced during his third tenure in the Chancellor's Office are similar to those in the past, others are new obstacles he's trying to overcome.
TRANSITIONAL FALLOUT
Secrecy surrounding O'Keefe's ousting worried several prominent donors and led to negative speculation about the University's direction - but these are sentiments Jenkins said he feels have passed, and he said the University is moving full force toward accomplishing the Flagship Agenda.
Losing several donors, at least temporarily, has not hurt the University as much as initially expected, Jenkins said. Instead, the economic recession is having a larger impact on donations.
"We tend to be more critical of ourselves," Jenkins said. "But don't underestimate our standing nationally."
O'Keefe, whisked out of office amid a media flurry of wrongdoing speculations, quietly completed the spring semester as a professor of public administration in the E.J. Ourso College of Business. His future does not lie in world of academia. General Electric announced on March 13 that O'Keefe will take the helm of General Electric Aviation's Washington D.C. operations on June 2.
While O'Keefe's fundraising legacy will remain at the University, some of his other initiatives are already unraveling. O'Keefe's belief in tightening admission standards to admit higher-quality students has already been reversed by Lombardi, who plans to increase enrollment size, hoping the surge of students will stretch resources and force state appropriations to come to the strained campus.
FLAGSHIP AGENDA AND FOREVER LSU
Jenkins said he believes the University is making progress toward achieving Flagship Agenda and Forever LSU benchmarks by 2010. Though he said he is not certain these goals will be realized by 2010, he said he thinks they will be complete soon after the benchmark year if not in time.
"We're going to give it our best shot," Jenkins said. "That's our goal, and I intend to work for it. We're making progress and we cannot lose this momentum."
FUNDING
But the momentum driving the University comes with a hefty price tag. Funding must come from either state appropriations or students' pockets, Jenkins said. The preference is for the state to provide more funds, but Jenkins said students may ultimately pay some of the cost.
Jenkins has spent time talking with state legislators discussing several measures that will affect all higher education institutions in the state.
On April 30, Jenkins visited the State Capitol for LSU Day with student scholars, athletic coaches and other University officials to showcase the University's strengths to the state Senate and House of Representatives. There are several bills in the regular session affecting the University.
House Bill 734 proposes a 5 percent tuition increase for all post-secondary education, which Jenkins said would provide $5.1 million to be used for a 4 percent faculty pay increase.
House Bill 677 proposes a $250 per semester operation fee increase to students that would generate an additional $13.7 million. If the bill passes, $1 million will be spent to add advisers and counselors, which Jenkins said is a problem many students brought to his attention, particularly in the College of Arts and Sciences.
"You never know what hand you're going to be dealt in a [legislative] session," Jenkins said. "And especially this time we have so many new representatives."
Jenkins said he hopes the state will provide more funds but also hopes students will be accepting of the potential tuition and fee increases. Jenkins said improving the University's national status makes alumni's degrees worth more, and students should recognize improving the University now will do the same for their degrees after graduating.
ENVIRONMENT
As environmental consciousness grows and global climate issues gain prominence, Jenkins said he too is concerned about the University's impact.
The Environmental Conversation Organization urged O'Keefe and later Jenkins to sign the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a document pledging cooperation in reversing people's impact on climate change by reducing carbon emission and encouraging community research and education
Jenkins said he cannot sign this document in good conscience. He said limited funding resources prevent the long-term goals of the document to be attainable, he said. But Jenkins said he does intend to meet with University officials this summer to create environmental goals for the University and devise a plan to reduce the University's impact with available funding. CAMPUS SAFETY When Jenkins returned to the Chancellor's Office, students were concerned about campus safety because of the on-campus Dec. 13 double homicide that took the lives of two doctoral students. A string of on-campus armed robberies and break-ins also have students worried. Jenkins said measures are being taken to ensure students' safety, including improved lighting, increased LSU Police Department patrols, adding plain-clothes officers to campus and the creation of a Crime Interdiction Unit. Jenkins said he does not believe it is an appropriate time to allow concealed handgun license holders to exercise permits on campus, as House Bill 199, which recently passed in the state House Criminal Justice Committee. He said he does not believe the bill will ultimately pass the state Legislature.
Jenkins said another way to make campus safer is education. When classes resume this fall the Stay Safe campaign will resume. This initiative stresses the shared responsibility of students and faculty to make the community safe.
Jenkins said the campaign is created based on student and faculty feedback about what needs to be done. During the Chancellor's Late Night Pancake Breakfast this past week, a focus group of students were shown Stay Safe material and gave feedback.
Jenkins said even though the campus has become safer since the recent on-campus crimes, students must not forget the University is a city within a city and crimes can occur at any time. Jenkins said his ultimate goal is to prepare students for these unforeseen events and have measures in place to prevent and react to them.
PASSING THE HELM
Jenkins has communicated with many different campus leaders to assess their needs and evaluate their progress since he has been in office.
Jenkins said he is preparing to brief his incoming replacement, who Lombardi has said he wants in place by the fall semester's start, about the University's status and where he thinks it needs to go.
Jenkins said he wants the transition to go as smoothly as possible and said he does not plan to leave the office until the new chancellor is ready to run the University. Before he leaves, Jenkins said he will be sure to equip his replacement with the information and resources needed to accomplish the Flagship Agenda.
---- Contact Nicholas Persac at npersac@lsureveille.com.
