SUNO-UNO Merger Proposal Passes Regents On 9-6 Vote (UPDATED)
After hours of emotional testimony from students and supporters of Southern University’s New Orleans campus and some large-scale grumbling by board members about how they’re being rendered irrelevant by the politicians in service of an agenda, the Louisiana Board of Regents voted 9-6 today to endorse a merger between SUNO and the University of New Orleans.
The Regents’ recommendation will go to the legislature. Gov. Bobby Jindal called the study recommending either a merger or reorganization of the two schools a “starting point” for a legislative proposal to be introduced this spring.
Among the highlights of the grueling meeting today…
- A proposal to refer the study with its dual recommendations to a Regents committee for further review was made by by new Regents member Chris Gorman, of Shreveport. That proposal got seven votes.
- SUNO supporters howled that a merger would disenfranchise the population that university currently serves, though no one made the case for how a new university with an essentially open-admissions unit such as that called for by the study would serve them any differently, or how Delgado Community College couldn’t do the same job with access to more classroom facilities as part of a partnership with the merged UNO/SUNO outfit.
- Also discussed at the hearing was the federal involvement in the case. It seems that as an historically-black college, SUNO gets access to federal funds that other colleges won’t get – and a merger would mean those funds would go away. Southern University System President Ronald Mason Jr. complained that going through with a true merger would deprive the state of millions of dollars.
Of course, the biggest highlight of the meeting – and probably the best indication of the atmosphere in the room – was captured by WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge. Meet Nikkisha Napoleon, who’s the new poster girl for the Left in Louisiana…
(Link if the player doesn’t load)
UPDATE: A little research into Ms. Napoleon indicates she’s no stranger to passionate defense of the educational status quo. Back in October, when the state BESE was holding hearings into the future of school governance in Orleans Parish and whether to return control of many of the schools there to the notoriously wasteful and incompetent Orleans Parish School Board, there she was…
Many of the first wave of speakers said that the Recovery School District should turn over control to the Orleans Parish School Board as quickly as possible because their children were denied services or being shuttled around the city in an attempt to find a school.
“You lied to the parents,” Nikkisha Napoleon said in a fiery address that drew applause and cheers and cries of “Preach.”
“We have injustice in the RSD system,” she said.
It doesn’t appear that Ms. Napoleon’s October concerns had been satisfied, as she turned up at another meeting about the Recovery School District last month to complain about its lack of customer service. Before that, she had signed a petition in favor of turning the schools back over to the School Board with this comment…
The RSD system is a threat to the educational attainment of ALL children. I am recommending that the state return the schools over to local governance, and cease in continuing the consistent and perpetual educational abuse of children under their guidance. The vast majority of high school children are attending schools structured on the order of the Orleans Parish Prison System. In addition, these same students have a very slim chance of attending a four year college institution, because the RSD doesn’t offer the appropiate recommended classes, and the students are failing to earn the required 21 ACT score. The RSD system is a threat to the educational attainment of ALL children. I am recommending that the state return the schools over to local governance, and cease in continuing the consistent and perpetual educational abuse of children under their guidance. It is equally clear that the state broke the law when OPSB was dismantled; thus, it is equally clear that the state return the schools to its perspective local school board.
Nor is this the first time she has surfaced with charges of racism as regarding decisions about SUNO’s future. A year ago, when the concept of space-sharing between UNO, SUNO and Delgado began to be discussed among higher education officials, there she was…
SUNO history student Nikkisha Napoleon Breaux said she and other students have been educated in trailers since Katrina devastated the campus in 2005.
She said the situation smacks of racism.
Breaux said SUNO students are made to feel unwelcome when using UNO’s library.
“UNO (doesn’t) want us there,” she said.
Not surprisingly, you’ll also find her name on a list of 1,000 Women For Charlie Melancon. And she turns up in a Fall 2007 copy of the newsletter that SUNO’s Center For African and African American Studies puts out extolling the virtues of her participation in the Jena 6 “movement…”
Yolanda Mims, Director of Disability Services, coordinated a trip for students and faculty/staff to travel to Jena, LA and discussed SUNO’s continued role in making others aware of the Jena Six. Nikkisha Napoleon, student leader, discussed the history of the Jena 6 and vocalized her feelings of being a part of such a profound movement.
And it appears that Ms. Napoleon is also a member of something called the Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children, a group funded, as it turns out, by George Soros’ Open Society Institute, and got herself a nice writeup in a piece in a newsletter called Education Organizing, put out by something called the Center For Community Change (for which you can guess the funding source) in 2007. The piece, entitled “Hometown Heroes,” was largely a gripe about the Recovery School District and the emphasis it placed on security…
When FFLIC read of the appalling 20 million dollars spent on security, they decided it was time to put a little more heat on the RSD. With members of the Fyre Youth Squad and the Schools First Collaborative at their side, FFLIC held a press conference outside a July meeting with two key targets in attendance: the State Superintendent of Education, Paul Pastoreck (sp), and the new RSD superintendent, Paul Vallas. At the press conference FFLIC member Nikkisha Napoleon-Breaux stated that schools, “should not be turned into prison grounds where security guards and police walk around with guns…If you say school is supposed to be peaceful, then why would anyone agree to have a structure of a mini-prison?”
With this kind of street cred, we’ll undoubtedly see Ms. Napoleon in elected office in Orleans Parish in no time.
I thought that separate but equal was not good enough. You had me with her first name, the rest just confirmed it.
It could easily be assumed that 5% graduation rate was racism of the worst kind.
CitizenKH- The measure of your comments illustrates that you stand in judgement of people, and that you would openly post a comment on an issue that is so small. The lady who you are talking about fought for my artistic child in the school system when the charter schools refused to accept him. She isn’t dumb by far, and is well-known poet. (She isn’t climbing through your window, or killing people like the fools on the street. So, please refrain from judgement.)
There are no school for the arts and artists such as painting, sculpture, etc…?
Artistic? Or do you mean autistic?
Ms. Napoleon’s comments before the Board of Regents were rude, disrespectful
and offensive, and her history indicates a far-left and race-baiting pattern
that has little place in modern American society.
I grew up in Louisiana and during the 60′s, these same people opposed to a single system were screaming bloody revolution in the streets for integration and “togetherness” – who are the racists now?
No LOGIC in opposition to the “merger”–only selfish reasons are put forth by the opposition. Students will benefit from a better education (of course the “Liberals” don’t like this because education is their enemy!) and students (assuming they graduate) will have a more respected degree. Is it racist to want to continue having a “historic black college”? Hmmmmm?
The recommendation that made the most sense was to keep UNO and SUNO separate under the direct control of the Board of Regents. This would serve as the first step towards eliminating the three systems and their management boards. That would also dovetail in with Jindal’s alleged support for eliminating the management boards. Instead Jindal chose the option that would put SUNO out of existence to satisfy radical conservatives both nationally and in Louisiana. Jindal doesn’t have public sector unions to go after like other GOP governors do, so he has set out to make a name for himself by closing a historically black university. The University of Greater New Orleans sounds like an awkward political compromise. There is no University of Greater Memphis, Universityof Greater Houston or a UCGLA. This is just plain dumb!
What’s dumb is the idea that my tax dollars should go to subsidize a
university which fails to graduate 95 percent of its students within six
years. There is no excuse for that kind of performance, and I believe it is
the epitome of racism to defend SUNO on the basis of it being a university
for black students – as though they’re not capable of succeeding at other
schools.
Dave, you obviously work for someone else who is responsible for paying all of the bills. If you worked for yourself, you would have a different take on the merger and saving money. Who in their right mind would vote to continue to fund two different campuses where the graduation rate was below 50%? Why in the world would you continue to fund SUNO with a graduation rate of less than 8%? That is dumb Dave!
I’m self-employed.
Change is essential; however, we must clearly access the issues in a collective matter. I attend the Univeristy at New Orleans, and understand why there is such a great push from the SUNO family. In fact, we have met numerous times with Mrs. Napoleon, Ms. Chambers and Mrs. Hart, and several other students concerning the egregious merger process. I have had the unique opportunity to have intense conversations with fellow graduates and current students, and understand their concerns ae valid. We believe there are several issues that haven’t been addressed respectvely:
• Why was SUNO students discriminated against after the storm, leaving their campus in shambles after Hurricane Katrina?
• Why did Gov. Jindal refuse to release the federal dollars, and insurance money that would have rebuilt SUNO?
• Why were students forced to attend other schools, after the Board of Regents dismantled ALL of their programs?
• Why has Gov Jindal failed to abide by Louisina laws, in appointing ALL WHIte members to the board?
The following questions have been dialoiged back and forth, and ‘ The Coalition to Save UNO’ adopted a resolution against the merger, because it was eveident that we would prosper off of the backs of disenfranchised students. Today, we have an open communication with several students, and faculty members, and it is clear that Governor Jindal has made a complete mess of this entire merger. SUNO could greatly benfit from UNO, and UNO can greatly benefit from the students as well. Both universities have been the step-children to their rising brother institutions, and both have received the least resources allocated by the state. In addition, I will close by stating that the merger would have been accepted positively, if Governor Jindal hadn’t made it a race issue, and we wll continue to work with the students and graduates at SUNO.
Nikkisha, I think you should be very afraid of the people who are blogging on this social forum. They are heavily involved in dealings with the Ku Klux Klan, and or highly conservative. You have a right to free speech. You have a right to speak for the children in the New Orleans area:Poor whites, Blacks and Latinos. That is your right, and the right of the Tea Baggers, murderer Sarah Palin, and the Anti- Christs President George Bush and President Obama.
The RSD dismiss the disabled, and the charters are just as poor as the Orleans Parish School Board. But, like you stated, ‘ Who Cares.’ Bobby Jindal want to close down as universities, but the state spends well over $30,000 a month for light bulbs at Angola Prison.
I guess you should not have exhibited disrespect, offensive behavior to the board that were talkin gon the telephone, chewing gum, playing with the fingers etc., etc., etc., I guess you should not race bait the white privileged. You have children dear, be very afraid.
Watch yourself Poster Girl, and Street Cred!!!!
This is the quality of discourse one can expect from the Left.
Only a complete dunce would bring up the Ku Klux Klan in a discussion of a
public institution of higher education which graduates five percent of its
students within six years.
You make a better case against your point of view than any of your
opponents. Post any time you like – your idiocy is instructive.
These Board members were puppets to Jindal’s agenda, their “public forum” was a farce. It is refreshing to see citizens like Ms Napolean involved and passionate about their beliefs, she has a right to have input into her government’s decisions. I seem to remember that there was a little matter of taxation without representation, that helped this nation become America….many brave men fought and died for the right to speak freely, and this citizen was doing just that. (Leave it to you Radical Republicans to claim to believe in the Constitutional rights of citizens, but only when they serve your purposes!) The tide will turn, a new day is coming, so you Tea Partiers and Radical Republicans better just step aside and let progress happen, you’ve been getting in the way too long.
Apparently they don’t teach civics at SUNO. Or history.
Taxation without representation?
And do you even know what “Radical Republicans” means or stands for? Why
don’t you Google it?
You are so silly….I happen to have graduated Cum Laude with honors in History from Loyola! ………..If you think that destroying institutions of higher learning is good for Louisiana, if you really thought that and are not just following in the prescribed path of the racist and anti-science ways of the Right,…………. then Sir, you are a complete idiot in addition to being a horse’s ass.
The entire point of this debate is whether SUNO is in fact an institution of
higher learning in the first place. A fabulous case can be made that it is,
in fact, nothing of the sort. SUNO has been ranked as the worst college in
the United States more than once.
I’m not sure where the preservation of the worst of anything is considered a
positive step, and yet that is your position – a position you support by
using epithets like racist, anti-science, idiot and horse’s ass.
If this is the best Loyola can produce, a claim I would love to see proof
of, thank God it doesn’t reflect our tax dollars at work.