The University of Louisiana at Lafayette announced the elimination of six positions Tuesday in an attempt to address a $25 million deficit announced last week.
In an email to faculty obtained by The Acadiana Advocate, Jaimie Hebert, UL’s interim president, said the cuts affected three divisions. The Office of Sustainability and Community Engagement was closed, according to the email. The Office of Communications and Marketing and the Office of Auxiliary Services, were restructured.
He did not identify individuals affected by the cuts, but said, “Each position represents a colleague and a friend, and I want to acknowledge the very real effect this has on the members of our campus community.”
Hebert revealed the bleak financial picture during a Thursday town hall meeting, which he followed up with an email that noted that leadership has identified $15 million in reductions to address the $25 million “structural deficit.”
He said most divisions will reduce operational expenses by 10%. Academic affairs will reduce expenses by 5%, which Hebert said would limit impact on the university’s core mission.
“Our priorities remain constant: protect the student experience, support faculty in teaching and research, and minimize — wherever possible — the human impact on our campus,” Hebert continued in Tuesday’s email.
UL’s fiscal woes come after a shake-up of top administrators at the university that happened around the time that audits questioned UL’s financial picture.
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor in late spring flagged problems with university finances that included late billing over three consecutive years, which UL blamed on staffing shortages and turnover. And another audit earlier this year revealed a $12.6 million deficit in UL’s Athletic Department.
Hebert was named interim in July after President Joseph Savoie announced he was stepping down a year before his contract was up. Savoie now serves as the university’s president emeritus.
Jerry Luke LeBlanc, UL’s Vice President of Finance and Administration, resigned abruptly in May. Edwin Litolff is serving as interim vice president of finance for UL.
During his first address to UL stakeholders last month, Hebert said the administration’s top priorities are fiscal stability and process efficiency.
The university has struggled to increase full-time undergraduate enrollment in recent years, a likely contributor to the deficit. After full-time undergraduate enrollment swelled to 14,964 in 2017, the university has not reached that figure again.
This fall’s full-time undergraduate enrollment is 12,417.
Universities across the state — and the country — are also contending with declining enrollment.
Hebert said he will provide further updates, address concerns and welcome ideas regarding the deficit in a town hall with the general Staff Council from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Student Union’s Bayou Bijou Theater.
Staff writers Ashley White, Megan Wyatt and Andrea Gallo contributed to this report.
