Dive Brief:
- Louisiana lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow Gov. Jeff Landry to select the chair of the state’s five higher education boards, potentially giving the Republican leader more influence over the state’s public colleges.
- Landry is backing the proposal, The Advocate reported. It would allow him to select the chairs starting in August and each year afterward, stripping that power from board members.
- The bill, which was introduced last month, comes as Landry has been pressuring the state’s university boards to implement policies that mandate college athletes be present for the national anthem during games or risk losing their athletic scholarships.
Dive Insight:
Lawmakers across the nation have been attempting to exert more influence over public higher education, including by shaking up university boards.
In Tennessee, for instance, Gov. Bill Lee signed legislation into law last month vacating the entire board of Tennessee State University. Republican lawmakers had griped about the historically Black university’s leadership amid audits showing unsustainable scholarship programs and student housing shortages, The Associated Press reported.
Lee appointed eight replacements shortly after signing the bill.
And early last year, Gov. Ron DeSantis installed political allies to the board of New College of Florida — a move that is part of his broader attempt to remake the state’s public higher education in his conservative vision.
Since the new trustees were appointed, more than one-third of the institution’s faculty members left, the college has focused on enrolling student athletes, and the board voted to abolish the gender studies program.
Under the Louisiana bill, the governor would select the board chairs of four institutions — Louisiana State University, the University of Louisiana System, Southern University System, and the Louisiana Community College and Technical System. The governor would also pick the chair of the Board of Regents, which oversees budgeting and planning for the state’s public higher education.
In Louisiana, the governor selects the members of these boards, who currently elect their own chairs.
The bill would also allow Louisiana’s governor to select the state’s higher education commissioner, a choice that is currently in the hands of the Board of Regents.
Landry has recently pressed the boards to make policy changes. He penned letters to the state’s higher education boards last week, urging them to craft policies requiring college athletes to be present for the national anthem before competitions.
His letter was spurred by the LSU women’s basketball team not being present for the national anthem during a game earlier this month — a move the team’s head coach said was unintentional. But Landry argued their absence “showed a lack of respect not only for the values of our country, but for the individuals who hold these values dear.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech group, wrote to LSU and other higher education institutions last week, noting that it’s unconstitutional for the government to compel students to express any particular ideology.
“The Governor’s request — especially as he has framed it — i.e., that athletes henceforth present themselves for the National Anthem as an expression of personal respect for particular national symbols — cannot avoid compelling students to express views they may not genuinely hold,” FIRE wrote, stressing part of its argument in italics.
Louisiana state Sen. Michael Fesi, who introduced the board chair bill, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.