BATON ROUGE, La.— A Colorado consulting firm will be paid as much as $74,000 to study a proposal to merge Southern University at New Orleans with the nearby University of New Orleans campus.
The Board of Regents on Friday released the final terms of the contract it has with Dennis Jones, president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.
Jones’ preliminary findings will be discussed at a Feb. 8 special Regents meeting. His final study is scheduled to be complete by Feb. 28, according to the contract.
Gov. Bobby Jindal asked Regents to study the idea of a merged campus that would be moved into the University of Louisiana System and that would share resources with Delgado Community College. The governor asked for recommendations by March 1, with legislation to be considered in the session that begins in April.
A two-thirds vote of the House and Senate would be required to combine the campuses.
The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus and SUNO leaders oppose a merger, calling it the beginning of a systematic demise of historically black colleges and universities in Louisiana.
Regents will use savings from an existing contract with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems and another $49,500 to cover the total possible costs of the SUNO/UNO review.
