nola.com November 26, 2010 Kofi Lomotey, chancellor of Southern University's Baton Rouge campus, resigns John Pope, The Times-Picayune Kofi Lomotey, the chancellor of Southern University's Baton Rouge campus for two-and-a-half years, submitted his resignation Friday at a New Orleans meeting of the Southern system's board of supervisors. Lomotey, who declined to discuss why he is stepping down from the $295,000-per-year job, indicated in a letter Thursday that he wants to return to teaching and that he will stay on until June 30 to help in the search for a successor, said the system's president, Ronald Mason. The announcement of Lomotey's decision came during a meeting dominated by discussion of the system's budgetary woes. It followed a report that the faculty senate at the Baton Rouge campus had passed a resolution expressing "no confidence" in Lomotey's leadership and asking that his contract not be renewed when it expires Dec. 31. "We did not feel that he was doing what should be done to move the institution forward," senate President Sudhir Trivedi said after the two-hour meeting in the Marriott Hotel. Specifically, Trivedi said, Lomotey was unable to raise money from outside sources -- an ability that, board members said, will be essential in the face of state budget cuts -- and he did not communicate well with the faculty. The tipping point in the latter category, Trivedi said, was Lomotey's appointment earlier this year of Lisa Delpit, an education expert and recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," to a $120,000-per-year endowed professorship without consulting the faculty. "He did not follow the process," said Trivedi, who also said Delpit's salary is far out of line with other professors' pay, which, he said, is about $60,000 per year. At the time, Lomotey said the money would be available because a faculty member had retired and other vacancies had not been filled. Mason, who said Lomotey probably will join the College of Education faculty, declined to speculate on Lomotey's reason for resigning. "It was Dr. Lomotey's decision," he said, "and I respect his decision." During the two-hour meeting, Vice Chairman Darren Mire, who is also a New Orleans assessor, was elected president for next year, and board member Murphy Bell Jr. was elected vice president. The Southern system, which has about 14,300 students at campuses in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Shreveport, is facing a reduction of nearly $1.5 million in state money Jan. 1. This represents about 2.3 percent of the $63.8 million in state money with which the system started the fiscal year on July 1. With that cut, nearly $21 million will have been sliced from the system's state appropriations since the 2008-09 academic year, a drop in state funding of about 22 percent. Prospects are gloomy for the fiscal year that will start July 1 because there will be no federal stimulus money. Money from that source has helped to offset a $12.2 million reduction in state money. "Next year will be a very difficult year to get through," Mason said. "The Southern System is really in jeopardy, The Southern family is going to have to come together to ride out the storm." In an attempt to draw attention to this situation and inspire donations, he announced the Save Our Southern campaign. or S.O.S. Details are at www.sus.edu. "We're all going to have to dig deep into our pockets," outgoing Board Chairman Antonio "Tony" Clayton said. "We need private funds more than we ever did in the past." Alumni giving has been less than stellar, Mason said, because graduates of the historically black system are not so well off as graduates of other schools. Southern University at New Orleans is facing a $143,513 cut in state money on Jan. 1. Chancellor Victor Ukpolo said Friday that he will meet with teachers and other SUNO personnel to determine where the cuts will be made. John Pope can be reached at jpope@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3317. ANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org www.hbculibraries.org 404.592.4820 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org Honor the ancestors, honor the children.