2theadvocate.com January 6, 2011 Southern University changes bylaws Adjustments to expand chancellors' duties By Jordan Blum The Southern University System is expanding job duties for chancellors in its bylaws just as the search is beginning for the next head of the main campus in Baton Rouge. Southern System President Ronald Mason Jr. said the bylaw changes are about campus accreditation issues and are not related to the chancellor search. The proposed bylaw changes would give chancellors responsibility over fundraising activities and the authority to exercise administrative and fiscal control over the athletics department of each campus. Walter Dumas, president of the Southern University System Foundation that is the private fundraising arm for the university, said he is on board with the planned changes. Mason said the issue first arose during the accreditation process with Southern University at New Orleans. The decision was made to expand the bylaw changes system-wide for the chancellors' job duties. The 16-person chancellor search committee to replace outgoing Chancellor Kofi Lomotey at the main Southern campus is scheduled to begin meeting Thursday at the office of the Baton Rouge Area Foundation. Mason said he hopes to have a new chancellor hired in May. Lomotey, who will remain chancellor through June, submitted his resignation in November at the tail end of his employee evaluation and after a vote of "no confidence" from the Faculty Senate. The search committee is co-chaired by Southern Board of Supervisors member Pat Magee, of Lafayette, and BRAF Executive Vice President John Spain. Magee said Thursday's meeting will be an introductory one for committee members to discuss the overall chancellor search process. No formal action will be taken during the meeting, he said. The tentative plan is to eventually hire a private search firm to assist in the process, Magee said, which is in line with Mason's plans. "He (Mason) is going to be the driving force behind the committee," Magee said. Ultimately, the search committee is expected to make chancellor recommendations to Mason, who will submit his final choice to the Southern Board for approval. SANDRA 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.