Jeremy Alford and David Jacobs: Higher ed chief looks for progress and safety

Louisiana higher education officials can point to steady progress toward the educational attainment goals they set in 2019. 
But as they try to continue hitting their marks ahead of the 2030 deadline they’ve set, they must navigate numerous hot-button topics, from campus safety to speech to paying student-athletes, while still keeping the central goal in mind. 
“We really do have to significantly address the poverty issue in our state,” Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed said. “That is the challenge, and that is the opportunity. So that’s the work that we do every day.”
Federal funding is an important revenue stream for higher education institutions, who use those dollars for research and to pay for care at their hospital health science centers. So uncertainty about whether that money will continue to flow was a major topic of conversation in higher ed circles even before the current shutdown, which has only heightened the concern. 
For now, there’s little they can do but wait and see, and hope the shutdown is brief. 
“We were already in these conversations as changes were happening at the federal level with grants and other research opportunities,” Reed said. “So this is just continued watch and oversight and analysis that’s happening on our campuses as a result of the shutdown.”
The White House has proposed giving nine universities preferential access to federal funding in exchange for promoting the Trump administration’s political goals, such as weeding out structures that allegedly “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”
This proposal raises questions about whether universities that are not on the list, such as those in Louisiana, might get shortchanged. But it also highlights how campuses have become culture war battlegrounds, where promoting “free speech,” however that might be defined, ties into the broader goal of campus safety. 
Following the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University, Attorney General Liz Murrill and 16 Republican colleagues from other states signed a letter to college administrators warning them not to impose a “tax on free speech” by asking student organizations to pay high security fees for controversial speakers. 
Reed said institutions have a responsibility to promote “diversity of voices and thoughts and ideas, because that enriches the educational experience for students and it increases their value in the marketplace,” adding that campus leaders are aware of those expectations, while still focusing on safety. 
She noted that Southern University’s Baton Rouge campus, along with other historically Black colleges and universities across the South, received racially charged threats in the wake of the Kirk shooting. While the FBI has not found the threats to be credible, Southern has locked down a few times in recent weeks, and Reed said she is looking for federal guidance about how to respond. 
She said the Legislature appropriated $2 million to have LSU’s center for emergency preparedness and response training conduct a review of safety at every campus and recommend improvements.
“We’ve been vigilant on it and the Legislature has been supportive of that,” Reed said. “But it’s needed now more than ever.”
As is typically the case, higher ed stakeholders and lawmakers are engaged with multiple task forces that will report to the Legislature ahead of next year’s session. One is looking at the feasibility of adopting a phased retirement program for higher education faculty and staff. 
The Caleb Wilson Hazing Prevention Task Force, named after a Southern University student who died in a hazing-related incident, has focused in part on making sure that middle school and high school students aren’t normalizing hazing and bringing those expectations to college. The group also is discussing standards of evidence rules for student disciplinary proceedings, Reed said. 
Another task force led by Rep. Rashid Young, a former Grambling State football player, is considering future state laws regarding student-athlete endorsement deals, typically called “name, image and likeness” or “NIL” deals. Lawmakers are hoping to bring some order to a relatively new phenomenon with shifting rules and norms, while still allowing Louisiana universities to compete for top athletes. 
Some of the recent conversations have centered around protecting high school students who are approached about signing NIL contracts, possibly without fully understanding what they are committing to, Reed notes. 
But while all of these issues are related to the core mission of higher education, job No. 1 remains educating students. When the Board of Regents adopted a new master plan in 2019, they set the goal of having 60% of the state’s working-age adults with a degree or other post-secondary credential by 2030. The proportion was 44% at the time. 
The regents recently announced that the level had been raised to 52.5 percent. A new record of 80,000 graduates earned credentials in Louisiana in 2025, just 5,000 annual completers short of the 2030 goal of 85,000, according to the board. Much of that increase comes from short-term credentials tied to specific industry sectors. 
Traditionally, the regents approved academic programs one at a time, without real insight into any strategic planning across institutions or across time, Reed said. Now, each institution approves a strategic academic plan which is submitted to regional economic developers to ensure it will help to fill high-demand jobs in each region. 
“And if not, then those programs are not given a green light to proceed to develop,” she said.
Looking ahead to next year’s regular session, the big question, as always, will be about funding levels. Reed wants to keep talking about ways to give schools more autonomy to decide how to manage their own business. 
“We know that we’re not going to receive massive amounts of funding,” she said. “And so the conversation around the business model for higher ed and ensuring there’s enough flexibility for institutions to support themselves and diversify their own budgets is an important one.”
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