SOUTHEASTERN TO MAKE BUDGET CUTS TO REACH TARGETED SAVINGS; NO LAYOFFS ANTICIPATED
       HAMMOND --  Southeastern Louisiana University has implemented a hiring freeze and will make a wide range of budget cuts while trying to spare any personnel layoffs to meet a five percent targeted savings in this fiscal year’s budget, President Randy Moffett told employees in meetings this week.
       The moves are designed to help the state meet an anticipated $971 million deficit resulting from the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The five percent targeted savings on the state allocation to Southeastern of approximately $47 million amount to $2,373,026. 
       Moffett emphasized that furloughs, layoffs of employees or cutbacks in hours would not occur unless the state demanded even further cuts.
       “We have to be realistic and recognize that some things are simply beyond our control,” he said. “If, for example, the state demands even further cuts, we may well have to address some personnel issues. These measures would strictly be a last resort. We will make as many other budget cuts as possible to avoid this scenario.
       “I tell you this, not to frighten anyone, but to keep you fully informed of our situation,” he added. “Even the state does not fully know what our financial situation is. Consequently, we are looking at a moving target, one that could change either positively or negatively, a target that could change next week or next month.”
       Moffett outlined the following measures to help the university reach its five percent savings goal:
       · A freeze on current vacant personnel positions; any offers of employment must be approved by the Administration;
       · A freeze on all equipment purchases;
       · A 25 percent reduction in all supplies paid by operating funds;
       · A 50 percent reduction in travel;
       · A reduction in library acquisitions and professional services contracts;
       · Elimination of major repairs on campus for the rest of the year.
       “Importantly, these reductions should not adversely affect the integrity of our academic programs in the short term,” Moffett told the assembled employees. “We have all worked long and hard over many years to bring Southeastern to the level of academic achievement it has reached. We do not want to see the university take any steps back in the academic arena.”
       Moffett said he has met with student leaders to explain the budgetary situation to them with hopes that they will continue to work with the administration to achieve the savings required by the state.
       “I have asked our students to stick with us,” he said, “and to understand that students play an important role not just regarding budget issues, but recovery of the state as well. Sacrifices have to be made by all parties, and we may have to look hard at increasing our revenue stream, perhaps through an emergency recovery fee or other alternatives.”
       He noted that prior to the hurricanes, Southeastern was in a great position, having exceeded enrollment goals in the final year of the implementation of admission standards.
       “We shot past our target of increasing the numbers of students with ACT scores of 24 and above, evidence of our growing reputation for academics,” he said. “We opened the final phase of our new $55 million housing, giving our students modern facilities in which to live.”
       Regarding Katrina, Moffett said Southeastern played important roles housing students who had nowhere to go, and later supporting emergency and support personnel such as Entergy, the National Guard troops, state police and others who had come into the area. The university regrouped and restructured its semester, helping students who would be unable to return and welcoming more than 1,000 “guest” students who had been displaced from colleges and universities in the New Orleans area.
       He emphasized that higher education must play important roles if the state is to recover from the devastation of the two storms.
       “Higher education is being targeted as a key player in helping to develop a new kind of workforce that will lead our redevelopment,” he said. “We cannot afford to lose the faculty and staff that we have recruited over the years to other institutions outside the state. We cannot afford to lose our best and brightest students to other states when we need those young people here to lead our recovery.”