The fight to keep public historically black universities alive scored a big victory in Louisiana, today.Two bills that proposed merging Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO) with the University of New Orleans (UNO) died in the state House and Senate, respectively. Gov. Bobby Jindal was a leading supporter of the merger campaign.
The bills were withdrawn by their sponsors after it became clear that neither one would gain the 2/3 vote required to pass.
Sen. Conrad Appel (R-Metairie), who authored the Senate version of the merger bill, said that he may reintroduce the legislation in the future.
"I reserve the right to revisit the topic in a year or so,” Appel told Fox 8 Live in New Orleans. “We'll see."
SUNO’s strong performance during its on-site accreditation review helped the university strike back against claims that it is not meeting basic quality standards.
The on-site committee report from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) stated that SUNO is in compliance with all SACS standards with no recommendations for corrective action.
The SACSCOC committee noted that SUNO “has made a remarkable recovery since the Katrina disaster. A major commitment has been made to ensure that the quality of course offerings, the teaching/learning processes and students’ engagement in learning were sustained at a competitive level during the post-Katrina period.”