Louisiana Public Colleges Agree to Meet with AAUP Investigators; Tulane and Loyola Still Refuse to Participate

Two weeks after refusing to meet with the AAUP, Louisiana public college officers have changed their position according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. They now agree to meet with a special committee of the AAUP that is investigating layoffs, program cuts, and other moves at the colleges in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Chronicle reports that he committee's goals are

to examine whether the institutions followed their own policies and procedures, as well as AAUP guidelines, in laying off tenured faculty members and cutting academic programs following last year's devastating hurricane. Committee members are also looking into whether faculty members had enough say in the changes and whether some academic policies and procedures can be ignored in such extreme circumstances.

As reported earlier, two private universities, Loyola and Tulane, still refuse to meet with the committee.

Our concern with layoffs at Tulane Law Library and its administration began in January 2006:

• On the Current (and Future) State of the Tulane Law Library (January 12, 2006)
• Damage Control at Tulane Law Library (January 23, 2006)
• AAUP Investigating Tulane Layoffs (February 2, 2006)
• One Law Prof's Perspective on Post-Katrina Tulane Law School (February 10, 2006)
• Nine Tulane law profs leaving, 3 permanently, 6 visiting other schools, X-number returning after their visit (March 28, 2006)

[JH]