Louisiana Voice

(I am no longer active with LouisianaVoice but I am leaving it open to guest columnists who wish to use the platform for their posts. Following is one such guest post by Dayne Sherman, professor of Library Science at Southeastern Louisiana University.)

Tom Aswell

I am a finalist for the presidency of my alma mater Southeastern Louisiana University. The decision to move from 15 finalists to perhaps three finalists will take place on Tuesday, April 11 in Baton Rouge. Just being a finalist is one of the biggest honors in my professional life. I wish the best for my school.

My decision to apply for the position had everything to do with the campus cyberattack 6 ½ weeks ago that has harmed the campus and its students. I saw very little urgency by the campus administration, and I still see very little urgency to fix the problems. For example, we have not seen an update from the outgoing campus president since March 15. I suspect he is just “quiet quitting.” I called for Dr. John Crain’s immediate resignation weeks ago. Why should he wait until May to leave?

I applied for the position to fix problems and to provide leadership in a crisis. To the best of my knowledge, 6 ½ weeks into the crisis there is only one working student printer on campus and zero working wired computers. That’s unforgivable for a campus with 10,000 students.

Worse, it is a shame that the upper administration spends more time trying to find ways to fire me rather than to fix the tech meltdown. They forget about the First Amendment, Louisiana Whistleblower protections, the illegality of retaliation, and faculty rights under tenure and academic freedom.

Regardless, I have articulated a clear vison, something other candidates—as qualified as they are for the job—have not. My “15-Point Vision for Day One” was published here on Louisiana Voice (https://louisianavoice.com/2023/03/30/dayne-sherman-who-has-dedicated-his-entire-adult-life-to-slu-has-declared-his-candidacy-for-president-of-university/). Now I am offering my “100-Point Plan for the First 100 Days.”

Naturally, I do not speak for any of my employers. I only speak for myself, a Louisiana citizen. But I do want to hear feedback from you on my plan.

100-Point Plan for the First 100 Days

1. I will focus on changing the campus culture from saying NO to every creative initiative to saying YES.
2. I will go on a listening tour of the campus students, faculty, and staff.
3. I will commission a survey of faculty and staff morale. The results will be made public.
4. I will commission a study of student experiences and problems related to the tech meltdown.
5. I will commit to making sure that no student’s grades were harmed related to the tech meltdown.
6. I will meet with all campus department heads, deans, directors, and vice presidents, etc., and ask each person two questions: What did you do to stop the lack of urgency over the tech meltdown? How did you help students in the process?
7. I will provide a public analysis related to “The Moodler Hack,” including a forensic audit of the last 25 years of Office of Technology leadership on campus, and provide a meaningful way to protect the campus in the future. We will have a real emergency plan.
8. I will provide daily reports on the tech meltdown until everything is back to normal.
9. I will immediately set up working printers in each computer lab.
10. I will fix the terrible acoustics in the new iHub area.
11. I will appoint a taskforce to establish ranks for instructor positions: Adjunct Instructor, Instructor, Senior Instructor, and Distinguished Instructor, etc. Proposals will include step raises with each level.
12. I will establish a doctoral degree attainment raise for Instructors.
13. I will plan for placing EV charging stations on multiple campus sites.
14. I will review all parking policies and will seek feedback from campus groups on how to make parking better and more equitable.
15. I will establish a “Certified Southeastern Recruitment Center” program for profit and non-profits across the region. This will assist in recruitment, retention, and establish new networks for alumni and giving.
16. I will increase the budget for the Lion’s Roar student newspaper.
17. I will create a close working relationship between the Southeastern Channel, Lion’s Roar, and KSLU.
18. I will promote KSLU as the preeminent college radio station in the state.
19. I will defend tenure publicly and in front of the Louisiana Legislature.
20. I will provide the Faculty Senate President a 50% course release, provide a graduate assistant, and student assistant as staff.
21. The Faculty Senate and its Council meetings will be livestreamed.
22. I will start a Staff Senate to represent all staff members.
23. I will make academic department heads “chairs” and establish a 5 to 6-year service window for the positions.
24. I will attempt to receive a legislative variance so all retired professors can be paid to teach up to two courses as adjuncts per semester immediately after retirement in all disciplines.
25. I will hire more counselors to focus on student mental health.
26. I will champion the LION UP Recovery program.
27. Every building will have at least three people provided Narcan and trained to use it.
28. I will commission an analysis of Classified Staff pay to see if raises are warranted under Civil Service rules. I believe people have been left out unfairly.
29. I will start an “Each One Teach One” tutoring program in the local public schools with our students, staff, professors, and retirees.
30. I will restore full funding for databases and journals in the Library.
31. I will find funds for new furniture in the Library.
32. I will promote a modest student assessed fee to support the Library collection.
33. I will commission a study to analyze the viability of making the first floor of the Library a 24-hour open area with UPD presence.
34. I will place the campus budget online by October 1 of each year.
35. I will propose to build a memorial clock tower in the union where the Katrina-Rita “dry fountain” is currently located.
36. I will propose replacing the campus “Get There.” slogan.
37. I will propose replacing the “Superman S” symbol.
38. I will propose replacing the current Roomie Lion cartoon figure.
39. I will propose naming every classroom and building, tree and shrub to raise money for the campus.
40. I will promote selling naming rights for the University Center.
41. I will require a tour of Turtle Cove for residential students during the freshman year.
42. I will do everything in my power to save Friendship Oak, and I will provide regular reports to the campus and media.
43. I will provide more free sporting event tickets to local school children.
44. I will send weekly announcements about upcoming campus events (i.e., when the Governor is on campus, everyone will know it.)
45. I will create a more pet friendly campus.
46. I will appoint a taskforce to create a campus childcare center, a high-quality daycare.
47. I will champion the Gospel choir.
48. I will promote the campus NAACP chapter.
49. I will meet with all campus religious organization leaders.
50. I will meet with all fraternity and student leaders.
51. I will meet with SGA.
52. I will meet with all coaches and athletics staff.
53. I will meet with community and business leaders.
54. I will meet with Alumni leaders.
55. I will meet with 100 campus leaders in the first 100 days.
56. I will vigorously promote real transparency on campus for hiring. We will put the salary range on every job ad.
57. I will establish a “Town and Gown” organization to build bridges between all communities and neighborhoods in the Hammond area.
58. I will bring concerts to the University Center, from Chris Stapleton to Flau’jae, Margo Price to Phoebe Bridgers.
59. I will give every commuter a Lions bumper sticker for their cars.
60. I will hire the best Chief Information Officer in Louisiana higher education.
61. I will champion major outreach to Dual Enrollment students, including free applications to apply.
62. I will ensure that the Dual Enrollment program is not a hassle for students, parents, and schools.
63. I will require each campus major to provide a plan to allow Dual Enrollment students with 24 hours to graduate in 3 years.
64. I will provide a major outreach to Federal Trio Programs, including free applications to enroll. Trio is historically the University’s largest recurring grant.
65. I will aggressively promote the new online MBA program.
66. I will make every master’s degree certify a pathway to a 12-month graduation plan full time and a 24-monthgraduation plan for part-time.
67. I will aggressively go after significant Louisiana-related archival collections and the funding to process the collections.
68. I will establish a program to offer every high school student with 30 undergraduate hours prior to Freshman Fall enrollment a $2500 scholarship.
69. I will expand free math and English tutoring on campus.
70. I will establish a clear Southeastern regional recruitment zone and communicate it widely.
71. I will promote LGBTQI+ inclusion in all programs and events at the University.
72. I will personally recruit faculty at institutions with large numbers of African American Ph.D.s, such as Howard University.
73. I will start a task force to study bringing college classes to Louisiana prisons where inmates can receive Pell Grants. The goal is to stop recidivism.
74. All deans, associate VPs, VPs, etc., will teach one course per semester.
75. I will start a financial literacy and entrepreneurship program leading to basic competency for all graduates.
76. I will ensure that all scans of the Lion’s Roar newspapers issues back to 1937 are available to the public online.
77. I will ensure that all scans of the Le Souvenir yearbooks are available to the public online.
78. I will ensure that all copies of the University budget for the past 25 years are available online.
79. I will ensure the campus will be the most transparent in Louisiana.
80. I will commit additional funds for cybersecurity on campus.
81. I will beef up security on campus through additional funds to the UPD.
82. I will remove all speedbumps on campus. 
83. I will commission a plan to double our abysmal 18% 4-year graduation rates to 36%. This goal will be set to make a massive increase within 4 years. (Source: Forbes.com and IPEDS.).
84. I will commission a taskforce to double the number of nursing graduates in 4 years.
85. I will have the brick wall fixed at Pottle Hall.
86. I will require more security at high school graduations held in the University Center.
87. I will require more comprehensive parking lot security across campus.
88. I will increase the number of trips and hours for campus bus routes.
89. I will make every staff and faculty member aware of the campus architectural masterplan.
90. I will advocate for staff and faculty ORP members to buy into TRSL retirement.
91. I will host a yearly presidential roast as a fundraiser.
92. The campus will have a meaningful discussion of CRT and DEI.
93. The Lab School admissions process will be transparent.
94. Writers-in-Residence will only teach one course per semester.
95. I will host International Students for events at the President’s House.
96. I will host every sports team individually at the President’s House.
97. I will seek advice and mentorship from the best university presidents in Louisiana and the nation.
98. I will apply to the Harvard Management Development Program for Higher Ed.
99. I will be the most active university president in Louisiana on all forms of social media.
100. I will not yield to pressure to bring a live lion mascot to campus!