SACSCOC Off-site Committee’s Response

Non-Compliance

A change has recently taken place with the Chancellor of the institution now also serving as President of the LSU system. Information has been provided in the report regarding the legal authority of the Board of Supervisors to appoint both the Chancellor of the institution, as well as the President of the System (see Standard 2.3). Evidence is provided that the Board is indeed exercising this authority with the most recent example of the current President and Chancellor (minutes of the Board Meeting of March 2013)

Two references are made in the report regarding the evaluation of the Chancellor, which presumably is mentioned in his/her contract (no reference provided) and has once – in the recent past – led to the Chancellor’s resignation (minutes of the Board Meetings of January 2008). However, no evidence is provided in the report that an evaluation is conducted on a periodic basis as required by this standard.

LSU A&M’s Response

The SACSCOC Off-site committee states the following:

A change has recently taken place with the Chancellor of the institution now also serving as President of the LSU system. Information has been provided in the report regarding the legal authority of the Board of Supervisors to appoint both the Chancellor of the institution, as well as the President of the System (see Standard 2.3). Evidence is provided that the Board is indeed exercising this authority with the most recent example of the current President and Chancellor.

The Off-site committee noted that the evaluation of the Chancellor was presumed to be stated in the contract document and requested evidence that evaluation of the Chancellor is “conducted on a periodic basis.”

Appointment and Evaluation of the LSU CEO

The LSU Board of Supervisors Bylaws & Regulations (Article VII, Section 2a) provide that

the president shall be appointed by, and shall hold office at the pleasure of, the Board [1].

Article VII, Section 4a also indicates that the chancellor also

shall hold office at the pleasure of the Board [1].

The contract with F. King Alexander reiterates this stipulation and requires an annual confidential review, which he has not reached at this point [2]. The review should occur prior to July 1, 2014. Extensions of Dr. Alexander’s contract require satisfactory performance reviews.

The chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors has provided an evaluation to Dr. F. King Alexander on the occasion of his sixth month in the position [3]. The evaluation includes comments both on his role as the President of the Louisiana State University System and on his role as Chancellor of Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College.