Lions host UL Lafayette president

Dr. Joseph Savoie, president of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, addressed the Crowley Lions Club during their luncheon at the Rice Palace on Tuesday.
“We have recently incorporated Crowley and Acadia Parish into our system with the construction of the biofuels plant on West Hutchinson,” he said. “What we can accomplish with the facility is up to us.”
Savoie didn’t hide the fact that the state is facing a serious budget crisis and that higher education, along with medical services, are usually the first to lose money in such situations.
“Higher education has been feeling the pinch,” he said. “We stand to lose $8 million this year that we had in our budget. Our tuition has doubled since 2008. Our budget once had 66 percent of state funding to help us. That amount has dropped to 32 percent.
“Student debt is also a major problems these days.”
Savoie did mention some accomplishments the school has achieved during his tenure and expressed pride in that, despite the tuition hike, ULL’s freshman enrollment has increased over the last several years.
“We’re at 19,000 students right now,” he said. “Our goal is 20 (thousand).”
Savoie also boasted that UL is one of only a few schools in the nation where every academic program is “100 percent accredited.”
Among the other promising news Savoie delivered was that UL Lafayette still is a leader when it comes to research funding, with $79 million on hand; that ULL has been honored for putting more students from underprivileged homes through college; they are a designated “military friendly” college and that they have been enrolling more students from outside the Acadiana region than ever before.
Some areas like Orleans Parish, Baton Rouge Parish and Jefferson Parish have seen an increase of students traveling to Lafayette to attend the college.
“We’re continuing to grow,” Savoie reiterated. “The improvements to our athletics facilities and our academic halls are proof of that. We have also added new dorms and a new student union as well, which brings them together on campus fairly regularly.”
Crowley Lion Ann Mire asked about crime on the campus and more specifically whether or not the school would be prepared in case the unthinkable — such as an active shooter on campus — would occur.
“You can never feel too safe,” replied Savoie. “We run regular drills ... if these guys don’t stop, we lose our next generation.”