Louisiana lawmakers are looking for ways to trim the budget by more than $1.5 billion dollars. Higher education could be facing some severe cuts.

Leaders are getting together Thursday night to talk about the future of higher ed in our state. The Southern University-Shreveport Faculty Senate, in conjunction with Faculty Senates from statewide institutions (LSUS, SUBR, Grambling, LSU, Northwestern, LA Tech, Centenary, ULL, USL and ULM) will host a statewide forum entitled “The Future of Louisiana Higher Education”. It's set for Thursday, March 5th at Southern's Metro Campus at 610 Texas Street in downtown Shreveport. It will run from 6:00pm – 8:00pm. The event is free and open to the public.

The education forum will feature legislators, educators and community leaders and focus on discussion surrounding the future of higher education and the challenges that the system currently faces. Topics of discussion include faculty health insurance benefits, budget cuts and the future of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU’s). “As we anticipate the challenges and successes before us with regard to higher education in the state of Louisiana, this united dialogue is important, and will prove to be residually beneficial to not only those in higher education, but to the community as a whole, “ notes SUSLA Faculty Senate President and Associate Professor of English Sonya Hester. Panelists include State Representative Patrick Jefferson, Dr. Herbert Simmons - GSU Faculty Senate President, Markey Pierre, Attorney Preston Castille - SUBR National Alumni President, Kevin L. Cope – LSU, Dayne Sherman and blogger/columnist James Kirylo - SELU, John Bel Edwards - Member, Louisiana House of Representatives and Democratic Party Candidate for Governor.

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