It’s like a jungle sometimes

 
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
—George Santayana, The Life of Reason, Volume 1, 1905
US (Spanish-born) philosopher (1863-1952)
There are so many rumors flying around campus concerning SU’s legacy. My colleague informed me two weeks ago about Southern University declaring financial exigency during the Dolores Spikes era and I felt it was my duty and obligation as a SU student to track down the truth.
Thanks to the archive department and Ms. Angela Proctor, I may have stumbled upon some truth.
If I could juxtapose SU of 1989 to SU today, it’s obvious that history repeats itself; however, this repeat will require action from students, faculty, staff, and alumni to keep SU “STRONG.”
In 1989, SU was facing a budget crisis. Today, we are faced with a budget crisis.
Gov. Buddy Roemer, a Democrat who was an undercover Republican and came out of the closet in 1991, proposed a budget cut of $9.5 million in 1989. Today, Gov. Bobby Jindal proposed a budget of “Lord knows how much!”
In 1989, academic programs were consolidated. Today, a draft proposal has been developed for SU to function with five colleges.
Financial exigency was declared for both critical situations. Enrollment was sufficient after the first declaration of financial exigency, but it gradually declined over the decades until its current state.
Is financial exigency the only factor to SU’s current “poor functioning” status?
No, but I believe declaring financial exigency may have played a role.
The main difference I noticed between the two eras was the sense of concern expressed from the students, faculty, staff and alumni. The crisis of 1989 was a time when the SU community came together. It was also a time when SU reached its zenith in student enrollment.
According to Ms. Proctor, SU had about 15,000 plus students and there was hardly any room to house them.
This was also a time when everyone was aware of the budget crisis and the entire SU community “aggressively” raised funds to keep the legacy of SU alive, according to the many stories I heard from alumni. Today, we have roughly 6,000 students, whose main and only concern is to graduate; and we have faculty who are only worried about their checks.
While looking through the archives, I also saw pictures of students holding signs that boldly read, “We ARE because Southern IS,”  ” SOS: Save Our Schools,” “Keep Southern Alive,” and “Roemer, What happened to your promises?”
Students during that time understood the power of numbers but not only did the students rally and protest, the faculty and administrators were on one accord as well.
 
I also ran across an article that read, “Southern’s SGA asked students to sign a ledger to signify that students are concerned with higher education.” The article continued to read, “The ledger made more than three trips down the State Capitol steps and 10,000 names were on the ledger.”
(Don’t think this fact is accurate? Check out the DIGEST of June 30, 1989.)
I understand Chancellor Llorens believes this phobia of SU functioning in its final days — which is being promoted by the faculty — is all “hoopla,” but since I’m a firm believer of history repeating itself, the faculty may be right. Unless we do recruit, raise funds and advise students aggressively.
There still is hope for SU’s existence, but it must continue after Chancellor Llorens and President Mason’s tenure. Students must continue to raise questions to our administrators. What is a strong Southern University? How will we go about raising funds aggressively? How can we have our alumni trust SU fundraising initiatives? These are the questions administrators and leaders of SU should wrestle with on a continuous basis and it is our duty as students to ask.
So, will we let history repeat itself and play out again or will we aim for a true revolution, in other words a complete change? It’s like a jungle sometimes and I wonder can SU keep from going under?