Is there a crisis at LSU?

BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Since 2009, the state of Louisiana has cut $102 million from the LSU-Baton Rouge campus budget. With those budgets being cut and salaries frozen, frustration is spreading fast across Louisiana's flagship university.

Kevin Carman, PhD is the Dean of the College of Science at LSU. He talked about what Steven Sopher, PhD accomplished.

"Typically, he brought in on the order of a couple million dollars a year in funding," said Carman.

Sopher recently departed LSU for greener pastures in North Carolina. He was not only one of LSU'S most prolific chemists and a natural fund raiser; he is also considered a genius in his field of microbiology.

He worked at LSU for 21 years and with a heavy heart, he recently left the university. He said the move was made in part because of budget cuts.

"Because of issues with maintaining the support of the university through state-run budgetary resources," said Sopher. "The future of those resources is in high jeopardy and I could not take the chance to put my research program in trouble, so to speak, without that major infrastructure in place. It's one of his hardest decisions I've ever made."

The University of North Carolina got a real deal. The Tarheels not only lured Sopher to their university, but they also got the cash that follows him. He's received grants from the National Institute of Health, NASA, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, National Service Foundation, plus private entities.

Those are the grants that come with the money Sopher has recruited for LSU during his two-decade run with the Tigers. When Sopher left LSU, he took his ideas, along with his staff, and the millions of dollars that come with his research.

"We did everything we could do within our power to keep him here. At the end of the day, there are limited resources and opportunities that we have to do that," Carman explained.

Sopher said he saw the handwriting on the wall.

"With the impending budgetary woes inflicted upon LSU in the last few years and the years to come, it didn't look like there was going to be a good opportunity to grow and expand my program," Sopher said.

Sopher is currently developing tests that can help doctors detect various diseases in patients. In fact, he has formed a company that is developing a simple blood test for determining if a patient has cancer or not by looking for tumor cells in blood. It's a test that can be performed during any regular exam. It's also a test that will be credited to the University of North Carolina, instead of LSU.

Sopher said he fears more professors like him will leave LSU.

"It would be terrible to see a lot more people leave if facilities and resources are not sustained. There will be a major brain drain on this state, which I don't think the community can afford to lose, frankly, to be very blunt with you," he added.

In the LSU College of Science, 38 faculty members have left in the past four years. Half of them were recruited by other universities. Those institutes, Carman said, tend to recruit faculty members like athletes.

"It's sort of like you feel a little bit like a farm team. You develop a talent and then the big team comes in and takes them away. It hurts," he said.

Roger Laine, PhD is in a similar situation. He's been heavily recruited by the University of Arkansas, which promises a bigger salary and regular pay raises, but said he chooses to stay at LSU for personal reasons.

"We have a wonderful sports system at LSU," said Laine. "Now, if we could just match it with academics that would be terrific."

Another sticking point is employees at LSU have not had a pay raise in years, not even a cost of living increase. It makes these professors even more vulnerable to be scooped up by other schools.

"And then, throw in the mix of not having pay raises now for four years and it begins to be a serious problem. The most important thing we need to do as a university to send a message to our faculty is to get back in the business of giving pay raises. This relates to morale. It doesn't have to be a big pay raise, just something that says, 'We value you as employees and we recognize your contribution,' Carman explained.

Despite the current conditions, Carman believes in the institution.

"I've seen LSU come so far in the last 25 years and I believe in what we've built so far and I believe that there's a great future for LSU," he added.

He just hopes for a winning season soon. Not just in athletics, but in academics as well.

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