As Chancellor Sean O’Keefe was introduced before 25,000 LSU fans in Tiger Stadium at the national championship celebration on Saturday, Jan. 19, the crowd rose to its feet for a standing ovation. Their warm response spoke volumes about whom the public was siding with in the recent war between O’Keefe and LSU President John Lombardi.
Lombardi and “the mob” on LSU’s Board of Supervisors won the battle, forcing O’Keefe’s resignation, but they were beaten and bloodied in the process, especially with the public and particularly with several financially influential supporters.
I continue to talk with LSU alumni, supporters, donors and business people who are aghast at what happened, when it happened and how it happened. They are angry and disgusted with Lombardi and the board leadership.
This dastardly deed seems to have been plotted and led by “the mob”—Board Chairman Jerry Shea [New Iberia], Chair-Elect Jim Roy [Lafayette] and past-chair Rod West [New Orleans]. It seems they’ve been plotting the takeover for more than a year. They couldn’t get past president Bill Jenkins to be the executioner, so they pushed Jenkins aside and hired “hit man” Lombardi to do the job.
Mission accomplished. O’Keefe, after weeks of twisting in the wind, ended the ordeal with his resignation on Jan. 16.
It is a sad day for the state’s flagship institution when your president and board leadership act like a bunch of arrogant thugs. Lombardi was represented to the LSU constituency as a brilliant administrative leader, but what credibility does that have when he comes in, merely follows orders from “the mob”—and carries out the deed shrouded in conspiratorial secrecy? And if you want a conspiracy theory, think about this: former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who just left office, appointed every member of “the mob.” And these powermongers have now selected their own system president and will soon choose a new athletic director and chancellor. They also will have their paw prints on the next basketball coach. Thank goodness Les Miles didn’t accept the Michigan job.
Think I am hallucinating? Then consider these recent hires by LSU of people coming out of the Blanco administration: Doreen Brasseaux [$130,000], Jean Vandal [$150,000], Mike McDaniel [$100,000] and Dr. Roxane Townsend [salary unconfirmed].
The fact is, the public does not seem happy with the actions of Lombardi or the board. [Have you seen the recent letters to the editor in The Advocate or responses to Daily Report’s online polls.] Neither do many large donors [from $1 million to $25 million]. I happened to be involved in an e-mail exchange between several of these donors and an LSU board member. Below are a few of the comments from the donors:
DONOR 1: “Moving forward for me is not so easy. There is NO right way to do the wrong thing. The wrong thing was done here, and I for one, will be a long time forgiving it. I will never forget it.”
DONOR 2: “I look forward to Pres. Lombardi’s plan to fund the Business School Building now that the ‘Kingdom of LSU’ has been re-established with the dismissal of Sean, who was the conduit to the private side of the ‘Public-Private Partnership’ Plan that is the cornerstone of the ‘Forever LSU Campaign.’ The [public-private] partnership only works if trust and accountability are strong and always transparent. I told Sean I would participate; now I am withdrawing my participation and look forward to President John Lombardi’s and the [Board of Supervisors’] plan for the state and LSU to put up the remaining amounts of money required since that is what Kingdoms do!”
DONOR 3: “In the Kingdom of LSU, the King does not suffer greatly, nor his Court. Those that suffer in large measure are the peasants [e.g. The Business School] searching for scraps from the King’s table and the Nobles [potential donors] who long for trust and leadership but presently do not know where to find it. The search for the Grail will continue.”
It appears that King Lombardi and his court [most of his board members] are not well-liked among these donors and in fact may be marked men. Their reign could be short-lived. We’ll see. In the meantime, the university and its relationship with many will suffer.
One businessman said, “O’Keefe was brought in to help fund raise nationally. He had raised a lot of money with more pending. Just look at who is outraged and speaking out—donors. O’Keefe was also improving relations with the faculty. So why push him out?” That is what the public wants to know.
An LSU grad observed that one of the best times to fund raise is following a national championship. He noted, “If they [Lombardi and LSU] wanted to see how fast they could deflate the enthusiasm among loyal LSU alums and supporters, they sure found a way: Get rid of Chancellor O’Keefe and raise season-ticket prices. Bam! It is gone.”
As Louisiana citizens, we should be able to expect so much more from our flagship university. As an LSU graduate and former Board of Supervisors chair, this saga has been painful to watch. Even if there were some complaints about O’Keefe, the way this was handled was an abomination.
On the other hand, O’Keefe handled himself with dignity and class through the entire ordeal and won over even more admirers.
I also learned that O’Keefe had a job offer last June that paid much more than his chancellor position. O’Keefe notified West and told him he preferred to remain as chancellor and asked if they were pleased with him or should he pursue this opportunity? West assured him they wanted him to stay and said he would like the new president of LSU. Unfortunately for him, O’Keefe believed West.
The new year began right with the LSU Tigers capturing the national championship as the best in the land. Next, Louisiana got a new governor who is promising to clean up the politics from the past. But, as we end the month, I am sorry to inform Gov. Bobby Jindal that old-time politics, not to mention the ghost of his predecessor, seems to have raised its ugly head in the LSU system and embarassed us all.
Congratulations
In a bold move, following the departure of school board president Pat Smith, who was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives, the school board broke with the tradition of promoting the vice president, Noel Hammatt.
First, Jerry Arbour was elected president, followed by Jay Augustine elected as vice president. Hammatt described the election as a “coup d’état” but board member Dr. Derrick Spell just said it was “winds of change” that blew stronger than a year ago. Blow, baby, blow!
Comments
Posted by markrounds on January 29, 2008 at 12:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Reform and ethics were the catch phrases of Jindals' campaign and his speech on inauguration day. And then BAM! Jindal and his campaign are accused of an ethics violation. And now Jindal's campaign treasurer and transition team leader has started "Believe in Louisiana" to insist on real reform. Do you think the people who contributed to Jindal's campaign meant for their money to be used to pay a fine? LSU, O'Keefe and Lombardi are simply a continuation of the status quo. No amount of newly elected officials, representatives, senators or an Indian-American governor will increase transparency in government. The ethics charge against the governor, his swift agreement to pay the fine without a hearing and his failure to publically disclose the reporting mistake before the charge was made public by the press shows his definition of "transparent" is "opaque."
Posted by texastyger on January 29, 2008 at 1:05 p.m. (Suggest removal)
First Blanco's puppets got rid of William Jenkins. Now they've succeeded in ousting Chancellor O'Keefe. Even though is she is no longer in office, it seems our former governor still controls the LSU Board of Supervisors. Many LSU alumni, myself included, have always been wary of her intentions for our beloved alma mater. All of the hard work begun by former chancellors Mark Emmert and Sean O'Keefe is at risk of being undone now that the "good ole boys" are seemingly back in power. I can only hope that Governor Jindal and the legislature will keep a watchful eye on the situation, and I will anxiously await the outcome of LSU's search for a new chancellor and athletic director.
Posted by LaTygerinFL on January 30, 2008 at 12:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It is bad enough living among Florida Gators without having to continuously explain Louisiana politics to everyone here.
The local and state response to Katrina was bad enough (let's not discuss Bush and his associates), but decisions like this which don't make sense to the locals, certainly don't make sense to others. (Yes, I know that a state with hanging Chads should not question anyone else.) I might give the Board the benefit of the doubt, if I knew their rational; but, this decision seems like it might be about someone who told this board of despots, "No!" They then used draconian strategies to remove this non-yes man. I am moving back home next year when I retire. I'd like to think that the state had improved in 39 years, but that does not seem to have happened. If we are going to enter the 20th century (Sorry we are still in the 19th.), much will have to change. We cannot continue to have business as usual. Huey and Earl have been gone for a long time. Edwin is in jail. The under the table payoffs and the entire graft based system must stop. Politics must be brought into the sunshine to even begin the process of growth. I am not a mega-donor to LSU, but I am a yearly contributor. If you lose too many of us at the $100 to $500 level, the university will also begin to feel the pain. That is a sad decision to make for the university I love; however, some times progess can only be achieved through protest. Hope some of the decision-makers for the university read these comments,and begin to realize that they are accountable for their decisions. Some of us have learned to question many things--especially that to which we contribute finacially.
Posted by branon on February 1, 2008 at 10:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Perhaps the greatest good that will come out of this mess is that the business school will not be built. The business report should not take sides without investigating the merits. The business school is a subsidy to the engineering school. The faculty and the students in the business school are being ripped off (and most faculty agree). All faculty offices will be without windows (try recruiting new faculty then), graduate student labs will be no longer there (you can forget LSU installing the expensive software grad students need in larger labs), and the list goes on. Sean o Keefe wanted to build this thing just to have it on his resume. Hopefully now it will get a reprieve.
Post a comment
(Requires free registration.)