• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Mar 10, 2010 - Page: 1A

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Southern University must toughen its admission standards while increasing its enrollment in order to thrive, Southern Chancellor Kofi Lomotey said Tuesday.

Lomotey discussed the past and future of Southern as the convocation speaker for Tuesday’s Founders’ Day 2010 celebration.

Southern is celebrating its 130th anniversary this year after first receiving its charter to open the historically black university in 1880 in New Orleans. Southern moved to its Scotlandville campus in 1914.

Although some of the efforts were already under way, Lomotey said, a statewide push to increase graduation rates and admission standards contributed to the plans to develop stricter Southern standards.

But Lomotey is not yet ready to discuss the details publicly, Ed Pratt, Southern’s spokesman, said.

“Our admission standards will change as mandated by the state, and we will need your help in recruiting and enrolling these students,” Lomotey told hundreds of Southern alumni, students and employees in attendance.

“Such discussions are not always pretty, but they are necessary to move us forward in a positive way,” he said.

Lomotey also addressed state budget cuts to colleges and the need to boost fundraising.

“We have been challenged recently, perhaps more than ever,” he said. “Our vision of the future will depend significantly less on the state for funding. This will require intensive fundraising.

“Many are concerned about declining enrollment,” Lomotey continued. “Trust me, when we get it right, the students will come.”

Southern’s enrollment has declined each of the past five years since it increased admission standards. The enrollment was at 7,619 students this fall. Fifteen years ago, Southern’s main Baton Rouge campus enrolled over 10,300 students.

Southern requires for admission a 2.0-grade-point average on a 4.0 scale, or a 20 ACT score out of a possible 36 points or graduating in the top 50 percent of a student’s high school class.

After the convocation, Southern University System interim President Kassie Freeman admitted that enrollment likely will drop more by toughening standards. But she said enrollment should rebound and grow after about three years.

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