LSU Board rolls back power to influence faculty, staff hiring searches

The LSU Board of Supervisors has limited its power to influence faculty and staff hiring decisions after quietly giving themselves the ability last year. 

The board last year expanded its own bylaws to require its chair be made aware of “any search committees for new hires” and allows — but does not require — the chair to appoint members to the committees. The bylaws do not limit the chair’s number of appointees or require they have any specific qualifications. 

Search committees are used for nearly every faculty hire, as well as for deans, department chairs and administrators. Taken to its extreme, the new rule could allow the chair to stack any search committee and steer it to a preferred outcome. 

The board chair is hand-selected by the governor. After backlash from LSU faculty and staff, who raised concerns the new rules could introduce political influence to the hiring process, the board adopted rules that limit the scope of the new bylaws. 

The chair will still be made aware of all searches, but the new language limits the board’s ability to influence searches to high-level administrators, such as the president, chancellor, vice presidents and deans.