Editor's note: WWNO is licensed to the University of New Orleans but is funded independently and reports on the university like any other school.
The University of New Orleans is making changes to its financial structure and campus as it prepares to transition back to the LSU System on July 1.
UNO, which officials have already started referring to as LSU New Orleans, has hired Jeanette Weiland as its interim chief administrative officer, a reconfigured role the school’s president says will strengthen its finances.
Weiland previously served as chief business officer of Tulane University’s School of Science & Engineering. She started on a contract basis in January and was hired as an employee on March 1.
In an email to staff this week, President Kathy Johnson said Weiland’s position will span more departments than before, making forecasting and budgeting easier.
“For many years, some of our financial challenges have stemmed from the way separate revenue sources have operated in parallel rather than in alignment,” Johnson said.
The university eliminated its vice president for finance and administration as part of the restructuring, Johnson said, and will hire an interim chief financial officer to work under Weiland.
Arlean Wehle had been serving in both roles, on an interim basis, after Edwin Litolff left for the University of Louisiana at Lafayette last summer. Johnson thanked Wehle for her “tireless work ethic, her steady leadership, and her unwavering commitment to our mission.”
UNO has struggled financially in recent years, which officials have attributed to low enrollment and poor management. The school currently enrolls fewer than 6,000 students, down from more than 17,000 at its peak before Hurricane Katrina.
While faculty and staff have specific concerns about the transition, according to a survey conducted by LSU, more than 60% of students, alumni and faculty support the move.
Officials have promised to revive the university by sharing system resources, eliminating some programs, expanding those it says are unique and successful — like UNO’s naval architecture and marine engineering school — and rebranding the campus as part of the LSU family.
In the same email, Johnson said UNO will lease a building to its neighbor, Benjamin Franklin High School, starting in June, and plans to close its oldest academic building at the end of the semester.
Franklin has been looking for room to expand, rather than cap its enrollment. The school plans to take over the Human Performance Center.
Johnson said the lease will strengthen the existing partnership between the two, “while generating revenue” that UNO needs. Franklin will move out of the classrooms it uses in a campus building that’s farther away, freeing those up.
The terms of the lease with Franklin are still being negotiated, Johnson said in an email to WWNO. It will likely go before the University of Louisiana System board in April, which UNO remains part of until July 1.
The Liberal Arts Building, the facility slated to close, houses the following departments: English, foreign languages, philosophy, history and elements of anthropology.
Johnson said the decision was reached based on UNO’s financial standing and a facility analysis by an outside firm.
“This is not a decision made lightly,” she said in the email. “We simply do not have the resources required to restore it to acceptable standards.”
Departments housed in both impacted buildings will be relocated to other parts of the campus.
