Tim Houk

From The Advocate

As additional budget cuts loomed, LSU moved forward Friday with a big groundbreaking ceremony for its $52 million Business Education Complex.

The groundbreaking came during the same week that college officials learned from the Jindal administration that lower-than-expected state revenues in February could lead to another $85 million in cuts to higher education — including $34 million to the LSU System — next month.

“In hard times, it’s delightful to have a chance to celebrate for a few moments,” LSU Chancellor Michael Martin said.

Indeed, the event drew about 200 people, nine speakers, LSU cheerleaders, a giant Forever LSU banner and “LSU Means Business” T-shirts.

Just before introducing Gov. Bobby Jindal, LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business Dean Eli Jones noted, “Higher education is critical to economic development” — a notion Jindal reiterated minutes later.

“It (the business complex) is going to rival the finest in the country and it’s going to help our flagship university attract and keep the best and brightest students in the country,” Jindal said.

After the ceremony, Jindal said no decisions have been made on additional budget cuts.

“We need to give another month to see if that was an anomaly or a trend,” Jindal said of the low February tax collection revenues that surprised many.

Jindal then touted his proposed “La GRAD Act” plan to give colleges the authority to increase tuition by up to 10 percent a year initially, in order to increase college revenues, if colleges agree to meet certain performance standards like increased graduation rates.

Jindal also is backing proposed constitutional amendments to dip more into certain education and tobacco settlement trust funds that could improve education and health care funding.

Colleges have seen their state funding slashed by about 20 percent — nearly $250 million — during the past 15 months, including $83.9 million slashed in January, because of declining state revenues.

The 12-years-in-the-making Business Education Complex is funded through $30 million in state construction dollars, $18 million in privately raised LSU funds and a $4 million bridge loan from the private, non-profit LSU Foundation.

The complex was originally meant as a $60 million project with $30 million in private fundraising dollars. But LSU struggled to raise the private funds during lean economic times. However, the recession led to a buyer’s market for construction jobs and lowered the total construction cost.

In November, Jindal reaffirmed the prior commitment of $30 million in state funds for the construction and ensured the funds were immediately available by upping the priority level.

Lafayette-based The Lemoine Co. is the contractor.

Jones has said the building could open as soon as January 2012 or as late as summer 2012, depending on delays.

One of the top volunteer fundraisers for the project, Bill Slaughter, president of SSA Consultants in Baton Rouge, said LSU refused to settle for a smaller project during times of fundraising problems.

“We don’t aspire to be in the middle of the pack; we aspire to be in the top rung of business schools,” Slaughter said. “We purposely thought big. We didn’t want to think just another building.”

The complex is designed as a village of buildings connected by a large rotunda. The 156,000-square-foot complex would include four buildings wrapped around a 14,000-square-foot exterior quadrangle graduate court.

The business complex would be east of Patrick F. Taylor Hall (formerly CEBA), which houses the College of Business and the College of Engineering. The plan is to move the College of Business into the proposed complex that would serve as a cornerstone of the campus. The College of Engineering would have Taylor Hall primarily to itself.