Background:
On January 18, 2011, Governor Bobby Jindal made a request of the Louisiana Board of Regents to study the feasibility of merging SUNO and UNO and moving both institutions under the umbrella of the University of Louisiana System. The study was completed, and the results were delivered to the Board of Regents in a March 14th meeting. Later that evening, Gov. Jindal announced that he would write legislation recommending Alternative B.

On March 15th, the Board of Regents voted 9 to 6 to accept Gov. Jindal’s proposal to
recommend the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems’ “Alternative B” plan to “include a comprehensive community college and a new multi-unit University of Greater New Orleans. The University of Greater New Orleans would include an urban research university unit and a metropolitan university unit each headed by a chief academic officer under a single president located on the current site of the University of New Orleans.”

Update:
The controversial merger of Southern University of New Orleans and the University of New Orleans is no longer being considered by the state Legislature, according to lawmakers.

The Legislative Black Caucus put out a release Wednesday afternoon saying the Speaker of the state House, Rep. Jim Tucker, told them he would not continue pursuing the merger. The release said Tucker did not have the votes needed to pass the measure.

Instead, the caucus said they were supporting a compromise to move UNO into the University of Louisiana system. It is currently part of the LSU system.

Press release here: Press release
Spotted on: WBRZ