EDITORIAL: Try again on SUNO-UNO merger
The Daily Advertiser (excerpt)

House Speaker Jim Tucker, R-Terrytown, has conceded the merger of Southern University at New Orleans with the University of New Orleans, a moved pushed by the Jindal administration, isn't going to happen this year. Under amended legislation due to be debated today, UNO will be made part of the University of Louisiana system, but Tucker says the votes aren't there for the complete merger.

The Legislative Black Caucus fought the merger, and questions of race were bound to enter the debate. That's a good conversation to have, even if we never seem to settle anything. The real problem here is that the argument might not have been about the fate of one campus of a historically black university system. The real problem, the one that would plague Louisiana when it comes time to make the state higher education system more efficient, is turf.

The Legislature shouldn't be discouraged by the setback. It can't be if Louisiana is to make improvements in state colleges and universities.