The encouraging sign given by Republican Gov. Jeff Landry concerning Louisiana higher education isn’t really who he just tabbed as chairman of the Board of Regents. It’s how he replied to criticism by a former Regent in light of the reaction of other Regents to the appointment.
So far, Landry has had the chance to appoint only one member to the board that oversees in policy terms state higher education. That was Misti Cordell, who in real life works in health care administration but outside of that with husband has been active in Republican Party affairs and donors to GOP campaigns, including Landry’s. All other members received their gigs from Democrat former Gov. John Bel Edwards.
After only a few months on the job, Landry appointed her chairwoman, falling back on Act 491 of 2024 that gave the governor the power to do so – if he so chose; otherwise, the boards affected can continue to pick their own – for bodies where he appoints at least the majority of members not otherwise specified in the Constitution. This perturbed then-Regent T. Jay Seale III so much that he resigned days later – and not gracefully.
Seale’s resignation was accompanied by a screed saying that the move was “deeply offensive,” presumably because it came with little warning ousting former chairman Gary Solomon; featuring “put[ting] someone in charge who was loyal to [Landry];” making service “a charade whenever the governor wants to order something to happen;” and likening the making of a relative newcomer the panel’s chairman to a rookie legislator elevated to heading up the entire chamber. To which the appropriate response should be howls of laughter, given the absolute hypocrisy and stupidity of his remarks.
Rarely does a member of the Regents have anything more than a passing familiarity with higher education, and the expertise needed as chairwoman is no more than that for any other member. Further, the asininity of comparing someone unelected who runs occasional meetings with other unelected folks operating under a simple set of rules with no responsibility outside of an extremely narrow policy area largely confined by the decisions of other policy-makers to that of presiding over a legislative chamber is obvious to perhaps everybody except Seale.
And he should know, since has been very tight for very long with Edwards, at one time a state legislator who headed his party’s caucus, and that whole backwoods political operation out of Tangipahoa Parish. So tight that in 2011 it was alleged Seale aided Edwards in illegally procuring information that caused a candidate against Edwards’ brother Democrat Sheriff Daniel Edwards to drop out of the race in a suit that failed on lack of injunctive grounds. Seale also served as the sheriff’s general counsel.
Seale only got the appointment because of that relationship, sealed by the $17,000 Seale and his firm steered towards Edwards for his gubernatorial campaigns, who then has the audacity to fault appointments on the basis of presumed loyalty. And who also with a straight face doesn’t admit that governors always have controlled the Regents and the other four supervisory boards precisely because of their appointive power, some members of which were chosen because of their activism for a governor’s campaign and others as a favor to a power broker who had aided that governor.
This reality was ratified by the acceptance of all the other Regents of Landry’s move – even as Seale called it “illegal,” in that Act 491 contained a special codicil that says for terms beginning after Jan. 8 this year had to have presiding appointments made by Aug. 1. But, technically, Cordell was taking over from a term expired Dec. 31, 2023 and the Regents are one of the few excepted boards who don’t have to follow what the new law generally imposes on all others, that their terms be coterminous with the governor’s.
All other Regents expressed satisfaction at Landry’ choice, even Solomon. Of course they would: most want reappointment over the next four years which most will face, and only one (interestingly, the least likely on the surface Landry might retain owing to past conduct) donated to Landry during his gubernatorial campaign (one did to his attorney general campaign), if not to one of his opponents. Only Seale was enough of an Edwards political hack and loyalist to claim offense and depart early and voluntarily.
Which gave Landry a chance to respond, and in a way showing beneficial change to Louisiana higher education might be on the horizon. And it was full of buckshot: “Over the past seven years Mr. Seale has served on the Board of Regents, I challenge him to tell me how our higher education has gotten better since he has been on the board. Louisiana continues to have a higher education system under which little vocation can be found but plenty of student debt. ... I wish him well on his way out the door.”
The attitude evinced by his response suggests Landry may be ready to tackle some of the larger systemic problems of higher education in Louisiana, such as its being overbuilt with too few students chasing particularly too many senior institutions. Or, speaking to an issue squarely within the ambit of the Regents, for years the Board has let Louisiana State University get away with flouting Regents’ rules on admissions that exhibits deterioration of quality and standards. It did so because Edwards wanted that.
Now is Landry’s chance to use his appointment leverage to start right-sizing higher education, both within systems and within institutions, encouraging the jettisoning of programs and functions that don’t really contribute to a genuine education based upon useful knowledge acquisition and critical thinking skills. With his reaction to this incident, he has signaled he is ready to do so.
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