Nicholls yearbook de-funded due to tuition hikes

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Deputy files discrimination complaint against TPSO
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OUR VIEW: DOC openness should be applauded
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Although the student fee that pays for the Nicholls State University yearbook will no longer be dedicated to that effort – a decision made by the Louisiana University System’s board of governors – there is still hope for some form of yearly memory preservation, university officials said.

What form that may take and precisely how long such an endeavor will continue, however, are among questions yet to be answered.


“Personally I would love for the yearbook to continue forever because I have devoted a portion of my career to yearbooks and I believe in yearbooks,” said Nikki Boudreaux, the school’s yearbook advisor and director of the mass communications department. “It would be up to the students to discuss whether they want a yearbook ultimately, and I would like to see the students have an opportunity to be part of that decision.”

University President Bruce Murphy says he intends to work closely with students on the matter, through their Student Government Association.

The fate of La Pirogue, published as the official yearbook of Nicholls State University since 1949, was apparently sealed in February, when the university system approved a request from Murphy to discontinue use of a $10 fee charged annually to students for the yearbook, splitting it into two $5 fees that will be used for other programs.


The fees will pay for an auxiliary program designed to increase academic success of students, and a separate program that provides for mentoring and advising of students.

Elimination of the $10 annual dedication to the yearbook still leaves a $490,000 bank balance that had been dedicated to yearbook production, which includes payment of salaries for students involved with the project.

“As Nicholls continues to take cuts in state funding, we are constantly re-evaluating our budget and studying options for providing a high-quality academic experience while keeping costs as low as possible,” Murphy said in a statement released Monday to The Times “Due to these financial pressures, I consulted with a cross-section of campus constituents, including students, who evaluated numerous non-core mission university programs. There was no formally appointed committee and no votes were taken, but based on evaluation feedback, other independent research and discussions with executive staff, I ultimately made the difficult decision to request the discontinuation of the university fee dedicated to La Pirogue. The request was approved during the Feb. 23 University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors meeting.”


The elimination of the yearbook has caused a buzz not only among students and faculty but also Nicholls alumni, many of whom have fond memories of the publication and still hold it as a treasured keepsake on their personal library shelves.

Murphy said the yearbook fee account’s $490,000 balance is due to “over-collection of funds required to produce the publication.”

The money will remain in the restricted account, Murphy said, until a decision is made on how to spend the balance left after accounting for production of the 2017 issue of the yearbook.


“I will work closely with the SGA, the voice of the students, as well as the Nicholls Budget Review Committee, which has broad campus representation, to determine how to best spend these funds to positively impact the greatest percentage of the student population,” Murphy said. “I welcome discussions on how the funds could be used toward preserving university history and memories using new technology and innovative student media. The current yearbook model has nearly 6,000 students paying a university-imposed fee but only 1,000 yearbooks being ordered and far fewer than that being picked up by students. I am looking forward to a proposal for a new model that engages more students in a meaningful, inclusive and more cost-effective way.”

Meetings that were held to sound out opinions on how to deal with the university’s fiscal situation, Murphy said, were informal and not subject to open meetings laws.

Requests for documents concerning the decisions, Murphy acknowledged, are pending as the university works with legal counsel to fulfil them.


“The president of a university is charged with meeting with his faculty, his staff and his vice-presidents to address operating the university and must determine what he believes is the best course of action,” Murphy’s statement concludes. “To the extent any decision may be made by the president to recommend changes within the university, that would be a public record and would be provided by the public request and to the board of supervisors who must approve it before it can actually occur.”

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