Feature
January
19
Nicholls News
Compiled by The Weekly Staff
Nicholls State University plans to offer a few new course options this spring through the Office of Continuing Education, despite having to respond to state budget cuts. In preparation of the 2012 carnival season, University Police are also offering all of the information you need to know concerning campus parking along the parade route.
Here are the current headlines at Nicholls.
University Offers New Non-Credit Adult Courses
The Office of Continuing Education at Nicholls will offer a wide selection of non-credit adult classes in spring 2012.
“Whether you’re trying to stick with a New Year’s resolution, hoping to take up a new hobby or aiming to embark on a new career path, we have the courses to meet your needs,” said Simone Harris, director of continuing education at Nicholls. “This spring’s schedule includes several new courses along with our traditional offerings.”
New spring 2012 courses include Art Creations, Basics of American Sign Language, Creating Magic Through Language, Floral Design, Home-Based Medical Transcription, Nutrition: Look Younger and Feel Great, Painting with Light: Basics in Photography, Personal Mastery 101, and Test-Taking Techniques While Reducing Test Anxiety.
Other spring course offerings include topics like belly dancing, financial strategies, piano, life and health insurance licensing, computer software and operating systems, Web design and basics, notary exam prep, weights and cardiovascular training, Yoga and Zumba, among others.
For details on dates, times, fees, instructors, class descriptions and registration procedures, visit nicholls.edu/continuing-ed, and click the “Adult Programs” link.
University Responds to State Budget Cuts
For Nicholls, mid-year budget reductions to higher education, mandated by the state, will total approximately $1.14 million—or 5.1 percent of its state general fund of $22.3 million.
The cut is the latest of a series which, beginning in 2008, has reduced state funding at Nicholls from $35.8 million to $22.3 million, or about 38 percent.
No layoffs or furloughs will result from the current cut, however, and the core academic mission of the institution will remain intact. Dr. Stephen T. Hulbert, university president, said an increase in self-generated funds, mainly tuition and fees, combined with the efforts of the governor and legislature to protect health care and education by using unspent state funds from other areas, has offset the total cut and lessened the severity of the effects.
The Nicholls administration has approached the latest reduction by keeping in mind that the academic mission of the university is of primary importance, that faculty and staff have already been reduced by about 100 persons over the last four years, and that no campus-wide pay increases have been awarded during that period, Hulbert said.
The cuts will therefore be handled via a freeze on open job positions, except for those critical to the core mission of the institution; cuts to travel, supplies, student labor, the number of scholarships awarded and operating services; and reductions to areas that receive funding from the state general fund, such as athletics, the Louisiana Center for Dyslexia and Related Learning Disorders and the Louisiana Center for Women and Government. These reductions will equal the 5.1-percent overall reduction to the university’s state general fund.
“Obviously, these cuts have affected the institution greatly,” Hulbert said. “Because of the continuous reductions and threat of further reductions, morale is down—making it difficult to maintain faculty and staff. Everyone has been doing more with less for four years. However, because of dedicated faculty and staff and a willingness to look at other ways to work smarter, the core of Nicholls remains strong and the institution will survive and flourish, even though the funding for Nicholls and all of Louisiana higher education institutions remains well below that of our peer institutions in other states.”
University Issues 2012 Carnival Parking Policies
Nicholls will continue to permit public parking in designated areas on the Thibodaux campus during the upcoming carnival season. Free parking and pay-to-park services are available.
2012 Thibodaux parade-goers will have three parking options on the Nicholls campus:
Free Parking
Parade-goers can park their vehicles at no charge in one of the interior campus parking lots not directly along the parade route. There are no campers allowed in these lots.
Pre-Paid Seasonal Reserved Parking
Parade-goers can reserve premium parking spaces adjacent to the parade route for campers, cars or trucks for the entire 2012 Mardi Gras season. The costs are $50 per car/truck/van and $200 per camper (includes one vehicle per camper).
Parade-Day Paid Parking
Parade-goers can park their car/truck/van in designated lots adjacent to the parade route. The cost is $10 per day per vehicle, and is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. There are no campers allowed in these lots.
Lots designated for reserved paid parking include:
- Lot 7, located across from Gouaux Hall on Madewood Drive (between Ellender and Ayo halls on Audubon Drive), is reserved for camper parking only.
- Lot 20, located across from Babington Hall on Audubon Drive, and Lot 19, located between Audubon Drive and the Max Charter School, are reserved for cars, trucks and vans.
- Lot 6, located on Audubon Drive between the Alumni House and Scholars Hall, is reserved for overflow camper parking, cars, trucks and vans.
- University Police ask that all campus visitors adhere to normal parking courtesies, such as observing handicapped zones, no parking zones and reserved parking spaces, as some Nicholls employees work after normal business hours.
Additional campus parking restrictions follow:
- Vehicles are not permitted on grassy areas. Vehicles parked on grassy areas are subject to towing.
- All university buildings will be closed to the public during parade times.
- After campers are parked, the towing vehicles must be parked elsewhere.
- Visitors may reside in campers overnight, but tailgate parties are prohibited after 9 p.m.
- Visitors may not tie or connect equipment to university property, including signs, buildings and cables.
- Fires are not allowed.
- Glass containers are prohibited on university property.
- No homemade portable restrooms are permitted, nor are visitors allowed to dump human waste on university property.
- Campers are prohibited from using university water, gas and electrical sources.
- Visitors in reserved spaces are responsible for their own garbage pickup. The university will charge clean-up fees to visitors who leave garbage behind.
- Campers will be allowed to park between noon and 4 p.m. on Feb. 11, and between 1-6 p.m. on Feb. 18.
- All visitors with reserved spaces must vacate the premises immediately following the parade on Feb. 12, and by noon on Feb. 20.
Nicholls is officially closed Feb. 20-21, but the above restrictions will be enforced by University Police throughout the 2012 carnival season.
Premium parking spaces can be reserved by submitting a Mardi Gras season parking pass application, available at nicholls.edu/news/2012/01/10/nicholls-issues-2012-carnival-parking-policies/, along with payment to Nicholls State University Police, P.O. Box 2784, Thibodaux, La., 70310.
For more information, call 985-448-4942.
