North Louisiana law school proposal puts university leader at odds with Governor, Legis

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State Sen. Alan Seabaugh takes credit for ousting Northwestern State University’s president in 2024 and, with the backing of Gov. Jeff Landry, replacing him with former Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Jimmy Genovese.

Two years later, Genovese says he isn’t able to count on either of his two supporters to advance his plans for the school, which include starting the first law school in North Louisiana.

In recent interviews, Genovese said his feud with Seabaugh, a Republican whose district includes the Natchitoches campus, is costing Northwestern much-needed cash from the state. And it was Landry who came up with the idea to open a law school at the university, but the governor has since dropped his support of the plan, he said

“It wasn’t my idea,” Genovese said. “When I came on board … there were discussions coming out of the governor’s office regarding a law school, so I just went with the flow.”

When asked if the governor supports a new law school at Northwestern, Landry spokeswoman Kate Kelly said that decision is completely up to the Board of Regents, which oversees higher education in Louisiana.

While he maintains the governor still privately backs the idea, Genovese said two factors have led Landry away from providing any public or material support. The first, Genovese said, is Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, whose district includes Tulane University, home to one of the state’s four law schools. Genovese said the governor doesn’t want to get crosswise with a legislative leader he needs to advance his agenda.

“The last thing Louisiana needs is more lawyers,” Henry said when reached for comment about Genovese’s proposal.

Another obstacle, Genovese said, is that promoting a new law school might create the impression that Landry supports trial attorneys. The governor himself is an attorney and has received campaign contributions from trial lawyers.

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Genovese described his proposal as “wasting away in Margaritaville,” a reference to the Jimmy Buffet song.

Despite no further moves to make the proposal a reality, Genovese has continued to publicly advocate for the law school in speeches and in news interviews, rankling state lawmakers and other stakeholders.

“If the Board of Regents wanted another law school, they would do it,” said state Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, whose district includes Natchitoches. “So I don’t know why he continues to talk and advocate for things like that and get people’s hopes up, when obviously an application to do a law school has not moved within the Board of Regents.”

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